The Ultimate Writer 01.02.12: UFC 141 Results, Strikeforce Rockhold vs. Jardine Preview, 2012 MMA Predictions, More

Posted by Dustin James on 01.02.2012

Thoughts on Brock Lesnar's loss and decision to retire from MMA, Nate Diaz's win over Donald Cerrone and the rest of UFC 141, a look at the results from DREAM's New Year's Eve show, a preview of this weekend's Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine event, predictions for MMA in 2012 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 IT'S OFFICIALLY 2012 BITCHES! 2012 has definitely started off with a bang in MMA (Brock Lesnar retiring? FTW!) and I doubt things are going to slow down anytime soon. With the end of 2011 here, it's almost time for some year-end awards and I'll likely be doing my nominees next week so make sure you tune in for that one. I'm a big sucker for year-end stuff and I'm actually excited to see how everything falls into place. However, that's next week and we have a lot to focus on for this week.

Before I get to the good stuff, it would be uncharacteristic of me if I didn't mention how awesome the Portland Trailblazers have been so far. The Blazers have started off the season 3-0 (as of press time, but they play the Clippers tonight in a dangerous game...) and I couldn't be any happier. Marcus Camby and Gerald Wallace have been playing out of their minds and they have got me uber-excited for some "RIP CITY" action this year. The last time the NBA had a lockout, the Blazers got all the way to the Western Conference Finals and if they could even get to the second-round of the playoffs this year, I'd shit my pants. I keep waiting for the wheels to fall off the bus like it does every year, but so far, the wheels are nice and tight.


Anyway, you came here for some MMA talk didn't you?......


So................


Without any further adieu.........


GO DUCKS! BEAT THE BADGERS ASS IN THE ROSE BOWL!!!!!!.........


Errrrr, excuse me..........


Anyway.................


Like every week.............

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Top Stories:

UFC/Strikeforce




UFC 141 "Lesnar vs. Overeem" Results


Thanks for the memories Brock....



UFC 141 definitely felt like an odd show. For one, I'm not used to watching UFC cards on a Friday night. When I woke up with my signature hangover on Saturday morning, I was all kinds of thrown off. Not only that, but I was in a little state of depression coming off of Lesnar's loss and his decision to retire from MMA. Deep down, I knew it was coming though. Just look at what I wrote last week in this very column:

"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."

I couldn't have hit the nail on the head any better had I tried. Anyway, I'll have more on Lesnar's decision to walk away from the sport later, but in the meantime...here's the rest of the results of the AWESOME card that was UFC 141.



UFC 141 "Lesnar vs. Overeem" Prelim Card Results:


-Diego Nunes (17-2) def. Manny Gamburyan (11-7) via unanimous-decision

-Jacob Volkmann (14-2) def. Efrain Escudero (18-4) via unanimous-decision

-Dong Hyun Kim (15-1-1) def. Sean Pierson (11-6) via unanimous-decision

-Danny Castillo (13-4) def. Anthony Njokuani (14-6) via split-decision

-Ross Pearson (13-5) def. Junior Assuncao (13-5) via unanimous-decision


UFC 141 Main Card Results:


Featherweight Bout:
-Jim Hettes (10-0) def. Nam Phan (17-10) via unanimous-decision

My pick: Jim Hettes, Submission, Round 2


Hettes looked absolutely awesome at the beginning of this fight. He came out and dominated Nam Phan in round one with some vicious ground and pound and tons of submission attempts. He was close to having Phan finished in the first-round, but close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades folks. He once again came out in round two with a fiery approach, but Phan was a little more prepared this time and had a much better round than he did in the first, but it still wasn't nowhere near good enough. Hettes' pace came back to bite him in the ass though as he started to tire in the third-round, but by that time, the fight was ultimately over and all he needed to do was survive until the bell rang signaling the end of the fight. I was extremely impressed with Hettes here and while I would have loved to have seen him finish Phan with a submission, you can't knock him too hard especially considering Phan is hard to submit. Hopefully Hettes will get a bigger opponent next time out as I'm sure he's tired of beating up on all these "Ultimate Fighter" veterans by now. As for Phan, I'd be shocked to see him get another fight in the UFC considering he's 1-3 in the promotion. Something tells me Phan's next fight is more likely to happen in Bellator than the UFC. Either way, this was a great opener and was MUCH NEEDED coming off a somewhat boring prelim card....


