The Ultimate Writer 12.26.11: UFC 141 Preview, DREAM New Year's Eve 2011 Preview, UFC News, More
Posted by Dustin James on 12.26.2011
The Ultimate Writer returns with a preview of this weekend's huge fight between Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar as well as the rest of the UFC 141 card, a look at this weekend's DREAM New Year's Eve show, a review of last year's predictions and more!
Welcome back to "THE ULTIMATE WRITER"! As you should be accustomed to by now, I'm your host Dustin James aka "The Ultimate Writer" and MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Yes, I know Christmas was technically yesterday, but considering I write this column a day before any of you read it....it's Christmas at the moment. Yep, it's Christmas day and I'm still here writing this column for you guys. If that's not dedication and love for my fan base (all 3 of you that is...), I don't know what is. Either way, the column is going to be a little shorter than usual due to the holidays, but I'm sure most of you are fine with that considering most weeks I tend to talk a little too much anyway.
Well, it looks like my NFL season is officially over. Not only did the Kansas City Chiefs come out and lay an egg against those damn Oakland Raiders this last weekend, but I'm officially eliminated from all of my fantasy football leagues as well. I didn't have the best fantasy year this year, but I like to blame that on all of the NFL wide receivers being way too inconsistent. Seriously though, isn't WR the hardest position to predict every single week in fantasy? One week, you'll have Dwayne Bowe come out and catch 7 passes for 143 yards and 2 TD's only to have ZERO catches the next week. It's almost frustrating enough to make me not want to play next year. However, we all know that's not going to happen though.....right? I just love me some fantasy football a little way too much to even think about quitting right now.
Anyway, you came here for some MMA talk didn't you?......
So................
Without any further adieu.........
Like every week.............
Top Stories:
UFC/Strikeforce
UFC 141 "Lesnar vs. Overeem" Preview
I'm betting 411's Mark Radulich and Vince McMahon had an orgasm in their pants just looking at the above poster....
UFC 141 is right around the corner and it's a memorable show for plenty of reasons. We not only have the long-awaited return of former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, but he will be squaring off in the main event against former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, who just so happens to be making his much-anticipated UFC debut. It's no secret that the general public has a fascination with big dudes who can't move around that well and that's why I have a feeling UFC 141 will be a widely successful show. Now, the show is on a Friday night which could be a little detrimental to the PPV numbers, but I'm sure the Lesnar factor will help cure that problem. Of course, we also have what should be a great bout between Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone to look forward to as well. And if that wasn't enough, we also got fighters like Jon Fitch, Alexander Gustafsson, Johny Hendricks, Dong Hyun Kim, and Diego Nunes in action. UFC 141's main card may not exactly scream "MUST SEE", but it's usually those cards that are the ones that sneak up and surprise you. Can the UFC close 2011 with a bang this weekend? Let's look and see what they have in store for us this Friday night.....
UFC 141 "Lesnar vs. Overeem" Preview:
Featherweight Bout:
-Nam Phan (17-9) vs. Jim Hettes (9-0)
Nam Phan may be best known as the guy who got caught beating off in the shower during season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter". However, people need to realize that when Phan isn't rear-naked choking his own chicken, the guy is actually a pretty decent little fighter. He's definitely proved that in his UFC run thus far which includes both a controversial loss to Leonard Garcia and a shockingly easy victory in their rematch a few months back at UFC 136. Phan has showed tremendous improvement in his game over the course of the last year and he definitely doesn't want to slow down, especially considering a loss here could potentially mean an exit from the UFC. This is not going to be an easy fight for Nam though. Hettes is making his second appearance in the UFC here following a victory over Alex "Bruce Leroy" Caceres at UFC on Versus 5 back in August. Hettes finished "Bruce Leroy" with a rear-naked choke submission in the second-round, making it not only his ninth-consecutive victory in MMA, but his ninth-consecutive victory via submission! If you said that Hettes has one of the best ground games in all of the featherweight division in MMA, only a fool would argue with you. Now, Phan has a pretty good ground game of his own and has yet to be submitted. He's definitely going to give Hettes a tough fight, especially in the stand-up game. I could see Phan getting an early advantage in the fight with some crisp striking, forcing Hettes to change up his gameplan a little in an effort to take the fight to the ground. If Hettes does get the fight to the ground though, it will likely be only a matter of time before Phan is tapping out and joining the ranks of all the other unemployed former "TUF" fighters. Watch out Junie Browning, you may have some competition in the unemployment line soon....
