UFC 101 - 8 August 2009

Unknown Soldier

Unknown Soldier

Veteran
The Ultimate Fighting Championship® makes its Philadelphia debut on Saturday, August 8th for UFC® 101: Declaration. In the main event, the two best 155-pound fighters in the world finally meet when UFC® lightweight champion BJ Penn looks to defend his crown against number one contender Kenny Florian. Penn has never lost at 155-pounds, and Florian is looking to change that stat this summer.

In the co-feature, the pound-for-pound king of mixed martial arts, middleweight champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva, tests the waters at 205 pounds once again when he battles former light heavyweight champ and Ultimate Fighter season one winner Forrest Griffin.

UFC® 101: Declaration - Saturday, August 8th, live on Pay-Per-View from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Venue doors open - 6:45 pm ET | First Bout - 7:40 pm ET | Live on television - 10 pm ET

News Source: http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=EventDetail.FightCard&eid=2209

Main Events:
BJ Penn Vs. Kenny Florian
Anderson Silva Vs. Forrest Griffin
Amir Sadollah Vs. Johny Hendricks
Kendall Grove Vs. Ricardo Almeida
Josh Neer Vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Preliminary Events:
Shane Nelson Vs. Aaron Riley
Tamdan McCrory Vs. John Howard
Thales Leites Vs. Alessio Sakara
Matthew Riddle Vs. Dan Cramer
George Sotiropoulos Vs. George Roop
Jesse Lennox Vs. Danillo Villefort

-------------------------

BJ Penn Vs. Kenny Florian:
As good as Kenny is, I can't see him taking the belt from BJ although Kenny should've been taking notes from the BJ vs GSP fight.

Anderson vs Griffin:
Anderson all the way.

Amir Sadollah Vs. Johny Hendricks:
Haven't watched Johny(or at least don't think I have) so will give this to Amir.

Kendall Grove Vs. Ricardo Almeida:
Kendall is a very good fighter and i've always enjoyed watch him fight. Go Kendall.

Josh Neer Vs. Kurt Pellegrino:
I give this to the bigger Josh Neer.
 
- I'm rooting for Florian, even if i believe Penn will win :(

- I'm very curious about Anderson vs Griffin. Griffin is a big 205, and a good one. If he mix takedown/ground game with striking, i think he can take the decision. But if he stays in front of Silva and bang with him, hum, he will go down Franklin style.

- And i really hope "Big dog" Almeida takes it, submission round 2 :eek: However, i feel that he will get picked appart on his feet :-/
 
Well Anderson won impressively and had Griffin running for cover quickly while BJ also won but seemed slightly outta breathe. My other picks were disappointments but Kurt did really well to dominate Josh, Kendall dropped the ball and let a feisty Ricardo out fight him while Amir got smacked by Johny in a few seconds flat.

That Anderson fight was awesome.
 
See, I didn't think it was an awesome fight. It was a very impressive display of skill on Silva's part, whereas Griffin's performance was truly pathetic. I don't know if this guy had a bad night, was simply grossly outclassed, or has been carried and overhyped by a sport that's still trying to create stars and grow its business. Either way, I lost all respect for the guy as a MMA fighter when he hit the ground from that backpedalling half-jab and then threw up his arms and ran out of the cage.
 
I think it's a mix between being outclassed and overhyped.

But it's no Forrest "fault"... it's not like if he said before the fight "i'll kill him blablabla"... or the infamous "to the death" from BJ to GSP...if death means 4th round i guess.
 
John Reynolds said:
Either way, I lost all respect for the guy as a MMA fighter when he hit the ground from that backpedalling half-jab and then threw up his arms and ran out of the cage.
Click to expand...
The guy was already knocked down twice so his head was in a pretty shaky state, and that half-jab was enough to snap the head back and make sweat fly everywhere, so it had some power behind it. I think he was out and hands going up was a reaction. I'll agree that running out of the cage was a bit pathetic, though.

Forrest did have a split decision against Rampage, so even if you disgree with the judges that time you can't deny that he has skills. I really think this is more of a testament to Silva's skills than Forrest's deficiency. Seeing him unhittable by a guy with a 77" inch reach makes me think even Fedor couldn't even beat Silva, because Fedor doesn't have the footspeed to ever get the fight to the clinch or the ground.
 
