Affliction Banned vs. UFC Silva vs Irvin July 19th. What will you do?

July 19th is a huge night in MMA. Former UFC Heavyweight Champ Randy Couture is the face of Affliction.  Used to be a harmless clothing company, now in direct competition in promoting mma fights with the UFC.  To fight back the UFC has put a top caliber fight for free on SpikeTV.

Affliction Banned fight card: (our predictions will come closer to the fights)
Former UFC Heavyweight Champ Tim Sylvia will face the best Heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emilianenko.
Josh Barnett vs Pedro Rizzo
Andrei Arlovski vs Ben Rothwell
Renato Sobrall vs Mike Whitehead
even Vitor Belfort is fighting on this card.

UFC July 19 fight card free on Spike TV:
Anderson Silva is the king of the 185lb weight division.  He’s moving up to 205lb to take on James Irvin.
Jake O’Brien takes on Yuma, Arizona native Cain Velasquez.  Both College Wrestling standouts.
Brandon Vera is making his 205lb debut against UFC newcomer Reese Andy.
Hermes Franca and Frank Edgar will also do battle.

Both of these fight cards are stacked.  I don’t know which to watch live and witch to TiVo. Predictions will come as the fights get closer.  Before we experience this amazing night of fights, we still get to see Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin fight in what will most likely be the battle of the year on July 5.  Christmas comes in July for MMA fight fans.

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.

UFC Fight night results: Burkman robbed immediately after fight?

In Mike Swick’s 170lb debut he encountered a dangerous obstacle.  That obstacle was dealing with decreased strength from cutting weight while fighting one of the strongest men at 170lbs.  Josh Burkman is 3 inches shorter and has a lot more muscle mass than Swick.  Burkman pushed the entire fight and never gave Swick a chance to get started.  Swick landed one head kick and one body kick in the second round.  That was all the action we saw from Swick.  Burkman constantly pushed for a takedown and dominated the hand exchanges. 

At one point in the fight he even felt confident to throw a spinning front roundhouse kick that was totally ubsurd, but entertaining.  When the decision came back the judges gave the fight to Swick for some unknown reason. The crowd booed and Burkman simply walked out of the cage.  Swick apoligized for his performance.

A NOTE TO DANA WHITE:  You left boxing because of it’s deep corruption.  Having the judges throw a fight because you hope to promote one fighter over another is just as bad as Mora/Manfredo II from the Contender fiasco.  Please, Please don’t start down that dangerous road, we love the UFC. 

In a previous fight Patrick Cote found himself on the giving end of some punishment and pain as he knocked Drew McFeddries out cold. 

The Ultimate Fighter Finale

Mac Danzig vs Tommy Speel. Surprise Surprise. The two best fighters make it to the finale. This shouldn’t be a tough fight to predict. Tommy comes into the fight with less experience in the actual ring, but is a great fighter with a ton of tenacity.

Mac comes into this fight with loads of experience, and he knows it. Mac isn’t the type of guy to look past a fight, nor is he the type of guy to hide what he’s thinking or what he’s feeling. Mac was my fav “character” on this seasons ultimate fighter. He is a bad ass fighter who doesn’t like retards. I also happen to be straightedge vegan and think Mac shares similar ideals.

This fight is going to be simple. There will be a short period of feeling each other out. Neither fighter likes to jump the gun and blow their wad in the first thirty seconds hoping to get a lucky knock out. In fact, they’re the exact opposite. Expect a few early boo’s from the drunk UFC fans lucky enough to be in attendance.

Once the action gets started Mac will dominate on the ground as he has against everyone on this show. Tommy has enormous strength on the ground and will resist a submission. If this fight doesn’t go all three rounds look for Mac to end it by TKO ground and pound. Mac will win the battle on the ground and get the decision after round three.

Tommie’s best chance of winning is to get ahead of Mac on the score card in round one and stall round two. That will force Mac off of his game plan and make him look for a knock out in round three.

Roger Huerta vs Clay Guida (Jesus wanna-be, the dudes nickname is “the carpenter”). Huerta is insane. This guy has more fights in the last year than any fighter in the UFC. This man loves to battle and the crowds love to watch him. He’s a finisher. Look for Huerta to finish Guida by round 2 and get a title shot in the spring of 08.