My pick: Jim Hettes, Submission, Round 2
Light Heavyweight Bout:
-Alexander Gustafsson (12-1) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (26-5)
Alexander Gustafsson has quietly turned into one of the hottest young prospects in the UFC's light heavyweight division. Gustafsson is 4-1 since joining the UFC in 2009, with his only loss coming at the hands of top-ranked light heavyweight Phil Davis back at UFC 112. Since that unfortunate loss to Davis, Gustafsson has compiled three straight wins in the UFC, including a huge victory over Matt Hamill at UFC 133 in which he beat Hamill's ass into retirement. Minus that one setback against Davis last year, Gustafsson has looked incredible in the Octagon so far. He's finished every opponent he's beat and a convincing victory over someone like Vladimir Matyushenko could be the one thing that pushes him into potential title discussions in the future. Now, I'm not completely overlooking Matyushenko here. The guy is a long-time veteran of MMA who's seen and done everything there is. He also happens to be 4-1 in the UFC with his only loss coming at the hands of current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Matyushenko is currently riding a two-fight win streak in the UFC with his last win coming against Jason Brilz at UFC 129. He's looked good so far in the UFC, but we all saw what happens when Matyushenko fights a guy with a significant reach advantage when he lost to "Bones" Jones last year. Gustafsson has a pretty significant reach advantage over Matyushenko and if he's wise, he'll use it in the same way that Jones did in his victory over "The Janitor". Either way, I'm excited for this fight because no matter the outcome...we are going to have a new contender in the UFC's light heavyweight division to look out for.
My pick: Alexander Gustafsson, TKO, Round 2
Welterweight Bout:
-Jon Fitch (23-3-1) vs. Johny Hendricks (11-1)
What are the chances that this fight is going to bore the shit out of the majority of the fans watching the card? No offense to either guy, because I personally love watching both of them fight in the Octagon, but I'm a lot different than the casual UFC fan tuning into this show to see Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem trade fists. Jon Fitch is easily the "Rodney Dangerfield" of the UFC's welterweight division. The guy gets absolutely no respect and he's the perfect example of a great fighter getting lost in the shuffle of a competitive weight division. Since signing with the UFC in 2005, Fitch is 13-1-1 and has ONE title shot to show for it. He holds wins over top guys like Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez, Mike Pierce, and Paulo Thiago. His last fight was at UFC 127, which saw him fight to a draw against B.J. Penn and unfortunately Fitch suffered an injury during that fight which put him out of action for awhile. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that Fitch was extremely sour about not even being in the discussion for a shot at the UFC interim welterweight title along with Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. Fitch only has one loss on his UFC record after 15 fights in the Octagon, which just so happens to come against some guy named "Georges St. Pierre". How could anyone make an argument against Fitch getting a crack at Diaz or Condit for the title? He's more than deserved it. Either way, Fitch has other things to think about right now, and it all starts with Johny Hendricks. Hendricks is no slouch himself in the Octagon. Since coming over to the UFC from the WEC in 2009, Hendricks is 6-1 in the UFC with his only loss coming at the hands of Rick Story. Hendricks has shown in the past that he can grapple with some of the best wrestlers in the UFC's welterweight division, as seen in his victories over Charlie Brenneman and Mike Pierce. That's an important skill to have when you square off against Jon Fitch. It's no secret that Fitch loves taking people down and "fitching" them for three-rounds. The guy is so predictable, his name is even an adjective amongst MMA fans. If Hendricks can avoid Fitch's takedowns and keep the fight standing, I may consider picking Hendricks to pull off a huge upset. Fitch knows where his bread is buttered and even though Hendricks has a great ground game, he needs to get the fight to the ground because I don't think anyone wants to see these two average strikers throwing punches for three-rounds. This fight will likely become a ground-based fight (although it wouldn't shock me if it looked awfully similar to Rick Story vs. Johny Hendricks last year...) and while this fight won't exactly be the best one on the card, it's definitely one of the most intriguing. Will Jon Fitch continue on his "path of destruction" in the UFC's welterweight division or will Johny Hendricks shock the world and put an end to Fitch's dream of capturing the UFC welterweight title? We shall find out this weekend.....