Light Heavyweight Bout:
-Alexander Gustafsson (13-1) def. Vladimir Matyushenko (26-6) via TKO in Round 1

My pick: Alexander Gustafsson, TKO, Round 2


Is Alexander Gustafsson the next big prospect in the UFC's light heavyweight division? If he keeps fighting like he did against Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 141, I'd personally slap anyone who thought he wasn't. Gustafsson came out with a reach and age advantage (Matyushenko is old enough to be Gustafsson's dad) and that's ultimately what did "The Janitor" in. Gustafsson connected with some solid shots that put Matyushenko on his ass and Yves Lavigne had no choice but to step in. Gustafsson is now 5-1 in the UFC and is on a four-fight win streak. His only loss was against Phil Davis at UFC 112 last year, but I think Gustafsson has improved his game tremendously since he fought "Mr. Wonderful". I'd like to see Gustafsson battle someone like Lyoto Machida in his next fight because it's high time we take a look at what the kid is really made of. Make it happen Dana.....


Welterweight Bout:
-Johny Hendricks (12-1) def. Jon Fitch (23-4-1) via KO in Round 1

My pick: Jon Fitch, Decision


Ladies and gentlemen, here was your "HOLY SHIT" moment of the card. No one, and I mean NO ONE, could have seen this coming. Jon Fitch was widely regarded as the #2 top welterweight in the world coming into this fight. He was 13-1-1 in the UFC and was on a five-fight win streak before Johny Hendricks laid him out with the "LEFT HOOK HEARD ROUND THE WORLD!" Seriously, that was one sweet punch and it folded Fitch like a bag of clean laundry. Johny Hendricks has now done something that guys like Georges St. Pierre, B.J. Penn, Thiago Alves, and Diego Sanchez were unable to do. Finish Jon Fitch in impressive fashion. If you don't think this puts Hendricks in line for a potential title shot, than you are crazy. The guy is now 7-1 in the UFC with his only loss coming against Rick Story last year. He's now on a three-fight win streak and just took out one of the toughest guys in the UFC. If Hendricks can have as good as a year in 2012 as he had in 2011, he'll be fighting for the UFC welterweight title once the smokes clears from the GSP/Nick Diaz/Carlos Condit situation. As for what's next? How about a rematch against Rick Story so he has a chance to redeem the only loss of his professional career? I'm sure he'd love the chance to do that....


Lightweight Bout:
-Nate Diaz (15-7) def. Donald Cerrone (17-4) via unanimous-decision

My pick: Donald Cerrone, Decision


What exactly was Donald Cerrone's game plan here? To stand right in front of Nate Diaz and get constantly jabbed in the face? If so, than his plan worked perfectly. Greg Jackson is one of the best game planners in MMA and I find it hard to imagine he told Cerrone to try and stand with Diaz the entire fight. We all know that Nate Diaz's main weakness is his wrestling. While he's got excellent BJJ skills, we've seen wrestlers like Rory MacDonald, Gray Maynard, and Clay Guida have no problem with Diaz in the past. Cerrone is a much better wrestler than Diaz is, yet it seemed like he felt compelled to show the world that he was a better boxer than Diaz, and he's not, not by a country mile. Anyway, the fight itself was fun as I always love watching a Diaz brother go to work. I really don't know where to put Nate Diaz in the rankings following this huge victory though. Ever since he dropped back down to the lightweight division following an unsuccessful run in the welterweight division, he's gone 2-0 and has looked better than ever. This win over Cerrone definitely moves him up the rankings and believe it or not, we could see both Diaz brothers fighting for a title in 2012 in the UFC. I'd like to personally see Diaz fight the winner of the Anthony Pettis/Joe Lauzon fight at UFC 143 in February because the winner of that fight will also be catapulted near the top of the rankings. Plus, how awesome would a Diaz/Pettis fight be? As for Donald Cerrone, he should probably take a few months off (the guy did fight five times in 2011....) and recharge his batteries before coming back. He still has a lot of potential to be dangerous in the UFC, but he obviously has a lot left to learn. Still, everyone expected a good fight and that's exactly what we got, so who can really complain?


