UFC 69

What a difference a year makes, especially to the UFC heavyweight division. Just a year ago, it was thought by many that the UFC heavyweight division was the least interesting of the weight classes. In fact, the moment that Tim Sylvia defeated Andrei Arlovski for the UFC heavyweight title in April 2006, it became the UFC's most boring division. In fact, 2 minutes and 43 seconds into that fight Arlovski went down and with it, the excitement left.

July of last year saw a rematch with Sylvia facing Arlovski again, but unlike their first two bouts this one would go the distance. It was the longest 25 minutes of my MMA watching life. Neither fighter engaged, neither landed big shots or attempted big take downs. Something had to be done, the hard core UFC fans did not want to see Arlovski Sylvia 4, and there were no other real challengers.

Something has happened since then, barely 9 months have passed and one title defense later sees the UFC's heavyweight division as the best in the sport. The first event was the signing of Pride standout heavyweight Mirko "Cro Cop". Mirko's incredible striking and strong take down defense earned him recognition as one of the 5 best heavyweights in the world. It was assumed by many, including myself, that Mirko was brought in as a hired gun to end Tim Sylvia's reign of terror and restore honor to the UFC heavyweight ranks.

Mirko may not get the chance...somebody beat him to it. As it turns out 43 year old Randy "The Natural" Couture decided to come out of retirement and challenge for the heavyweight title. While I'm not a huge Tim Sylvia fan, I did not give Randy much of a chance because of Tim's enormous size and reach advantage, not to mention that he's 12 or 13 years younger than Randy. Randy proved me wrong by dominating a 5 round fight. The excitement was back and Randy Couture was back on top!

UFC president Dana White was apparently not satisfied with just having a few good heavyweight fighters though, recently he's signed Brazilian submission masters Antonio Rodrigo Nogeura and Fabricio Werdum to UFC contracts. It is unknown when "Big Nog" will get his first fight in the UFC, but we do know that Werdum is to fight former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski on April 21, 2007 at UFC 70 "Nations Collide". Oh, did I forget to mention the perennial heavyweight contender Heath Herring? While Heath hasn't looked spectacular in his first two UFC outings, he was always near the top when he fought in Japan's Pride organization.

So, here's how the UFC Heavyweight division stacks up as I see it:

1 Randy Couture - UFC Heavyweight Champion
2 Mirko Cro Cop - #1 contender (will get a title shot if he wins at UFC 70 against Gabriel Gonzaga)
3 Antonio Rodrigo Nogeura - #2 contender, no fights set yet.
4 Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Fabricio Werdum are all tied for this spot as I see it.
5 Gabriel Gonzaga - if he beats Cro Cop at UFC 70 he will get a title shot.

It's also been rumored that a win at UFC 70 by Andrei Arlovski will get him another title shot later this year.

2007 is a banner year for UFC heavyweight fans. I for one am enjoying the it.

Matt Serra defeats Georges St Pierre by TKO in round 1
- Matt Serra looked very impressive.

Kendall Grove defeats Alan Belcher by Submission in round 2
- Kendall Grove once again looking like a real contender.

Yushin Okami defeats Mike Swick by decision
- Mike Swick says to his corner "That Mother ****** is strong.

Roger Huerta defeats Leonard Garcia by decision.
Garcia's submission attempts looked good and he was tough, but Huerta was just too much for him.

Josh Koscheck defeats Diego Sanchez by decision
- Sanchez did not want to engage for some reason and Kos got the best of the stand up.

Luke Cummo defeats Josh Haynes by TKO in round 2
- Maybe it's time for Haynes to consider doing something else. He simply gets hit too much.

Thales Leites defeats Pete Sell by decision

Heath Herring defeats Brad Imes by decision
- I missed this fight. Anyone want to comment on how it went?

Hello Everyone. It's late, so I'm just going to do a brief recap. Come back later today for a full one.

Matt Serra defeated Georges St Pierre by TKO (ref stoppage). Who would have guessed? I've always said that Matt Serra was a great fighter, but didn't seem to want to finish fights when his opponent was in trouble. He corrected that tonight and took advantage of a hurt Georges St Pierre, jumped on him and didn't let up until the ref stopped it. Way to go Matt Serra! As for Georges St Pierre, I look forward to seeing how he will come back from this.

In the other big match, Josh Koscheck stayed awake just long enough to defeat Diego Sanchez in a real snore fest of a fight. For Koscheck, he had a brilliant game plan and worked it to a T. For Sanchez, the angry guy...for all his pushing and shoving and talking he had nothing for Koscheck.

Have a good night folks, I'll have full results in the morning.

From ufc.com:

April 6 – The heat between Diego Sanchez and Josh Koscheck reached a boiling point at today’s weigh-in for UFC 69, with ‘The Nightmare’ pushing the former college standout wrestler, but the two welterweight contenders only have one more day to wait before they settle their score at the Toyota Center on a card headlined by the cooler heads of UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Matt Serra.



OFFICIAL WEIGHTS – UFC 69: Shootout

UFC Welterweight Championship
Matt Serra (169.5) vs Georges St-Pierre (169.5)

Josh Koscheck (170.5) vs. Diego Sanchez (168.5)
Yushin Okami (184) vs. Mike Swick (184)
Alan Belcher (184) vs. Kendall Grove (185.5)
Leonard Garcia (154.5) vs. Roger Huerta (155)
Brad Imes (260.5) vs. Heath Herring (245)
Thales Leites (186) vs. Pete Sell (186)
Marcus Davis (169.5) vs. Pete Spratt (170.5)
Josh Haynes (171) vs. Luke Cummo (170)

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" »

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

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).

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.

It looks like Heath Herring will return in UFC 69 on April 7th, this time to fight Ultimate Fighter alumni Brad Imes. Since Herring looked so terrible last time out, I've gotta give the edge in this one to Imes. Let it be noted that Heath should in theory be able to wipe the floor with Imes, but his last performance was so awful that it's hard to imagine Heath Herring defeating anyone anytime soon.