Forrest is a well rounded, physically large LHW, and not a whole lot else. It's what allows him to remain competitive against guys like Rampage, Tito, and Rashad, but he's probably always going to have trouble against guys who have elite level aspects of their games, whether it be striking, wrestling, BJJ, etc. Forrest decided to fight Silva where Silva was strongest and paid for it.

I do think that Forrest made Anderson look better than he is. Guys with less reach than Forrest have been plenty capable of landing shots on him. Silva just happens to have a pretty decent chin, and doesn't appear to get flustered easily when something slips through. The only fighter that has a decent shot at beating Silva on his feet is Machida, and that fight is never going to happen. His test is going to come from the other wrestling/GnP-focused LHWs listed above that are always actively looking for takedowns.

At LHW, all it will take is 2 rounds of takedowns and control and a decision can be won. Silva has lost rounds before from it, and I would argue that the LHW division has stronger GnP fighters than what MW has offered him this far.
 
hughJ said:
I do think that Forrest made Anderson look better than he is. Guys with less reach than Forrest have been plenty capable of landing shots on him.
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Like who? Nobody has landed anything decent on Silva for a long time. His head movement has only gotten better, too, as that hands down defense was sick.

His test is going to come from the other wrestling/GnP-focused LHWs listed above that are always actively looking for takedowns.
Click to expand...
I don't see who can catch him for a takedown other than maybe GSP (who is going to have get lucky to avoid strikes). Silva has by far the fastest foot speed of any MW.

The only reason Henderson took him down was Silva got careless and jumped into him. I think it was an aborted knee attempt. Anyway, he's not going to make that mistake again.
 
I wonder if Forrest is still running :smile:
Great match up for Silva to display his stand up skills, and Forrest was stupid enough to stand up with him... Watching Andersson was truly an enjoy, it's a pity that the fight against Machida will probably never happen, but hopefully there will be another challenges for Andersson. Henderson might give him trouble if he shows up in good condition for the rematch.

BJ was great also, totally nullifying the offence of Derek Zoolander outside of few leg kicks. Kenflo tried to take BJ down many times, but wasn't even close, then BJ took Ken down with his first attempt. I don't see anybody beating BJ for a long time at 155.
 
Mintmaster said:
Like who? Nobody has landed anything decent on Silva for a long time. His head movement has only gotten better, too, as that hands down defense was sick.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on what you call "decent", Henderson did a pretty decent job in the stand up until the very last exchange. Franklin did an ok job in their second fight, where it really only came to the MT clinch where Silva really dominated again. Were they winning the exchanges? No, probably not. But Silva wasn't untouchable. He's definitely no Machida in this regard.

...Anyway, he's not going to make that mistake again.
Click to expand...

You're making it sound like he's never going to be taken down again. It's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when. His takedown defense and wrestling are his weak point and he has been taken down by both Hendo and Lutter. In both cases the takedowns lead to a likely loss of the round. At 205 he's going to be fighting only 3 round fights, so conceivably the guy is only 2 takedowns away from a loss on the score cards. I'm not saying the guy is for sure going to lose at 205, but he's certainly in far more danger of it than he is at 185 where Hendo is his only serious risk.
 
hughJ said:
I guess it depends on what you call "decent", Henderson did a pretty decent job in the stand up until the very last exchange. Franklin did an ok job in their second fight, where it really only came to the MT clinch where Silva really dominated again. Were they winning the exchanges? No, probably not. But Silva wasn't untouchable. He's definitely no Machida in this regard.
Click to expand...
I guess, but I just feel like Silva has changed his mindset in fights now while also improving. He's almost untouchable if he wants to be, like with Cote, Leites, and Griffin. Machida is great at avoiding strikes, but people are able to catch him for TD attempts or dirty boxing (which they usually fail at).