Heavyweight Bout:
-Alistair Overeem (36-11) def. Brock Lesnar (5-3) via TKO in Round 1

My pick: Brock Lesnar, TKO, Round 2


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

It's over folks. It was fun while it lasted, but it's officially over. We have seen the end of Brock Lesnar's MMA career and while it was bittersweet, it's something that needed to happen. Brock stormed into MMA back in 2007 and quickly captured the UFC heavyweight title after just a little over a year of experience. He was having a fantastic career until he met Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 and Lesnar's confidence and face were both smashed. Since that loss, Brock has been battling a disease called "diverticulitis" and almost retired due to health problems. Brock's competitive streak couldn't allow him to retire following the beating he took from Velasquez in 2010, so he took a fight with former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem in an effort to get his career back on track. Well, what transpired this past Friday night was the ending to a short page of MMA history. Lesnar came out and looked extremely crappy against Overeem and he paid for it. I don't know what convinced Lesnar to try and stand with Overeem, but he only went for one takedown during the first two-minutes and after Overeem stuffed it, Lesnar looked lost. I knew after that failed takedown, that it was only a matter of time before Brock was going down. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. Overeem nailed Lesnar with a huge shot to the liver (at first glance, I thought he tagged Lesnar in the nuts...) and Lesnar went down for the last time. We all knew what was coming next. Overeem got to stand toe-to-toe with the man he'll be fighting next year, UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. Meanwhile, Lesnar got to stand toe-to-toe with Joe Rogan and inform everyone that he was indeed calling it a career. Some people were shocked at Lesnar's announcement and I don't understand why. It's no secret that Lesnar has a lot of health problems and he was on borrowed time anyway. For anyone that's followed Brock's career from the WWE to the NFL to the UFC, you should know Brock's makeup. Quitting MMA was a must for Brock because he just didn't have what it takes to be a top heavyweight in MMA anymore. He should now go home and relax and wait for that big payday from the WWE that we all know is coming. Some people are still holding out hope that Brock will return to the UFC someday, but I think there's more of a chance that Lesnar appears in a WWE ring in 2012 rather than a UFC cage. Either way, thank you for the memories Brock. You definitely made MMA a lot of fun these past few years and I wish you the best in your future endeavors. Now I can't wait to see you run out and F-5 Mark Henry at SummerSlam this year.....



And that's that. UFC 141 will always be a landmark show because it was the final show of Brock Lesnar's short UFC career. Things definitely started off slow during the prelim card considering all five prelim fights ended in decisions. Thankfully that didn't set the pace for the rest of the night as the main card itself was AWESOME. Not only did we see one of the best "HOLY SHIT" moments of the year when Johny Hendricks knocked out Jon Fitch, but we also saw Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone go to war, the continuing rise of Alexander Gustafsson in the UFC's light heavyweight division, the start of Alistair Overeem's UFC career and the end of Brock Lesnar's. In the end, I give UFC 141 a thumbs up as it was a solid show to end another successful year for the biggest promotion in MMA....

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Strikeforce "Rockhold vs. Jardine" Preview


Did you forget about this card? Don't worry, you're not alone....


Hey, will you look at that? Lost in the news of Brock Lesnar's retirement from MMA, Fedor Emelianenko's dominating win over Satoshi Ishii, and Alistair Overeem being named the #1 contender to the UFC heavyweight title, poor old Strikeforce would like to remind everyone that they have a show coming up this weekend as well. This show kicks off a plethora of MMA shows to ring in 2012. I don't blame anyone for forgetting about the Strikeforce "Rockhold vs. Jardine" card, especially considering it was made official less than a month ago. However, it's still a pretty decent little card and since it's on Showtime, I'll be watching it. There's a middleweight title fight in the main event featuring new Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold defending his middleweight title against UFC veteran Keith Jardine. There's also a heavily-anticipated fight between the undefeated Lorenz Larkin and Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal, where the winner will fight Gegard Mousasi for the vacant Strikeforce light heavyweight title sometime in 2012. When you throw in a little bit of Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov with a topping of Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein as well, than you can consider me more excited than I should be a for a card that came together in just a short number of weeks. So with that, let's take a quick look at what Strikeforce has in store for us this weekend...



