UFC

I originally wrote my UFC 69 Predictions about a month ago. Now that we're a week away from the event, it's time for me to re-evalute my pridictions. I'd like to start off with:

Josh Koscheck vs Diego Sanchez

I was originally thinking that Diego Sanchez would win this by TKO or decision, but the more I read about Koscheck, the more I think he has a real chance of pulling this one off. In fact, if he's been working his standup as much as he says, I think that Koscheck may just ground and pound his way to a decision or ref stoppage.

Koscheck says that he's now spending 80% of his time training standup. His wrestling is already immaculate, he has the best takedowns of anyone at welterweight (Matt Hughes included), perhaps even the best takedowns in MMA.

I'm picking Josh Koscheck to defeat Deigo Sanchez, either by ref stoppage or decision.

List from UFC.com

ST City Location Phone
AK Anchorage Hooters @ Anchorage 907 563-5653
AL Huntsville Buffalo Wild Wings @ Huntsville 256 650-4115
AL Opelika Buffalo Wild Wings @ Opelika 334 741-0989
AL Birmingham Fox & Hounds @ Birmingham 205 968-3823
AL Montgomery Fox & Hounds @ Montgomery 334 260-0092
AL Daphne Hooters @ Daphne 251 625-3910
AL Dothan Hooters @ Dothan 334 673 4668
AL Birmingham Hooters @ E Birmingham 205 437-1880
AL Huntsville Hooters @ Huntsville 256 722 0166
AL Mobile Hooters @ Mobile (251) 473 9464
AL Pelham Hooters @ Pelham 205 682-9464
AL Mobile Hooters @ Tillman Corner 251 661-9117
AL Birmingham Hooters @ Trussville 205 655 9475
AL Tuscaloosa Hooters @ Tuscaloosa 205 758 3035 Continue reading "UFC 69 Sports Bar Locations" »

It's official. Chuck Liddell will face Rampage Jackson on May 26th. This will no doubt be the main event at UFC 71.

Ticket info below, courtesy of UFC.com

Tickets for UFC 71: LIDDELL vs. JACKSON (not including applicable services or taxes) are priced at $750, $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50 and go on sale Friday, March 30 at 10 a.m. Tickets are available at the MGM Grand Garden Arena box office, all Ticketmaster locations, and by telephone at 800-929-1111 or 702-891-7777 (Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Macy’s stores and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (702) 474-4000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.ufc.com, www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

It looks like Nate "The Great" Marquart is finally going to get a title shot. Nate will be taking on currrent UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva on July 7th in Las Vegas. This fight is "tentative", which means it'll happen unless something gets set up with either Pride Champoin Dan Henderson, or former middleweight champioin Rich Franklin.

No matter what, we'll keep you posted.

UFC.com has announced the full UFC 69 Fight Card.

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP®
ANNOUNCES FULL CARD
FOR UFC 69: SHOOTOUT

GEORGES ST-PIERRE vs. MATT SERRA
DIEGO SANCHEZ vs. JOSH KOSCHECK
ROGER HUERTA vs. LEONARD GARCIA
MIKE SWICK vs. YUSHIN OKAMI
ALAN BELCHER vs. KENDALL GROVE
BRAD IMES vs. HEATH HERRING
THALES LEITES vs. PETE SELL
MARCUS DAVIS vs. PETE SPRATT
JOSH HAYNES vs. LUKE CUMMO

SATURDAY, APRIL 7

LIVE FROM TOYOTA CENTER IN HOUSTON

It looks like Sean Sherk is slated to defend his UFC lightweight title against Hermes Franca in July. It should be an excellent match. Look for the winner of the BJ Penn vs Jens Pulver match to likely challenge the winner of this fight.

That's right, May 26th. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will attempt to beat Chuck Liddell for a second time!

Straight from UFC dot com.

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP® UFC 69: SHOOTOUT MAIN CARD LINE-UP

GEORGES ST-PIERRE vs. MATT SERRA
DIEGO SANCHEZ vs. JOSH KOSCHECK
ROGER HUERTA vs. LEONARD GARCIA
MIKE SWICK vs. YUSHIN OKAMI
ALAN BELCHER vs. KENDALL GROVE

SATURDAY, APRIL 7 LIVE FROM TOYOTA CENTER IN HOUSTON

I will issue my final UFC 69 Predictions probably next week. I'll be looking to return to form after picking 3 matches incorrectly in UFC 68:

FYI, I picked:
Syvia over Couture (ouch)
MacDonald over Franklin (against my better judgement, I was swayed on this one by one of our readers....)
Babalu over Lambert (probably wasn't alone on picking that one wrong).

David Heath will take on Lyoto Machida in UFC 70. Forrest Griffin is out with a severe staph infection in his knee.

David Heath sports a 7-0 MMA record, featuring victories over Sean Salmon by submission and in his two UFC appearances, a submission victory over Cory Walmsley and close decision win over Victor Valimaki.