My pick: Jon Fitch, Decision
Lightweight Bout:
-Nate Diaz (14-7) vs. Donald Cerrone (17-3)
Let it be known that I have a little bit of a "man crush" on Donald Cerrone right now. The guy is a warrior and has had an incredible year so far in 2011. After making his UFC debut against Paul Kelly at UFC 126 in February, Cerrone dominated Kelly and ended the fight with a rear-naked choke in the second-round. It was only a few months later before Cerrone was back in action in the Octagon taking on Vagner Rocha at UFC 131. Cerrone ended up defeating Rocha via unanimous-decision and was pretty upset with his performance. He was so upset, that he decided to take a fight with Charles Oliveira just a few months later at UFC on Versus 5. Cerrone ended up defeating Oliveira via TKO in the first-round, but he wasn't finished yet. Even though he compiled a 3-0 record in the UFC in less than 7 months, Cerrone wasn't done yet. He demanded a fight with Dennis Siver at UFC 137 in October and he got it. Cerrone shocked the world when he took out fellow top contender Siver with a rear-naked choke in just a little over two minutes. The win over Siver moved Cerrone's record to 4-0 in the UFC in 2011, but Cerrone wasn't done yet! Cerrone wanted to fight one more time in 2011 and when the UFC offered him a fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 141, he quickly accepted. Even though Cerrone is likely the hottest fighter in the UFC at the moment (next to Jon "Bones" Jones of course....), Nate Diaz will happily stand across the Octagon and punch him in the face. Diaz is coming off what is probably the biggest win of his career when he took out Takanori Gomi at UFC 135 in September. Since winning season 5 of "The Ultimate Fighter", Diaz has compiled a respective record of 9-5 in the UFC, but he seems to fold whenever he faces top competition. Cerrone is definitely a tough nut to crack and I'm not sure Diaz has an answer for anything "Cowboy" can throw his way. Diaz has shown in the past that he struggles against wrestlers (he has lost to the likes of Gray Maynard, Rory MacDonald, Clay Guida, etc.) and unfortunately for him, Cerrone is a pretty talented wrestler. All five of Diaz's losses in the UFC have come via decision and unfortunately for him, that's likely going to be the outcome of this fight. Unless Diaz can pull off some kind of miracle choke like Ben Henderson did to Cerrone at WEC 48 last year, I'd say we better start making plans for Donald Cerrone to fight for the UFC lightweight title sometime in 2012.....
My pick: Donald Cerrone, Decision
Heavyweight Bout:
-Brock Lesnar (5-2) vs. Alistair Overeem (35-11)
It seems like everywhere I go right now, people want to know who the hell Alistair Overeem is. No offense to Mr. Overeem, but the casual MMA fan has no idea who this guy is. All I keep hearing from the non-hardcore MMA fan base is "who is this guy who's fighting Lesnar in the main event of UFC 141?" Well, I'm betting everyone is going to know Alistair's name after this weekend, I just don't know if it's going to be for good reasons or for bad reasons. This fight is interesting on so many levels. On one hand, you have the former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar who hasn't fought in the Octagon since Cain Velasquez beat his ass at UFC 121 last year. That loss to Velasquez put plenty of questions in our heads about Lesnar's ability to take a hit. It looks like Lesnar took one solid shot from Cain and his night was over. That was a big difference from when Lesnar took a hard shot from Shane Carwin and also managed to survive an onslaught from Carwin before finishing him with an arm-triangle choke back at UFC 116. Can Lesnar take a hit without folding like a chair? That's the big question going into his fight with Overeem. It's no secret that Overeem is one of the hardest hitting heavyweights in MMA. If Overeem can connect with a shot like Cain did on Brock, I don't see how Brock will survive and continue fighting. Especially when you factor in the long layoff that Lesnar has had to endure due to an injury and this fight is just one massive question mark to me. It's obvious that Lesnar's best chance at winning would be to take Overeem down and pound on him with murderous intentions, much like he did to Frank Mir at UFC 100. Will that happen? I just don't know. Like I said earlier, there are so many question marks heading into this fight that I just don't know which way to lean. Part of me thinks Lesnar will get Overeem to the ground at will and we will once again see a Strikeforce fighter come over to the UFC and fall flat on his face. However, part of me also keeps returning back to the Lesnar/Velasquez fight and if Overeem can hit Lesnar like Cain did, I don't think Brock's going to be standing on his feet for very long. I love fights that are extremely hard to predict and this is one of those times. All I know is, whatever the outcome, we are in for a treat. If Overeem defeats Lesnar with relative ease, it's my personal opinion that it'll be the last time we see Lesnar in the Octagon. To me, it seems that Brock already has one foot out the door as it pertains to his UFC career and a second-straight defeat would likely push him all the way out. Lesnar is not getting any younger and with his ongoing health problems, it may be a wise move for him to consider yet another different career move (a return to the WWE perhaps?). One thing I know for sure. This upcoming weekend could potentially be the next big step in Brock Lesnar's UFC career, or it could be the final step of his MMA career. We will find out this Friday night for sure when these two meet in the middle of the Octagon for a chance to fight for Junior dos Santos' UFC heavyweight title....
My pick: Brock Lesnar, TKO, Round 2
And that's that. UFC 141 is an interesting show for various reasons. On one hand, I have absolutely no idea how the main event is going to turn out and I'm hearing all sorts of different picks for it. Those are usually my favorite kind of main events because I love the unpredictable nature that comes with them. When you mix in Lesnar vs. Overeem with an awesome side dish of Nate Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone and an appetizer of Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks....then it looks like we are in for a good night of fights come this Friday night. Just remember that it's FRIDAY and not SATURDAY night people. You don't want to miss what could potentially be the last time we see Brock Lesnar in the Octagon.....
