UFC Fight Night Predictions; Kenny Florian vs Joe Lauzon

Tonights UFC Fight Night on SpikeTV could have been a moderately successful Pay Per View show that we’re all getting for free. The night is headlined by Kenny Florian, who is a dominate fighter who improves with every fight, against a rising enigma Joe Lauzon. Joe Lauzon is famous for taking out Jens Pulver in his fizzled return to the cage and for beating up my boy Brandon Melendez on the Ultimate Fighter reality show finale. I see Kenflo Kenny Florian winning this by majority decision. I would love to see Joe Lauzon win by a fashionable knockout, but I just don’t see it happening this time.

Thiago Alves will face his toughest career challenge when he meets a pissed off Karo Parisyan. Parisyan is one of the toughest men on the ground and is riding a three fight win streak since losing to Diego Sanchez in a battle back in 2006. I see Karo winning by a split decision. This isn’t going to be pretty fight and will make us sweat watching these dudes work the ground game till they fall apart.

Matt Hamill Vs. Tim Boetsch is a fight that will be exciting but has potential to turn into an ugly brawl. I don’t see this fight going past one round and will say that Hamill will find a way to end it early. Look for a surprising submission not the knockout you’d expect from him.

There are twelve fights advertised for tonight. 3 maybe 4 will actually be televised. Fights of interest will see Houston Alexander continue his rise as he will likely dismantle James Irvin early on. Gray Maynard will get a chance to mix-it-up tonight and will come away with a early submission win or nasty Ground-n-pound TKO in the second round.

Manny Gamburian and Nate Diaz return to the cage, too bad it isn’t against each other. Both will come away with victories tonight.

Ultimate Fighter Coaches, Rampage vs. Forrest. Seriously.

Tito and Shamrock.  Matt Hughes and Matt Scerra, Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre.  BJ Penn and Jens Pulver.  All rivals who hate each other.   All talk mad trash and hate each other as fighters and people.

Now we have Quinton “I’m funnier than I am good at fighting (and he’s damn good at fighting)” Jackson and Forrest “Class clown” Griffin.

Quinton Jackson will talk trash like there is no tomorrow.  He’ll have so many funny lines that he’ll  be quoted for a long time by fans of the show.  Forrest is no slouch and will fire back when attacked, but by the end of the taping for the Ultimate Fighter these two are more likely to be best friends sitting around telling jokes and ‘rippin’ on each other than they are to hate each other and want to fight.

I think it will be nice to see or hear someone other than Matt Scerra coach these guys.  Quinton and Forrest should make for some good comedy and should have there boys prepared for battle.  I’m excited for the season to start.

Anderson Silva dismantles Henderson, calls out Roy Jones Jr

After Anderson Silva lost the first round of his title defense to Dan Henderson, he lit a fire inside.  Silva came out for the second round on fire and aggressively pursued Henderson till he rocked him and dropped him.  He won on the ground, again. In days following the fight Silva announced that he’d like to try his hand at boxing the greatest boxer of our generation, Roy Jones Jr.  Jones is going to consider it when he returns from a vacation.

Is this a sign that Anderson Silva is bored with MMA or that he doesn’t think there is any competition out there for him?

In a rare call-to-action by Dana White, he said post fight that Anderson Silva is the best pound for pound fighter in the world, not just the UFC.  That is a big bounty to be placed on Mr. Silva’s head.  He is definitely the best 185lb middleweight.

But is he better than GSP?  Georges lost last year to a big underdog.

Is he better than Quinton Jackson? Quinton dominated the UFC Light Heavyweight division, but struggeled before leaving PrideFC.

The lightweight division might just be the deepest talent pool of all.  Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian, Hermes Franca, and who could forget BJ “The Prodigy” Penn.  BJ Penn has been on and off the top of my list for a long time now.  The man can fight.  But he’s shown lack of desire on more than one occasion.  The last two fights have been BJ of old, if he keeps it up I think these two would be a watercooler brawl to talk about for the next decade.

Then we get to the heavyweights.  How can you say Anderson Silva is better than Fedor?  Fedor is easily the baddest man on the planet.  No one wants to fight him.  The only person I see attempting to challenge him is Brock Lesnar after 20 experience fights.  Lesnar is the only athlete capable of competing with a fighter on Fedor’s level.

Maybe Anderson should put on a few pounds and fight Quinton Jackson?  That would be entertaining, but not as entertaining as Georges St. Pierre gaining fifteen pounds and fighting at 185lb.  George St. Pierre has a walking weight of around 190lbs and would look great at 185.  The only problem I see here is that BJ Penn has a potiential dance date set with GSP….. if he can beat Sherk in the summer.

My geeky little brain is bouncing inside my skull with excitement.  Oh the possibilities.