The Sprawl 7.10.09: Volume 28 - The UFC 100 Special Edition

Posted by Alex Mattis on 07.10.2009

I'm excited. Are you excited? On this installment of "The Sprawl" a special look at the biggest event in MMA history, UFC 100. A full breakdown of the three headlining fights, as well as "My Top 5 UFC Fights of All Time." It's guaranteed to be a good one! Come on in!



Hello all and welcome back to "The Sprawl!" It's been awhile since our last meeting but I'm back so simmer down! Last time we looked at the Fedor-Barnett fight and its importance, but before we can reach the biggest heavyweight fight of the year we'll hit the biggest MMA event in history. UFC 100 is within hours and let me tell you, I cannot effin' wait. The show will be headlined by three great fights. First, we'll take a look at the tri-headliner: Dan Henderson Vs. Michael Bisping - The showdown of TUF coaches. Then it's onto the Welterweight Championship showdown: Georges St. Pierre Vs. Thiago Alves. And finally... the rematch of Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir to determine the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. We're getting closer to the event by the second... LET'S GET DOWN TO IT!!!

When talking about the greatest MMA fighters of all time Dan Henderson's name has to come up. This guy has been around for over a decade, been in there with the best the sport has had to offer, and build quite the record for himself. He will live forever in history as PRIDE's only fighter to ever hold two titles in two different weight classes. He has always been one of the best wrestlers in the sport, and he has developed himself into one of the most feared strikers in all of MMA. He has always been an incredibly aggressive, some times too much so, and has time after time shown that he has one of the best chins ever in combat sports.


And here I was thinkin' the Brits were the ones with the jakked up grills

This fight is a very important one for his career and his run in the UFC. Since coming back to the UFC Dan has failed in both his outings at championships but has shown in his last two fights that he can still hang with the best in the world. A win over the UFC's highly touted TUF winner Michael Bisping could put Hendo back at the top of the heap and potentially in line for another crack at the gold. Dan can't get over-aggressive in this fight or things could go bad like they did in his bout against Anderson Silva. It's obvious that Bisping got under the skin of Hendo during their stint as coaches on TUF; so while it may be difficult for Danny to stay patient in this fight, if he can wait and land his big shot this fight will be "ALL OVER!!!!" *Mike Goldberg Voice*

Michael "The Count" Bisping is a solid, exciting fighter and the best that the UK has ever had MMA to offer. He has become the most successful MMA fighter to ever come from the UK and has turned himself in to a true star in his home country. This fight is the opportunity for Michael Bisping to prove that not only is he one of the best the UK has to offer, but that he is one of the best middleweights in the world and has what it takes to fight for a world title.


Submitted for the approval of The Midnight Society, I present "The next #1 Contender?"

Ever since winning the 3rd season of the Ultimate Fighter Bisping has torn through almost everyone the UFC has put in front of him and has made quite a name for himself, most impressive in his UFC tenure has been his last two victories. Bisping pulled off a Fedor-like performance against Jason Day, and showed great patience and effective game-planning in his decision win over Chris Leben. Michael has some skills both standing and on the ground. He has shown great kickboxing skills in the past, he has demonstrating very effective ground and pound on more than one occasion, his wrestling has come a long way since TUF, and I think Bisping has a rather underrated BJJ game. Bisping is going to have to use all these traits effectively in order to beat Dan Henderson.

While this fight should be very exciting, I just don't see how Bisping can win. Hendo's best chances of winning are going to be on the feet... or on the ground, or where ever. Henderson has clearly demonstrated that he has more power behind his striking than Bisping and Danny is more powerful on the ground than Bisping. Experience is a huge factor that has to be taken into consideration going into this fight. Just comparing the records of the two men and who they've fought will tell you that Henderson has been through the ringer far more than "The Count." Danny has been in there with both Nog's, Babalu, Ninja, Anderson Silva, Murilo Bustamante, Vitor Belfort, he's KO'd Wanderlei Silva, and most recently he's racked up victories over Rousimar Palhares and former champ Rich Franklin. He has been in there with the best of the best. I don't think the same thing can be said for Bisping, and while his record may look more impressive he hasn't fought much top-flight competition. It is true that he has blasted through most of his UFC opponents, only losing one (but in this writer's whacky world the Hamill fight was a loss), but the level of competition he fought was not on the same level as that that Hendo has fought. This is a huge step up in competition for Michael and a win here would be enormous for him and his career, but how the hell is he going to do it?

What is going to happen in this fight won't be known until July 11th, but we as fans can rest assured that both of these guys are going to show up in tremendous shape and are going to be ready to throw some leather. The real question of this fight is "What does Bisping have that Danny hasn't seen before?" The kind of guys that have given Hendo the most trouble are crafty BJJ guys, and while I think Bisping's ground game is somewhat underrated I don't think its anything for Danny to be concerned about. Dan should be able to keep this standing when he wants, and if he wants to take it to the ground, he should be able to do that also. Bisping does have speed on Henderson, however, and if he creates a strategy that properly utilizes that it may be his best chance. As the pre-fight trash talk comes to an end, it may truly foreshadow how the fight plays out. Bisping has been going on and on about how he is going to be the first man to KO Dan Henderson. If his strategy is to go into a fight against Dan Henderson and throw wild bombs, aiming for the KO this fight will be just like Hendo's fight against Ryo Chonan... quick and brutal. If Bisping shows tremendous patience and uses his speed properly he could possibly out-point Hendo, but if I were putting money on this fight I would put it on Henderson without hesitation.