Looking back at the play by play for UFC 97, I see that Leites took him down once briefly, so maybe I'm overestimating Silva's ability to stay out of reach. However, the Hendo fight was definately just carelessness, and Lutter was ages ago. TD defense is a weakpoint (against elite wrestlers only, though) once someone gets in range, but he'll have to move really quickly to get there if he doesn't count on luck or foolishness from Silva and wants to avoid getting clocked.

It's weird that the top of the MW division doesn't have any good wrestlers besides Henderson, who wasn't even with UFC in his prime and is getting really old now. At LHW I think Rashad Evans would give Silva troubles as well as Machida (who he'd never fight anyway), but not many others. I don't think Rampage, Jardine, or Shogun have much of a chance.

GSP probably has the best chance of anyone at 185 or less, but he's going to have be really clever to figure out a way to avoid that striking. Would be a fantastic match to watch, even though I think GSP is a big underdog.
 
Shogun is not to be taken lightly, he was in crappy condition in his first two UFC fights, but he's still young. He was injury free in his last fight and he looked really good. Shogun is really really good, and certainly when in condition is a tough man to beat, even for Machida or Anderson. I personally can't wait for the UFC 104.

Today is pretty interesting Womens mma match also, anybody have any toughts on that?
 
Dr Evil said:
Today is pretty interesting Womens mma match also, anybody have any toughts on that?
Click to expand...
I think Carano is going to get clocked, but if she wins against that beast, she's my vote for female athlete of the decade.

Think about it: Why do we even have womens sports? True equality would be women competing in male leagues, but they're not good enough. We like giving womens more attention than other limited participation sports (like U18/junior, minor leagues, special olympics, senior tours, etc) because femininity is at odds with the physical attributes that help in sports. The younger you are, the more impressive your youth-league achievements are. The hotter you are, the more your achievements are amplified in female sports.

With Carano, well, need I say more? :D
 
Mintmaster said:
I think Carano is going to get clocked, but if she wins against that beast, she's my vote for female athlete of the decade.

Think about it: Why do we even have womens sports? True equality would be women competing in male leagues, but they're not good enough. We like giving womens more attention than other limited participation sports (like U18/junior, minor leagues, special olympics, senior tours, etc) because femininity is at odds with the physical attributes that help in sports. The younger you are, the more impressive your youth-league achievements are. The hotter you are, the more your achievements are amplified in female sports.

With Carano, well, need I say more? :D
Click to expand...

heh yeah Carano is pretty hot! I think she has pretty good skills too though, but will they be enough against that half-man I don't know... I don't particularly like womens mma, but I'll definately watch this one.
 
Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg

This fight sets a new precedent as the main event on the card will feature Gina Carano fighting Cris Cyborg in a first ever five round, five minute fight that MMA women have been asking for the last couple of years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQnrQSjxO7M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7dy6mHCFGs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUICHDB2TJg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsgWcYdG4A8

Main Card
• Gina Carano (143) vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (144.5)
• Champ Renato "Babalu" Sobral (201) vs. Gegard Mousasi (204)
• Champ Gilbert Melendez (155) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (155)
• Mike Kyle (219) vs. Fabricio Werdum (228)
• Jay Hieron (169) vs. Jesse Taylor (172)

Undercard
• Mike Cook (205) vs. Scott Lighty (202)
• David "Tarzan" Douglas (156) vs. Justin Wilcox (154)
• Zak Bucia (170) vs. James Terry (169)
• Isaiah Hill (156) vs. Alex Trevino (156)

Mintmaster said:
I think Carano is going to get clocked, but if she wins against that beast, she's my vote for female athlete of the decade.
Click to expand...

Dude, have you seen her train? She trains with Xtreme Couture. She's not just a pretty face and I really think she's gonna hand Cyborg a few smacks.
 
Cyborg was simply way too strong for Carano. Carano got some punches in, but you could easily see the power difference in the punches.
 
Rootax said:
Problem is he has no competition left at 205 in Strikeforce...
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1. Preface - let's not get into a debate about ufc, leave that crap at UG/Sherdog where it belongs.
If u don't know what I'm referring to even better.

2. He's not exclusive to strikeforce.

3. He can fight at a lower / higher weightclass.

4. UFC, if the powers that be can finally come to terms.
 
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