All The Other Stuff:
Bad news for UFC featherweight Dustin Poirier (11-1) as his scheduled opponent for UFC 143 has had to pull out of their fight. Erik Koch (13-1) was forced to withdraw his name from the much-anticipated featherweight showdown with an injury and will now be replaced by Ricardo Lamas (11-2). This is a bummer deal as I was really looking forward to the Koch/Poirier fight. However, Lamas vs. Poirier isn't a bad consolation prize as both fighters are still undefeated in the UFC and are looking to score a title shot against current champion Jose Aldo (20-1). The UFC's featherweight division is pretty stacked right now and the Poirier/Lamas fight will definitely clear things up a little....
Former Strikeforce heavyweight Lavar Johnson (15-5) is on his way to the UFC and his first scheduled stop is against Joey Beltran (13-6) on the UFC on FOX 2 prelim card on January 28 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson is 0-2 in his last two professional fights, but he's looking for a new start in the UFC and wants to make an immediate impact by picking up a win over Beltran. Beltran is not an easy fight though. He's 3-3 all-time in the UFC and has never been finished. I don't know about you guys, but this could be a very ugly start for Johnson's UFC career and it wouldn't shock me to see him go "one-and-done" in the Octagon....
Horrible news for fans of UFC lightweight Rafaello Oliveira (14-5) who had to pull out of his scheduled bout with Reza Madadi (11-2) at the UFC on FX 1 card on January 20. Oliveira is expected to miss a significant amount of time due to a hand injury and considering the guy is on a two-fight losing streak in the UFC right now, it's probably a good idea for him to be 100% going into his next fight. The UFC has yet to announce a replacement, but you can bet your ass I'll be right here on top of things when they do. It's my job to make sure all three of Reza Madadi's fans know when the guy is fighting next....
At one time, Strikeforce heavyweight Chad Griggs (11-1) was a joke in the MMA community. Then he went ahead and signed with Strikeforce in 2010 and shocked the world when he upset Bobby Lashley (7-1) at Strikeforce "Houston". He quickly followed that up with consecutive victories over Gian Villante (8-3) and Valentijn Overeem (29-26) and all of a sudden people stopped laughing at Griggs and started actually taking notice of him. Is this guy really good or has he just been a product of horrible competition? We will find out in March when Griggs makes his long-awaited UFC debut when he takes on Travis Browne (12-0-1) at UFC 145 in March. Browne is 3-0-1 since coming over to the UFC in 2010 and a win over Griggs could be exactly what Browne needs to help push him into that next echelon of UFC heavyweight fighters. Of course, Griggs could always pull off another huge upset because apparently that just happens to be "his thing". All I know is, if Browne comes out and bores me to tears once again, I may start the "FIRE TRAVIS BROWNE" movement that started to catch a little heat a few months ago....
Other fights announced this week:
-John Albert (7-1) vs. Ivan Menjivar (23-8): UFC on FUEL TV 1
-James Terry (11-3) vs. Nah-Shon Burrell (7-1): Strikeforce "Rockhold vs. Jardine"
-Trevor Smith (9-1) vs. Gian Villante (8-3): Strikeforce "Rockhold vs. Jardine"
-Matt Brown (12-11) vs. Chris Cope (5-2): UFC 143
-Justin Edwards (7-2) vs. Mike Stumpf (11-3): UFC 143
Japan
DREAM New Year's Eve Dynamite!! 2011 Preview
One of my favorite shows of the year returns this weekend....
OHHHHHH YES!!!! If you've been a fan of my column for sometime now (and shame on you if you aren't....), it's no secret that I'm a massive fan of DREAM and Japanese MMA altogether. I've had a soft spot for Japanese MMA ever since the days of PRIDE and it breaks my heart that the sport is nowhere near as popular over there as it once was. Even though Japanese MMA has taken a huge hit these last few years, we can still count on the awesomeness of DREAM to bring us one of the best MMA cards of the year. It's tradition over in Japan to hold a HUGE MMA card on New Year's Eve as a way to welcome in the New Year with a bang. These shows have traditionally become one of the most entertaining shows of the year with their wacky fight stipulations and awesome talent on display for everyone to see. This year is no different. With a main event featuring the legendary Fedor Emelianenko against Satoshi Ishii, what should be a great fight with Shinya Aoki defending his DREAM lightweight title against Satoru Kitaoka, the finals of the 2011 DREAM bantamweight grand-prix, and PLENTY of other delicious fights, I don't see how any self-respected MMA fan would pass up the opportunity to watch this show when it airs on HDNet. Mark my words people. If you miss this show, you will regret it. And with that, let's take a closer look at what DREAM is offering up for us this New Year's weekend....
DREAM New Year's Eve 2011 Dynamite!! Preview:
(PS: For the record, I'm not picking any of the "pro wrestling" or "kickboxing" bouts scheduled for this card. As bad as I want to see those fights, I'm not going out of my way to pick them....)