As for Forrest Griffin, he needs to get back up on that horse after a decisive loss to Keith Jardine.

According to UFCJunkie.com, the latest Rumour is Tito vs Rashad at UFC 71. Other sources say Tito vs Keith Jardine, time will tell which source is correct.

Here are my predictions for UFC 69 being held in Texas on April 7, 2007

Georges St Pierre vs Matt Serra
- While Matt Serra is a strong BJJ player, he doesn't have the size, strength or standup of Georges St Pierre. I expect St Pierre to win by TKO, or at very least a decision.

Roger Huerta vs Leonard Garcia
- It's strikes vs submissions in this one. I believe Huerta will pull of the ref stoppage victory.

Diego Sanchez vs Josh Koscheck
- Josh Koscheck is strong and much improved since their last meeting, but I also believe that Sanchez has improved. I think Dana has Sanchez on the fast track to meeting for a title shot. I don't believe that Koscheck has enough to defeat Sanchez. Sanchez, probably by decision.

Yushin Okami vs Mike Swick
- I'm a Mike Swick fan, just ask Little Hughes. I think Swick will take Okami out quickly.

Alan Belcher vs Kendall Grove
- Kendall Grove, by any means necessary.

Brad Imes vs Heath Herring
- Six months ago, I would have given this bout to Herring easily, but now after his last dismal performance I have my doubts. I'm not going to pick a winner in this one, I just hope Heath has gotten his act together.

Thales Leites vs Pete Sell
- Pete Sell will dominate the standup and eventually knock Thales out.

Marcus Davis vs Pete Spratt
I've never been that impressed with Pete Spratt. He talks a good game and looks good in training, but has problems on fight night. I'll pick Marcus Davis to win this one.

Josh Haynes vs Luke Cummo
Josh Haynes will win this one on pure heart.

You remember Matt Hamill's rant about how Bisping has yet to prove that he's the real Ultimate Fighter Season 3 champ? Hamill could not continue due to an injury suffered. "The Count" has fired back a little on his most recent update on UFC.com








Bisping Says:

The fighter in question - I forget his name - is a good wrestler but has no BJJ and couldn’t strike a match. He’s the one who produced the most embarrassingly amateurish performance of the entire season, where even though he won he couldn’t continue in the competition as he was so bashed up.

Sounds like Matt Hamill wants a match against Michael Bisping. Both of these fighters were part of TUF season 3. Neither fighter has actually lost, but Hamill was unable to continue with the competition due to an injury he sustained in one of the fights (a fight he actually won).

So, Bisping vs Hamill...like Matt Hamill said, let's find out who the real TUF 3 champion is, it's not over yet!

Here's a quick sample of the results.

Randy Couture defeats Tim Sylvia and takes the title.
- Randy Couture is absolutely amazing. He's 43 years old, 13 years older than Tim Sylvia. Not only that, but he also was 60 pounds or more lighter than Sylvia in this fight. Randy out struck, out wrestled, out BJJ'd and generally out worked Sylvia. This looks very good on Randy for a couple of possible future matches, including one where he'll likely be defending his shiny new heavyweight belt against Mirko Cro Cop. As for Tim Sylvia, I have no idea how he defeated Andrei Arlovski. I'm hoping that Arlovski comes back strong and makes a future run at the title.

Congratulations Randy Couture, the new and three time UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Rich Franklin makes Jason MacDonald quit.
- Rich Franklin gave Jason MacDonald a two round beat down and MacDonald couldn't answer the bell for the third round. Franklin shows why he was once the best at 185 and might be again in the future. MacDonald, on the other hand has some work to do on his stand up before he takes on someone like Franklin...or Silva.

Matt Hughes decisions Chris Lytle.
- Not the most impressive performance I've ever seen from Matt Hughes. Hughes should have been able to get a ref stoppage or submission in this fight, but really all he accomplished was holding Lytle down for 15 minutes and landing a few ground and pound shots. Lytle turned out to be tougher on the ground than I thought he'd be, but he was basically ineffective in the stand up (where he should have dominated). An easy victory for Hughes, but he's not going to hold Georges St Pierre down like that!

Jason Lambert KO'd Renalto Sobral. Looks like Babalu needs to work on his stand up!

Looks like everybody made weight this time!

Tim Sylvia (263) vs Randy Couture (222.5)
Rich Franklin (185) vs Jason MacDonald (183.5)
Matt Hughes(171) vs Chris Lytle (169)
Jason Lambert (204) vs Renato Sobral (204)
Drew McFedries (185) vs Martin Kampmann (185.5)
Rex Holman (205) vs Matt Hamill (202.5)
Jon Fitch (171) vs Luigi Fioravanti (171)
Gleison Tibau (155.5) vs Jason Dent (156)
Jason Gilliam (155.5) vs Jamie Varner (155.5)