Moving along to the first title fight on the card: Georges St. Pierre Vs. Thiago Alves. This should be something else. It seems that for GSP's past few fights everyone has been throwing out the "biggest test of his career" line and I didn't truly believe that until now, as Thiago Alves truly is GSP's biggest test to date and certainly the biggest test the welterweight division has for St. Pierre. This fight is going to come down to who has trained harder and ultimately, how bad does Alves want it?


A sign of things to come?

Thiago Alves is the perfect example of the fighter that "gets better with every fight." Thiago has had eleven fights in the UFC and gone an impressive 9-2 and is riding a seven-fight win streak coming into this fight. Each victory more impressive than the prior and just showing his overall improvement each and every time he steps into the cage. He has found his niche with his striking and asserted himself as the most feared striker in all of the division. He KO'd Karo, who up until that point hadn't been. He flat-lined Matt Hughes, the greatest welterweight ever, with an insane flying knee. And in his most recent outing, gave an un-Godly ass-whippin' to Josh Koscheck. Bringing his devastating striking game, along with his underrated submission skills, Thiago Alves is going to pose a huge threat to GSP's reign as champion. Alves is going to need all his skills, luck on his side, and even more to be able to conquer the super-hero himself. Georges St. Pierre will step into the octagon on July 11th and attempt to defend his title for a third time. GSP's UFC career has been one of the best of any fighter ever and after his absolute destructions/dominations of Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, and BJ Penn GSP looks to have no one that can touch him. He's coming into this fight with a world of confidence and certainty that he is the world's top welterweight and is going to be the champion for a long-while. Adding on the "grease-gate" drama, GSP is looking to erase each and every doubt and silence every critic. "Rush" is going to be in absolute top shape mentally and physically to conquer the biggest opposition of his career.


Georges St. Pierre: Ain't nobody slicker

Come this Saturday night we will see who truly put in the hours and trained harder for this welterweight showdown. We have seen time and time again that GSP's conditioning is outrageous and he can cut a solid pace for a whole 25-minutes; we cannot say the same for Alves. Prior to the Koscheck fight, Thiago has seemed to fade the longer his fights go not to mention that he has never been in a 5-round fight before. In addition to his conditioning, Alves better have put in diligent time on his takedown defense. I don't think it's going to surprise anyone if GSP immediately shoots and tries to turn this fight into a wrestling match as I highly doubt he is going to want to stand in front of Alves. Thiago showed great takedown defense against Koscheck and if he has improved upon that he could give GSP some problems. On a quick side note, Kos took GSP down and put him on his back but couldn't do the same to Alves... just saying. Moving on. How is GSP going to deal with the size and strength of Thiago Alves? If Alves can properly harness his power and girth it may be the deciding factor of this fight. The dude is the biggest human being I've ever seen that only weights 170lbs and that alone could present problems for anyone in a fight, even the super-hero that is Georges St. Pierre. All things considered, Thiago Alves has what it takes to defeat GSP, but it is going to take an absolutely flawless performance. If Alves comes into this fight in great shape, improved takedown defense, a good gameplan, and most importantly doesn't get dwarfed by the moment we will see a new welterweight champion crowned. In the end Georges St. Pierre may just be too good for anyone at 170 to handle right now. This fight is just too hard to call, it's nearly impossible to predict how this one will play out.


Who would have though two men and a mustache would have caused all this?

Finally, on to the main event; the grudge match for the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship. When the Couture-Lesnar fight was announced and set into motion the UFC's "heavyweight tournament" I remember reading a Sherdog post that said "if we get Mir-Lesnar II i will LMAO". This pretty much summed up my thoughts at the time also. While I'm possibly the biggest Frank Mir fan in the world, I didn't realistically think he was going to defeat Nogueira. On the other side of the coin, I figured that Couture was just going to be too much for Brock Lesnar. All in all, 99.9% of the MMA community didn't even entertain the thought of a Lesnar-Mir rematch taking place to crown the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. Well as fate has it... that's what we are getting, and we're getting it in a "best case scenario." When Mir had to withdraw from 98 because of his knee I'm sure Dana & Co. had an "ah fuck!" moment but then quickly realized "Ah fuck! We could have this at UFC 100!!!" then they proceeded to turn their frowns upside-downs. A heavyweight title fight of this importance and main-stream appeal; it's a natural fit to have this on their biggest event ever.

There are many questions heading into this fight and many people, especially Brock Lesnar, are looking to the first fight for answers as to what is going to happen this time around. With all the questioning around the first fight I think we should look at the facts:

-21 seconds into the fight Brock lands 3 punches directly on the back of Mir's head.
-23 seconds into the fight you can hear Steve Mazzagatti issue a warning. "Watch the back of the head!"
-25 seconds into the fight Brock lands 3 more shots to the back of Frank's head.
-26 seconds into the fight the Maz separated the two and issued a stand-up.