Kickboxing Bout:
-Masaaki Noiri vs. Kengo Sonoda
Kickboxing Bout:
-Nils Widlund vs. Yuta Kubo
Pro-wrestling Bout:
-Josh Barnett vs. Hideki Suzuki
Featherweight Bout:
-Tatsuya Kawajiri (29-7-2) vs. Kazuyuki Miyata (11-8)
My pick: Tatsuya Kawajiri, Submission, Round 1
Welterweight Bout:
-Hayato Sakurai (35-12-2) vs. Ryo Chonan (20-12)
My pick: Ryo Chonan, Decision
DREAM Featherweight Title:
-Hiroyuki Takaya (16-9-1) vs. Takeshi Inoue (21-5)
My pick: Takeshi Inoue, TKO, Round 1
DREAM Lightweight Title:
-Shinya Aoki (29-5) vs. Satoru Kitaoka (29-10-9)
My pick: Shinya Aoki, Decision
Heavyweight Bout:
-Fedor Emelianenko (32-4) vs. Satoshi Ishii (4-1-1)
My pick: Fedor Emelianenko, TKO, Round 2
WHEW! Talk about a huge card. I'm sure there will be a few more bouts added to the card before it actually goes down this weekend. These shows tend to last FOREVER and that's just one of the reasons I love it. I due highly recommend watching this show on DVR so you can fast forward through all the crap, to get to all the good stuff. I know a lot of people like to poke fun at Fedor Emelianenko recently, but this fight with Satoshi Ishii is actually kind of interesting. If Ishii is able to defeat Fedor, it's going to do wonders for his stock and he may actually achieve his dream of fighting in the UFC one day, because like it or not, a win over "The Last Emperor" still means something in MMA. It may not mean as much as it once did, but it's still something. Plus, if Fedor wins, we get the pleasure of seeing the Fedor nuthuggers come out and demand that the UFC sign the guy again. Ahhhh, who doesn't love those dreamers? Either way, make sure you catch this show in some capacity, because it's sure to be entertaining as hell.....
Tweet Tweet!
This feature looks at some of the best tweets posted on Twitter by MMA fighters or anyone else connected to the world of MMA.
Courtesy of @KennyFlorian - "My parents are switching from Comcast to Verizon FiOs so they can watch all of @FUELTV 's UFC content. Nobody watches more UFC than my fam."
Courtesy of @MattSerraUFC "@danawhite Boooo!!! Bald, rich, powerful and evil at times! U know they're revamping the Superman movies, u'd be the perfect LEX LUTHOR!!!"
Courtesy of @DanaWhite - "@MattSerraUFC easy there tubby tuba! Put the pasta down and come back to reallity. Superman is fake so get on the stairmaster and come back!"
Courtesy of @MattSerraUFC - " 1 chubby jk from u and I have 200 more followers! Lol I'm gonna stop with the comebacks b4 u send me to Strikeforce ;)"
Courtesy of @JonnyBones - "Someone tell Chael he knows where I'll be waiting"
Courtesy of @ForrestGriffin - "My fortune cookie said alway carry a hydrocodon and a viagra on you at all times; cus you never no when the shits gonna go down. ????"
Courtesy of @ForrestGriffin - "Ya know from afar an orgy just looks like a real slow jiu jitsu practice"
Courtesy of @DanHardyMMA - "364 days until the end of the world. Anyone else excited?"
Courtesy of @JonAnik - "Chael Sonnen wants Jones, JDS or GSP; not Silva."
Courtesy of @MayhemMiller - "Thanks for the birthday wishes. You guys are epic. I feel like a kardasian. The big one."
Courtesy of @MayhemMiller - "Get off my lawn! It's been 200 years since we've had figgy pudding!!"
Current Champions:
This feature is pretty self explanatory. I list the current champions in each relevant promotion, and you guys sit and read. Easy enough for ya?
Junior dos Santos - UFC Heavyweight Champion
Won the title from Cain Velasquez back on November 12, 2011 at UFC on FOX 1
Jon Jones - UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
Won the title from Mauricio "Shogun" Rua back on March 19, 2011 at UFC 128
Anderson Silva - UFC Middleweight Champion
Won the title from Rich Franklin back on October 14, 2006 at UFC 64
Georges St. Pierre - UFC Welterweight Champion
Won the title from Matt Serra back on April 14, 2008 at UFC 83
Frankie Edgar - UFC Lightweight Champion
Won the title from B.J. Penn back on April 10, 2010 at UFC 112
Jose Aldo - UFC Featherweight Champion
Won the title from Mike Brown back on November 18, 2009 at WEC 44
Dominick Cruz - UFC Bantamweight Champion
Won the title from Brian Bowles back on March 6, 2010 at WEC 47
Luke Rockhold - Strikeforce Middleweight World Champion
Won the title from Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza back on September 10, 2011 at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov
Won the title from Marloes Coenen back on July 30, 2011 at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson
Hiroyuki Takaya - DREAM Featherweight Champion
Won the title from Bibiano Fernandes back on December 31, 2010 at Dynamite!! 2010 New Year's Eve show.