Strikeforce "Rockhold vs. Jardine" Preview:


Welterweight Bout:
-Tarec Saffiedine (11-3) vs. Tyler Stinson (22-7)


First of all, Tarec Saffiedine is a Team Quest fighter and anyone who follows my column knows that I'm a HUGE Team Quest homer and I have a hard time picking against anyone from TQ. Saffiedine is also coming into this fight with a 4-1 record in Strikeforce and just recently picked up a big win against Scott Smith last July. Most of the time, I would quickly pick Tarec and call it a day on this fight. However, his opponent is coming off a win over Eduardo Pamplona in his Strikeforce debut which saw him defeat Pamplona via KO in just fifteen seconds! Stinson is riding a three-fight win streak and a win over Saffiedine could ultimately put him in the mix for a shot at the vacated Strikeforce welterweight title. As for who's actually going to win this fight? Of course I'm going with my Team Quest boy, but I'm always ready to eat some crow come this Saturday....


My pick: Tarec Saffiedine, Decision



Welterweight Bout:
-Tyron Woodley (9-0) vs. Jordan Mein (23-7)


I can't wait for this fight. I've become a huge fan of Tyron Woodley's over the last few years and I'm dying with anticipation to see what this kid's ceiling is. He is one of the best wrestlers in the welterweight division and it seems like he's been right there on the brink of "breaking out" for the past 3 years now. Ever since he entered Strikeforce in 2009, people have been calling "T-Wood" the next big thing in the welterweight division. Here we are three years later and the guy is still undefeated, but it doesn't seem like he gets as much respect as he should be getting. He's been pretty dominant in his Strikeforce run so far and it doesn't appear his train is going to be slowing down anytime soon. This fight is not an easy match-up for "T-Wood" either. Jordan Mein is currently riding a six-fight win streak and is coming off a big win over Evangelista Santos at the Strikeforce show last September. I don't think any other MMA fighter has been as active as Jordan Mein has these last few years. The guy turned professional in 2006 and already has 30 MMA fights under his belt. That means he's pretty much averaging six fights a year and that easily gives him the advantage over "T-Wood" in the experience department. I would also favor Mein over Woodley in the stand-up game as well, which is why I'm thinking we won't see too many punches thrown in this one. I expect Woodley to come out and dominate Mein with his superior wrestling skills. It also helps that Woodley was recently training with Jason High, the last guy to hold a victory over Mein. Either way, I'm not stupid enough to pick against "T-Wood". Are you?


My pick: Tyron Woodley, Decision



Light Heavyweight Bout:
-Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal (8-1) vs. Lorenz Larkin (12-0)


I actually can't wait to see this fight. Here we have two under appreciated light heavyweight talents who both have the potential to be near the top of the division at some point. It was just a few years ago where everyone was waiting buy patiently to crown "King Mo" as the "next big thing" in the light heavyweight division. The guy exploded onto the MMA scene by winning his first seven professional bouts. It wasn't until he met Rafael Cavalcante at Strikeforce "Houston" last year, where "King Mo" suffered the first loss of his career. Lawal vowed never to lose again and he looked extremely impressive when he took out Roger Gracie back at the Strikeforce show in September. Lawal just happens to have the dangerous combination of excellent wrestling skills with some heavy hands. Six of his eight wins have come via TKO and he's looking to add to that streak this weekend. The only problem is, Lorenz Larkin is no slouch. Larkin has only been fighting professionally for two years now, but he's already 12-0 in his MMA career. The guy went 7-0 in 2010 and 4-0 in 2011. However, he's never faced anyone nearly as good as "King Mo" is. I'd easily favor Larkin if this fight stays standing. If "King Mo" comes out and decides to trade blows with Larkin, it's likely going to turn ugly for him. I expect Lawal to come out, take Larkin down and keep the fight where he's most comfortable at....on the ground. If Larkin can somehow avoid the vicious takedowns of Lawal and keep the fight on the feet though, he'll be squaring off against Gegard Mousasi for the Strikeforce light heavyweight title later this year. I'm going with Lawal here though because I feel that the Strikeforce light heavyweight title is his to lose. Do work "King Mo"!