That's not me being "a Mir-fanboy" that's what happened in the fight. Plain and simple. What happens in a fight when a foul is committed? The ref separates the fighters and a rest period is had. Now, the mistake Mazzagatti made was deducting a point. The standup was warranted, but Lesnar should have been issued his "last warning" and not had a point taken away. People are still so swept up on the stand-up that they tend to forget that AFTER they were stood-up Lesnar got Mir into a worse spot than he was in before. He knocked him off balance with a punch, jumped into side-control and started reigning down 'dem hammer-fists from hell. This is where Lesnar was doing to true damage of the fight. Mir had him in a near armbar which Lesnar broke out of, stood up, and the rest is history. I'm not sure what everyone has learned from the first fight aside from Lesnar = STRONG and that Frank Mir has tremendous heart and, as known all along, Mir has outstanding submissions. Seventeen months later, it's time to see what has changed.

Heading into UFC 100 we have the Frank Mir that has returned to form, he has returned to the man that got so much hype back in '02, '03, and '04 when he won the UFC heavyweight title. He has shown that he has reached his full potential and his incredible odyssey culminated when he won the Interim-UFC heavyweight title and became the first man to ever finish "Mintauro" Nogueira. After being written off by many Mir rose back to the top and achieved what seemed to be impossible. While Mir may be near his peak he is colliding with what looks to be an unstoppable force. Brock Lesnar, in only two fights, has shown that he is already one of the best heavyweights in the world and can hang with the UFC top talent. A win here would erase the sole blemish on his UFC record and solidify this Grendal as "the big thing" in the UFC. The question for Brock is, can he properly use all his God-given talent and realize his full potential? His fights with Herring and Couture proved that he is a tremendous powerhouse, but now with this fight can Brock Lesnar prove that he is a tremendous fighter?


"...so he says 'Rectum? Damn near killed 'em!'"

At the end of the day, Frank Mir is a superior fighter than Brock Lesnar. It's hard to argue that. But the biggest factor here, no pun intended, is Brock's size. You can have all the skill in the world but once you get cracked with one of them skillets you'll go down just like anyone else. This is going to be Mir's greatly improved striking and incredible submission skills going against the Gorilla strength and intense explosiveness of Lesnar. Frank is going to need a great gameplan and is going to need to be ready to go all 5 rounds. If he can just weather what will be a guaranteed early storm from Brock his chances of winning this fight will skyrocket. As we saw in the Couture fight, Lesnar's cardio is suspect and if Mir could exploit that he could grind out a victory. I think all of that may be irrelevant however, as whichever way it goes I do not see this fight making in to the 2nd round. This is going to be an incredibly explosive and exciting fight but I do believe that Brock is going to come into this fight with too much emotion, without a level head, and isn't going to be able to keep his composure. He is going to be looking for the kill right away and it going to leave openings that Frank will be able to capitalize on. This fight will prove that Frank Mir is Brock Lesnar Achilles heel and Frank Mir will become the UFC's Undisputed Heavyweight Champion.


...And my predictions for the rest of this ridiculously stacked card:
Jon Fitch Vs. Paulo Thiago
Yoshihiro Akiyama Vs. Alan Belcher
Mark Coleman Vs. Stephan Bonnar
Mac Danzig Vs. Jim Miller
Jon Jones Vs. Jake O'Brien
Dong Hyun Kim Vs. TJ Grant
CB Dollaway Vs. Tom Lawlor
Matt Grice Vs. Shannon Gugerty

And to close out this special UFC 100 edition of "The Sprawl," I present - My Top 5 Favorite UFC Fights Of All Time:
Honorable Mention: Clay Guida Vs. Tyson Griffin, Tito Ortiz Vs. Ken Shamrock I, Evan Tanner Vs. David Terrell


5. Chuck Liddell Vs. Tito Ortiz II - The biggest fight the UFC ever put on, and the fight itself did not disappoint. Goosebumps city.


4. Randy Couture Vs. Josh Barnett - Excellent amount of drama and an incredible turn around made this fight one of the most memorable UFC title fights in the company's history.


3. Forrest Griffin Vs. Stephan Bonnar - Cliché to put this on the list? Absolutely. But if it wasn't this fight I wouldn't be writing about MMA today.


2. Chuck Liddell Vs. Wanderlei Silva - I had, and still have, never been this psyched for a single sporting event. I was past-words with my anticipation for this fight. I thought I was going to have a heart-attack during the staredown. This fight exceeded all expectations and at the end of the night my guy had won, leaving more satisfied than Christmas had four days earlier.


1. Frank Shamrock Vs. Tito Ortiz - The MMA equivalent of Ali-Foreman. All that needs to be said.


Well that's all for me this week. I'll see you right back here next week, assuming of course I don't go into a coma of awesomeness during UFC 100

Feedback, as always, is welcome at [e-mail] or directly below.

Take Care,
-Alex