Shinya Aoki - DREAM Lightweight Champion
Won the title from Joachim Hansen back on October 6, 2009 at DREAM.11
Marius Zaromskis - DREAM Welterweight Champion
Won the title from Jason High back on July 20, 2009 at DREAM.10
Gegard Mousasi - DREAM Light Heavyweight Champion
Won the title from Tatsuya Mizuno back on September 25, 2010 at DREAM.16
Cole Konrad - Bellator Heavyweight Champion
Won the title from Neil Grove back on October 14, 2010 at Bellator 29
Christian M'Pumbu - Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion
Won the title from Richard Hale back on May 21, 2011 at Bellator 45
Hector Lombard - Bellator Middleweight Champion
Won the title from Jared Hess back on June 19, 2009 at Bellator 12
Ben Askren - Bellator Welterweight Champion
Won the title from Lyman Good back on October 21, 2010 at Bellator 33
Michael Chandler - Bellator Lightweight Champion
Won the title from Eddie Alvarez back on November 19, 2011 at Bellator 58
Joe Warren - Bellator Featherweight Champion
Won the title from Joe Soto back on September 2, 2010 at Bellator 27
Zach Makovsky - Bellator Bantamweight Champion
Won the title from Ed West back on October 14, 2010 at Bellator 32
Zoila Gurgel - Bellator 115lb Women's Champion
Won the title from Megumi Fujii back on October 28, 2010 at Bellator 34
Upcoming Events:
Here are a few of the upcoming events in the wonderful world of MMA:
Strikeforce "Rockhold vs. Jardine" - January 7 at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada
-Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine (for the Strikeforce middleweight title)
-Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov
-Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin
-Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein
-Tarec Saffiedine vs. Tyler Stinson
-Gian Villante vs. Trevor Smith
-James Terry vs. Nah-Shon Burrell
UFC 142 "Aldo vs. Mendes" - January 14 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
-Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes (for the UFC featherweight title)
-Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson
-Thiago Tavares vs. Sam Stout
-Terry Etim vs. Edson Barboza
-Mike Pyle vs. Ricardo Funch
-Carlo Prater vs. Erick Silva
-Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio
-Fabio Maldonado vs. Caio Magalhaes
-Antonio Carvalho vs. Felipe Arantes
-Ednaldo Oliveira vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
-Michihiro Omigawa vs. Yuri Alcantara
UFC on FX 1 - January 20 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee
-Melvin Guillard vs. Jim Miller
-Pat Barry vs. Christian Morecraft
-Jorge Rivera vs. Eric Schafer
-Mike Brown vs. Vagner Rocha
-Duane "Bang" Ludwig vs. Josh Neer
-Karlos Vemola vs. Ryan Jimmo
-Kamal Shalorus vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
-Reza Madadi vs. To Be Announced
-Charlie Brenneman vs. Daniel Roberts
-Joseph Sandoval vs. Nick Denis
UFC on FOX 2 - January 28 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois
-Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis
-Chael Sonnen vs. Mark Munoz
-Michael Bisping vs. Demian Maia
-Evan Dunham vs. Paul Sass
-George Roop vs. Cub Swanson
-Cody McKenzie vs. Michael Johnson
-Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely
-Mike Russow vs. Jon Olav Einemo
-Dustin Jacoby vs. Chris Camozzi
-Eddie Wineland vs. Johnny Bedford
-Joey Beltran vs. Lavar Johnson
UFC 143 "Diaz vs. Condit" - February 4 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
-Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit (for the UFC interim welterweight title)
-Roy Nelson vs. Fabricio Werdum
-Josh Koscheck vs. Mike Pierce
-Dustin Poirier vs. Ricardo Lamas
-Scott Jorgensen vs. Renan Barao
-Amir Sadollah vs. Jorge Lopez
-Chris Cope vs. Matt Brown
-Edwin Figueroa vs. Alex Caceres
-Rafael Natal vs. Michael Kuiper
-Mike Stumpf vs. Justin Edwards
UFC on FUEL TV 1 - February 15 at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska
-Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego Sanchez
-Stefan Struve vs. Dave Herman
-Aaron Simpson vs. Ronny Markes
-Jonathan Brookins vs. Rani Yahya
-Stipe Miocic vs. Philip De Fries
-Ivan Menjivar vs. John Albert
Video of the Week!
If I have to explain to you what "video of the week" is, than please grab a pencil and stick it in your neck for the benefit of society....
The biggest fight since Godzilla met King Kong back in 1962......