My pick: Muhammad Lawal, Decision



Middleweight Bout:
-Robbie Lawler (18-8) vs. Adlan Amagov (9-1-1)


I'll admit, I don't know a whole lot about Adlan Amagov. I've only seen him fight twice and considering it was on a Strikeforce "Challengers" card, I was hardly paying attention and can't remember a whole lot about the dude. I do know the guy has some pretty heavy hands and that's a plus when you are fighting someone like Robbie Lawler. Lawler is a longtime veteran of MMA and the man is in desperate need of a win considering he's 2-4 since coming over to Strikeforce in 2009. He's on a two-fight losing streak right now with losses to Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Tim Kennedy. A win over a young guy like Amagov is exactly what Lawler needs to build his confidence back up. This fight to me is a "coin flip" fight. I could honestly see it going either way, so I'll flip a coin to pick a winner. How's that for some "expert MMA analysis"?


My pick: Adlan Amagov, Decision



Strikeforce Middleweight Title Bout:
-Luke Rockhold (8-1) vs. Keith Jardine (17-9-2)



Did anyone honestly ever think we would see Keith Jardine fighting for a title in a Zuffa-owned promotion? Well, it's happening. Jardine has done nothing to earn himself a shot at the Strikeforce middleweight title, but that hasn't stopped the promotion from rewarding him with a title shot against Rockhold here. I guess that's just part of the problem when you have zero credible challengers to a title in your promotion (why doesn't Strikeforce just abolish the middleweight division for good?). Either way, this should still be an interesting fight for a few reasons. On one hand, we still don't know what to make of Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. He came out and shocked the world with a win over Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza to capture the Strikeforce middleweight title in September, but I personally think "Jacare" was highly overrated and way too one-dimensional to ever be a big factor in the middleweight division anyway. A fight against Keith Jardine will definitely be a test for the kid, but will a victory really impress anyone that much? Jardine is 2-5-1 since 2009 and even though he always comes to fight, he's way too "hot and cold" for me to pick him to win and feel comfortable about it. I'll take Rockhold via decision here and hope and pray that Keith Jardine is not holding a Zuffa title by the end of this upcoming weekend....


My pick: Luke Rockhold, Decision



It's no secret that this weekend's Strikeforce card isn't particularly all that great. They have a few interesting match-ups, but other than that, it's pretty much a throw away MMA card. I picked every fight to end in a decision and I really hope I'm wrong and this card comes out and blows our minds. The only thing I know for sure is, after this card, things DEFINITELY start heating up in Zuffa-land and that should excite any MMA fan.....





All The Other Stuff:

• UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub (8-2) was on a roll in the UFC until he ran into Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-7-1) at UFC 134 in August of last year. Schaub was actually favored to beat "Big Nog" in that bout and Nogueira made sure everyone ate some serious crow when he knocked Schaub out in just over three minutes. Schaub will be looking to get back on the winning track when he takes on Ben Rothwell (31-8) at UFC 145 on March 24 in Montreal, Canada. Considering that Rothwell looked like pure shit in his loss to Mark Hunt (7-7) at UFC 135, I think you would have to be insane to pick him here. This will likely be Rothwell's swan song in the UFC, so I'd recommend that all 3 of his fans just skip the show. Don't worry though, he'll likely be fighting in a tavern near you in the summer of 2012....





