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UFC 85
Well, I guess that the UFC delivered yet again. We went from originally having a main event of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua against Chuck Liddell to having Liddell face Rashad Evans. Both Liddell and Rua sustained injuries and had to pull out of the June 7 card in London, prompting talk of this being a repeat of last year's subpar UFC 72, which took place in Ireland and featured Rich Franklin against Yushin Okami as the main event. Liddell and Rua might both be out for this card, but like I said, the UFC has delivered for the fans yet again.
The new main event features the young Brazilian striker Thiago Alves taking on Matt Hughes, a wrestler known as the most dominating welterweight in UFC history. I'll talk about the rest of the card in a minute, but first I need to give my analysis of this fight. Thiago is an exciting young fighter, and he definitely has the pedigree to beat Hughes. Matt will undoubtedly try to take him to the ground, but Thiago is a solid jiu-jitsu fighter (he's from Brazil for heaven's sake!), and should be able to hold his own if it does go to the ground. If Alves can somehow keep this fight standing, then Matt is no match for his devastating striking, especially those amazing leg kicks (Joe Rogan calls them the best in the game). All in all, this should be an interesting fight. The only way that I can see Matt defeating Thiago is if he uses his superior strength to muscle his way through a boring 3-round decision. Unfortunately, that is a very real possibility, especially at this stage in Matt's career. Let's hope that we can rely on Thiago to make this fight interesting and hopefully pull out a win over Hughes, most likely earning him a title shot (more on that later).
The rest of the card is as follows:
MW: Chris Leben vs. Michael Bisping - It's easy to pick Bisping in this one, but Leben seems to be in a different place since leaving Team Quest and moving to Hawaii to train. I'll have to hold off picking this one, possibly until I write my preview a few days before - it's that close in my mind.
WW: Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick - The winner of this will be highly ranked in the welterweight division, and will most likely face the loser of the Alves/Hughes fight. Unfortunately, there are a lot of guys in line for a title shot at 170, so this fight doesn't really have title implications just yet. Should still be a solid fight, though.
LHW: Rashad Evans vs. James Irvin - Irvin knocked out heavily favored Houston Alexander at UFN 13 in just 8 seconds, but Rashad Evans is on a different level from Alexander. All early signs point to this one being a lopsided fight in favor of Rashad.
HW: Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera - This has been the mainstay fight on the card, and some people are even starting to overlook it. These are two of the top fighters - and I'm using that term loosely - in the heavyweight division, and it's a classic striker (Vera) vs. grappler (Werdum) fight. This one could steal the show and could have title implications in the HW division.
Also: MW: Jorge Rivera vs. Martin Kampmann (Kampmann hasn't fought in over a year and Rivera is staying strong in the MW division), LW: Matt Wiman vs. Thiago Tavares (two fast risers in the LW division, could steal the show as well), MW: Nate Marquardt vs. Thales Leites (this is a very compelling MW fight that should be on the main card), LHW: Jason Lambert vs. Luiz Cane, HW: Antoni Hardonk vs. Neil Wain (people are overlooking the undefeated Brit Wain for some reason).
For me, this has turned from one of the worst looking cards in awhile to a legitimate card that could end up being one of the best of the year.
News
Welterweight Title Picture. Georges St. Pierre won the undisputed welterweight title back at UFC 83, and it should be announced any day that he will defend that newly won title against contender Jon Fitch, probably at UFC 87 in Minnesota in August or UFC 88 sometime in September. The winner of that fight will then most likely face the winner of the Thiago Alves/Matt Hughes fight at UFC 85 near the end of the year. After that, there are a few other contenders that should be considered, including Marcus Davis, Mike Swick, Karo Parisyan, and even Diego Sanchez and Josh Koscheck. Plus, former champion Matt Serra isn't going anywhere.
DREAM.2. The second event from Japanese organization DREAM takes place on Tuesday, and features the first round of the middleweight tournament as well as a rematch between Gesias "JZ" Calvancante and Shinya Aoki from DREAM.1, which ended in a No Contest. Participants in the MW tourney include Denis Kang, Gregard Mousasi, Masakatsu Funaki, Kazushi Sakuraba, Ikusisa Minowa, and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. Melvin Manhoef vs. Ralek Gracie has also been rumored as the 8th fight in the 16-main tournament. The event will be shown on tape delay in the US on HDNet (May 3). Also, DREAM.1 will be shown on HDNet (May 2), as well as DREAM.3-DREAM.6 (at a later time either live or on tape delay).
Fedor vs. Tim. You've probably already heard this, but top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko will take on former UFC champion Tim Sylvia in July. This fight will take place for the newly founded Affliction organization. I don't think Big Tim has a shot against Fedor, nor do I think many other fighters in the world do. Fedor is just too polished in every aspect of the sport for Sylvia to be able to compete.
Cro Cop. Former UFC heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop will face world-renowned kickboxer Jerome LeBanner at DREAM.4 in June. This fight matches two of the most devastating strikers to ever compete in MMA, which means that it will be a ground fight that goes the distance.
That's it for this week. Thank you for reading and please add any news or comments below if you would like.
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