The Ultimate Writer MMA Predictions for 2011
As my long-time readers should remember, last year about this time, I did my MMA predictions for what I thought would happen in 2011. I figured that before I do my predictions for next year (which will likely be next week....), I would go back and review my predictions that I attempted to make last year. It's always fun to go back in time and make fun of yourself. We may not currently have time machines within our grasps, so this is easily the next best thing. So sit back and laugh at what I thought was going to happen in MMA last year about this time.....
-Fedor Emelianenko's MMA legacy will continue to deteriorate.
I kind of hit this one right on the head, didn't I? After suffering only the second loss of his career in 2010 to Fabricio Werdum, something told me that Fedor's time on top was done. The Fedor of old never would have fell into the trap that Werdum planted for him, yet he took it hook, line, and sinker. It was obvious that the MMA game had likely passed Fedor up and his lack of solid competition over the last few years had caused his talent to deterioate significantly. This was all proven to be true when Fedor came out and got his ass handed to him by the much-bigger Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and the much-smaller Dan Henderson in back-to-back fights. Anyone who watched those fights knew that this wasn't the same Fedor that was a terror in the heavyweight division for almost 10 straight years. Fedor's talents and stock took a huge plunge in 2011 and I'm not sure he's ever going to recover.
-Randy Couture will fight his last MMA fight ever, against an opponent of his choosing (Lyoto Machida?).
Not only did I predict Randy Couture hanging up his gloves for good, but I also 100% correctly predicted the last guy he would ever face. Of course, this one wasn't very hard to predict if you think about it. We all knew Couture's time was running out and he had been pretty vocal about wanting a fight with Lyoto Machida before he did decide to hang up his gloves for good. Needless to say, we got that fight and what happened during it is best left unsaid for the time being. I'm still not over that one yet.....
-Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre will remain champions of their respective weight divisions, and unfortunately...they will not fight each other in 2011.
I bursted everyone's bubble with this prediction, but unfortunately I was 100% right on the button. Not only are Silva and GSP still on top of their respective weight divisions, but it's also looking like we will never see the dream fight between the two of them. MMA can be so cruel at times.
-The UFC will sign Jason Miller, Nick Diaz, Daniel Cormier, and Gilbert Melendez from Strikeforce.
DAMN THAT WAS CLOSE! Now, you have to remember. I made these predictions before Zuffa purchased Strikeforce, but I was still almost right on the money. The UFC did end up bringing Jason Miller and Nick Diaz into the promotion. Daniel Cormier will be joining the promotion around mid-2012, so that just leaves ol' Gilbert Melendez. While there still are no plans to bring Melendez into the UFC, I'd be willing to bet a hefty chunk of change that the guy will be fighting in the UFC by the end of 2012.
-I still won't care about the MMA careers of Bobby Lashley, Dave Batista, and Herschel Walker.
Once again, 100% on the button right here. None of these guys did ANYTHING in MMA this year and I once again failed to care about any of them. Go figure.
-Alistair Overeem will defend his Strikeforce heavyweight title against Fabricio Werdum.
95% correct with this prediction. The only thing I incorrectly predicted was the fight would be a title fight when in actuality....it was a Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix fight. The other thing I didn't predict was how unbelievably shitty the fight would turn out to be. Oh well, you can't win them all.
-Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II will happen.
This is the prediction that hurt the most. I really wanted to see Silva vs. Sonnen II this year, but unfortunate circumstances didn't allow that to happen. The good news is, if Sonnen can defeat Mark Munoz at UFC on FOX 2 next month, we will likely still see this rematch sometime in the summer of 2012. Looks like I was about a year off with this prediction.
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will defend the UFC light heavyweight title once, but will lose the title before the year ends.
OOPS! Apparently I wasn't counting on Jon "Bones" Jones getting a title shot as early as he did. I was thinking that maybe "Shogun" would face someone like Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, defend the title and then potentially face Jon Jones in the second-half of 2012. I wasn't counting on Jones coming out and taking the division by storm like he did. Then again, who could have predicted that "Bones" would beat Ryan Bader at UFC 126, then a month later he would be fighting "Shogun" for the UFC light heavyweight title? No one could have predicted that crazy scenario....
-Cain Velasquez will not lose a round in 2011.
ANOTHER OOPS! Not only did Cain lose a round in 2011, but he LOST THE ONLY ROUND HE FOUGHT IN DURING 2011! I was almost 100% correct with this prediction because it was looking like Cain may be sitting out the entire 2011 calendar year, but he decided to poke his head out at the last minute and got it taken off courtesy of Junior dos Santos. Let's just go ahead and forget I ever even made this prediction, OK?
-The UFC will announce the debut of the "UFC Network", which will air 24-hour non-stop MMA including classic UFC footage, PRIDE fights, WEC footage, classic episodes of "TUF" and much much more.