• Great news for all of us fans of Ed "Short Fuse" Herman (19-8)! Herman will be squaring off against Clifford Starks (8-0) at UFC 143 on February 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Herman has been on a tear in the UFC's middleweight division since returning from an injury that kept him out of action for almost two years. Herman left Team Quest and moved to Denver, Colorado and joined a new gym and it seems like that was the best move that Herman ever made. Since returning from injury, Herman has gone 2-0 in the UFC with two first-round finishes. The guy seems like a different fighter these days and he's going to need to be sharp when he faces Starks next month. Starks is coming off a win over Dustin Jacoby (6-1) at UFC 137 and a win over "Short Fuse" would be just what he needs to put him on the map in the UFC's middleweight division. The only problem is, he's facing THE NEW ED F'N HERMAN and nobody can beat the NEW ED F'N HERMAN! Nobody.....





• Fans of Miguel Torres (40-4) can breathe a sigh of relief! After getting fired from the UFC for posting some controversial tweets on Twitter a few weeks back, the UFC has decided to cut Torres a break and bring him back. This isn't shocking news at all considering everyone figured the UFC would bring Torres back at some point anyway. I went on record a few weeks ago stating that the firing was a harsh punishment and they should've punished him some other way. How about instead of firing the guy, you force him to watch non-stop footage of Tim Sylvia in action? Either way, Torres is back in the UFC and all is right with the world again. How much you want to bet that we get a much cleaner version of Torres on Twitter now?





• The UFC heavyweight division continued to grow this past week as the company announced that they have signed Strikeforce veteran Shane Del Rosario (11-0) to a multi-fight deal. This new isn't surprising considering Strikeforce announced last week that they were abolishing their heavyweight division and everyone was likely headed over to the UFC. I love this move and I can't wait for Del Rosario to make his UFC debut. The guy has the potential to make some serious noise in the promotion. He went 3-0 during his Strikeforce run and managed to finish each of his opponents in the first-round. The UFC is a step up in competition though and I can't wait to see how Del Rosario handles himself against the best heavyweights that MMA has to offer (Ben Rothwell not included....).





• Other fights announced this week:
  
  -Court McGee (14-1) vs. Constantinos Philippou (9-2): UFC on FX 2
  
  -Aaron Rosa (17-4) vs. James Te Huna (13-5): UFC on FX 2
  
  -Johnny Bedford (18-9-1) vs. Mitch Gagnon (8-1): UFC on FOX 2
  
  -DaMarques Johnson (13-9) vs. John Maguire (17-3): UFC on FUEL TV 2
  
  -Kyle Noke (19-5-1) vs. Jared Hamman (13-4): UFC on FX 2
  
  
  

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Japan






DREAM New Year's Eve Dynamite!! 2011 Results


Tons of action in Japan this weekend. Oh, there was also some fights as well....



Were you one of the crazy insane MMA fans who watched 15 hours of consecutive fighting this past Friday night? Did you go straight from UFC 141 to the DREAM New Year's Eve show? If so, congratulations. You either have a better attention span than I do, or you have no job (or life for that matter....). For those of you who missed it though, have no worries. I may not have been crazy enough to watch the entire event live (I leave that to someone who's life revolves around MMA), but I did tape it on my DVR and flew through it just for you guys! With fighters like Fedor Emelianenko, Shinya Aoki, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Bibiano Fernandes in action, you would have had to have been nuts to not capture this card in some shape or form. But if you did miss it, just sit back and relax because I have all the results for you. See, sometimes I make life easy for my readers....



DREAM New Year's Eve 2011 Dynamite!! Results:



DREAM 2011 Bantamweight Grand-Prix Reserve Bout:
-Yusup Saadulaev (9-1-1) def. Hideo Tokoro (30-24-1) via KO in Round 1

My pick: Yusup Saadulaev, Submission, Round 1


DREAM 2011 Bantamweight Grand-Prix Semifinal:
-Antonio Banuelos (20-7) def. Masakazu Imanari (24-10-2) via split-decision

My pick: Antonio Banuelos, Decision


DREAM 2011 Bantamweight Grand-Prix Semifinal:
-Bibiano Fernandes (10-3) def. Rodolfo Marques Diniz (14-2) via unanimous-decision

