Andy's grade for UFC 136: D-
Well, clearly I suck at predicting fights. Or, maybe it's just proof that anyone can win on any given night. (I like that excuse a lot more than me just sucking at picking fights. ) But, let's continue on with predictions anyway.
Main Card
Main Event
(LHW Championship) Champion Jon "Bones" Jones vs. Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida
What can I say about this fight? This is a complete win/win for me. I've been a Machida fan since I saw him fight Sam Hoger at UFC 67 and I've been a Jon Jones fan since I saw him beat Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94. If I could pick any one person in the UFC light-heavyweight division that I'd like to see beat Jon Jones, it's Lyoto Machida. However there's something about Jon Jones and his ability to embarass everyone, even Shogun, that makes me want to see Jones never lose. Machida is a great fighter but Jones has this athleticism that seems no one has an answer for.
Machida is more of a counter-puncher while Jones can be both aggressive and be a counter-puncher. This will make for one hell of a fight, but a fight I don't see Machida winning. Jones needs to be put on his heels. He needs to have his rhythm interrupted, you can't let Jones set the pace by being super aggressive. Sadly, that is not how Machida fights. Could he beat Jones? I believe so if he fought completely different from how he fights now. Will he do that? I don't believe so at all. Jones wins this in convincing fashion sometime in the first three rounds. I don't think we'll see this go into the championship rounds at all.
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| Jon Jones |
(HW Bout) Frank Mir vs. Antônio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira (Big Nog)
Don't let casual MMA fans fool you. Frank Mir is not "out" yet in the MMA scene. I think this fight will be closer than most think. Although Big Nog is a legend of the sport, Frank Mir beat Big Nog once before in 2008 at UFC 92. Both Nogueira and Mir have been putting up some wins lately. And while Mir's win over Cro Cop was rather boring, he also beat Roy "I can only win using the Crucifix position" Nelson.
However, Big Nog has been looking great lately. He looked superb in his recent win over Brandon Schaub. Even though he was knocked out by Cain Velasquez, I think Big Nog is going to show everyone that he's also not done in this sport.
This is another tough fight for me to call. I think Big Nog's striking has looked better than Mir's as of recently, and I'm sure that Big Nog's BJJ slightly better than Mir's as well. I think Mir's best chance is to wrestle and ground and pound but I don't think Big Nog is going to let that happen this time.
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| Big Nog |
(LHW Bout) Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" vs. Antônio Rogério "Minotoro" Nogueira (Lil' Nog)
What? I thought Nogueira was fighting Mir!? That's right.... he is. But his twin brother "Lil' Nog" is fighting Ortiz on the same card in a weight class below. Minotauro and Minotoro on the same card. I think Ryan Bader took Tito Ortiz for granted, and Tito got lucky.
That said, Lil' Nog (who got a gift decision win over Jason Brilz) should be able to take Ortiz out. Lil' Nog has better striking (on paper) and his BJJ is way better than Ortiz. Unless Ortiz is able to take Lil' Nog down and ground and pound him, I don't see Ortiz winning this. Oh, unless Lil' Nog does the same thing Bader did and look passed Ortiz. But..... F--- Tito.
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| Lil' Nog |
(WW Bout) Claude "The Prince" Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole
Admittedly, I am not a follower of either of these fighters. So this one I'm going to have to pick based on records and such. What fights I have seen of these fighters hasn't shown me much in the way of how I think this fight may or may not go.
Claude Patrick is an up-and-coming Canadian prospect with a record of 14-1. Most of his wins (9) coming by way of submission and most of those submissions by way of Guillotine Choke. He obviously has some skills with BJJ.
Brian Ebersole boasts a record of 48-14-1 (1 NC). The experience advantage clearly goes to Ebersole. One interesting note is that of his 14 losses, 9 of them have been by submission. However, of his 48 wins, 20 of them have been by submission as well.
We have an interesting matchup. One has the momentum of being on a 13 fight win streak, the other has a sizeable experience advantage. Coin toss for me, I think I'm going to go with the experience factor this time instead of the hype. As for when and how it ends? That's anyone's guess in my opinion.
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| Brian Ebersole |
(FW Bout) Mark Hominick vs. Chan "The Korean Zombie" Sung Jung
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| The Hominick Hematoma |
The Korean Zombie is best known in the U.S. for putting on some great fights. His two fights against Leonard Garcia are absolutely legendary. If you haven't seen them, please go find them online and check them out.
I think this should be a great fight. Both fighters will come to bring it, but I believe Hominick is going to get the knock out sometime in the first or second round. Expect it to be a great fight regardless how long it goes.
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| Mark Hominick |
Preliminary Card
(LHW Bout) Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Igor Pokrajac
Andy's pick: Krzysztof Soszynski
(MW Bout) Jared Hamman vs. Constantinos Philippou
Andy's pick: Jared Hamman
(LW Bout) John Makdessi vs. Dennis Hallman
Andy's pick: John Makdessi
(BW Bout) Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson
Andy's pick: Yves Jabouin
(LW Bout) Mark Bocek vs. Nik Lentz
Andy's pick: Mark Bocek
(WW Bout) Rich Attonito vs. Jake Hecht
Andy's pick: Jake Hecht
(LW Bout) Mitch Clarke vs. John Cholish
Andy's pick: John Cholish
That's it. As usual comments are welcomed and usually responded to. I'd love to hear what you guys think about these matchups.
--Andy