Well, I wasn't right on the button with this one, but the UFC's brand new contract with FOX pretty much gives us the closest thing to a "UFC Network" we may ever possibly see. Zuffa is expected to air all sorts of classic MMA footage on FOX affiliates like FUEL TV this upcoming year and it really wouldn't shock me to see the Zuffa officials somehow get FUEL TV changed to "UFC TV" sometime in 2012. Either way, we need to find a way to get PRIDE fights back on TV because the newer MMA crowd needs a chance to view all the classic fights we all grew up with.
-Jon Jones will win the UFC light heavyweight title.
100% correct with this prediction. I know, it was a REALLLLLLL stretch.....
-Brock Lesnar's MMA career will continue to dwindle because the guy doesn't have the same determination when he's not fighting for a title. Plus, Lesnar will start eyeing the easy paydays that require less work (one-time WWE appearances, movies, etc.).
I still think Lesnar will quit MMA with his next loss (could it come this weekend?) and this prediction likely could have come true, had he actually fought. Lesnar hasn't competed at all in 2011, but he's fighting this weekend so I guess I still have a LITTLE chance this prediction could come true on the final day of 2011.....
-"The Ultimate Fighter" will feature a season with featherweight guys who will be coached by Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres.
"The Ultimate Fighter" did feature a season with featherweight guys in 2011, but Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres were not involved with the show at all. However, Faber is slated to coach the next season of "TUF" alongside Dominick Cruz so I almost got that one correct. What I didn't predict was that Miguel Torres would be unemployed by the end of 2011 for sending out a controversial rape tweet. Seriously, how did I not see that one coming?
-Female fighters everywhere will continue to fear Cris "Cyborg" Santos as she basically goes untested this year.
Female fighters are definitely still scared of Cris "Cyborg" Santos and that became even more clear when she destroyed Hiroko Yamanaka in sixteen-seconds last week. I still say that we book Cris "Cyborg" Santos vs. K.J. Noons just to see what happens. I know K.J. Noons isn't a female, but he may be the closest thing to one in Strikeforce. Make it happen Dana!
-Bellator's deal with MTV2 will prove to be detrimental to the organization's future.
Bellator's on it's way over to SPIKE TV and is slowly waving goodbye to MTV2. That's great news for Bellator as if the promotion decided to stay on MTV2, I'm sure my prediction would have true sooner or later. That whole "no HDTV" thing on MTV2 is still bullshit by the way.....
-Tito Ortiz will make his final appearance in the Octagon. He will then retire from MMA but stay with the UFC in some capacity.
Tito actually had a better year in 2011 than I gave him credit for. He came out and shocked the world when he beat Ryan Bader at UFC 132 which lead to a highly-anticipated rematch with Rashad Evans at UFC 133 just a month later. Unfortunately Tito couldn't pull off another upset and Evans got the win via TKO. Tito then fought "Lil Nog" in another highly-anticipated battle at UFC 140 earlier this month and once again ended up on the losing side of things. Ortiz may have only gone 1-2 this year, but I'm pretty sure Ortiz wouldn't have traded this year for anything as his fan base actually grew a little bit as people started to have more respect for the guy and less dislike for him. Who would have thunk it?!?!
And that's that. Those were my predictions for 2011 that I made about a year ago and I have to say....I think I did a pretty decent job. I know I'm not going to nail everything with 100% accuracy, but the fact that I was able to get about 75% of them correct just goes to show you that "the Magic 8-Ball" actually does work. Well, except when it say's "Ask again later". Don't even get me started on my rant about the "Magic 8-ball" being too busy to answer my questions though. That's a different topic for a different day.....
My top 5 MMA Rankings:
These are my current top 5 MMA rankings! I know 411mania.com has their own rankings as a collective unit, but I figured I would list mine for you guys to tear apart each week....
1. Jon Jones
2. Rashad Evans
3. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
4. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
5. Dan Henderson
Middleweight:
1. Anderson Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Vitor Belfort
4. Yushin Okami
5. Mark Munoz
Welterweight:
1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Nick Diaz
4. Josh Koscheck
5. Carlos Condit
Lightweight:
1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gilbert Melendez
3. Gray Maynard
4. Ben Henderson
5. Shinya Aoki
Featherweight:
1. Jose Aldo
2. Chad Mendes
3. Hatsu Hioki
4. Kenny Florian
5. Diego Nunes
Bantamweight:
1. Dominick Cruz
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Urijah Faber
4. Demetrious Johnson
5. Brian Bowles
And that's it for me this week. Make sure you follow me on Twitter for all sorts of good MMA, NBA, NFL, and other random crap talk. Trust me, I won't let you down.
All of 411's zones are also on Twitter, so make sure you check it out.....
"...general public has a fascination with big dudes who can't move around that well and that's why I have a feeling UFC 141 will be a widely successful show.."
wtf? interesting article but that first line is retarded to say... lesnar cant move? lesnar can probably move better than you and hes 275lbs
Posted By: THE GREAT ONE (Guest) on December 26, 2011 at 11:37 AM
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