My pick: Bibiano Fernandes, Decision


Kickboxing Bout:
-Masaaki Noiri def. Kengo Sonoda via unanimous-decision


Kickboxing Bout:
-Yuta Kubo def. Nils Widlund via TKO in Round 3


Welterweight Bout:
-Hayato Sakurai (36-12-2) def. Ryo Chonan (20-13) via unanimous-decision

My pick: Ryo Chonan, Decision


Featherweight Bout:
-Tatsuya Kawajiri (30-7-2) def. Kazuyuki Miyata (11-9) via submission (arm-triangle) in Round 2

My pick: Tatsuya Kawajiri, Submission, Round 1


Female Flyweight Bout:
-Megumi Fujii (25-1) def. Karla Benitez (6-2) via submission (armbar) in Round 1

My pick: Megumi Fujii, Decision


Pro-wrestling Bout:
-Josh Barnett def. Hideki Suzuki


Mixed-Rules Bout:
-Katsunori Kikuno def. Yuichiro Nagashima via TKO in Round 2


DREAM 2011 Bantamweight Grand-Prix Final:
-Bibiano Fernandes (11-3) def. Antonio Banuelos (20-8) via TKO in Round 1

My pick: Didn't pick


Pro-wrestling Bout:
-Jerome Le Banner def. Tim Sylvia


Pro-wrestling Bout:
-Kazuyuki Fujita def. Peter Aerts


Pro-wrestling Bout:
-Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata def. Atsushi Sawada & Shinichi Suzukawa


DREAM Featherweight Title:
-Hiroyuki Takaya (17-9-1) def. Takeshi Inoue (21-6) via unanimous-decision

My pick: Takeshi Inoue, TKO, Round 1


DREAM Lightweight Title:
-Shinya Aoki (30-5) def. Satoru Kitaoka (29-11-9) via unanimous-decision

My pick: Shinya Aoki, Decision


Heavyweight Bout:
-Fedor Emelianenko (33-4) def. Satoshi Ishii (4-2-1) via KO in Round 1

My pick: Fedor Emelianenko, TKO, Round 2



FEDOR'S BACK! FEDOR'S BACK! FEDOR'S BACK! Let's give this man an immediate shot at UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos ASAP!

OK, in all seriousness, yes, Fedor looked pretty impressive tonight, but let's not forget who he was squaring off against. It's not like he was fighting one of the top heavyweight's in the world, so all of you Fedor nuthuggers should probably take it easy on demanding the UFC take another look at Emelianenko. As far as the rest of the DREAM card is concerned, it was all one big "EH" to me. It's not like the show was bad or anything, but it definitely was a show that was intended to watch on DVR. There was just way too much filler and one too many "pro wrestling bouts" for a hardcore MMA fan to enjoy the show in it's entirety. However, the show was aired for free on HDNet, so really the only thing it cost anyone was time. I managed to blow through the show in about three hours on my DVR (skipping stuff like the stupid wrestling angle between Antonio Inoki and Tiger Ali Singh), and it still felt like it was nine hours long. Either way, who knows if we will get another DREAM NYE's show next year due to the current status of MMA in Japan, so I guess it was nice to see potentially one last wacky Japanese MMA card before the end actually does come. I'm hoping for the best for DREAM in 2012, but the odds are not in the promotion's favor and we could see it's demise in the next calendar year unfortunately....

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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 - "Let's all make a resolution this NYE to stop making NYE resolutions. #2012"

Courtesy of @SonnenCH - "Brock was getting ready to leap all over that big bum. He was loading himself on the floor, like a coiled spring, and they stopped it..."

Courtesy of @SonnenCH - "I've grown skeptical of a sport that tolerates the type of injustice that Brock faced tonight. So, I am retiring."

Courtesy of @DanaWhite - "Happy New Year everyone! At midnight its official we r now on FOX, Fuel and FX."

Courtesy of @JonnyBones - "Man what a year it's been, Ive grown like crazy in so many ways man, father, athlete, business, I'm on top of things and I'm proud of myself"

Courtesy of @ForrestGriffin - "Brock is 5-2 in MMA and 0-1 in K-1. I don't like to get hit in the face but Brock really hates it. Sorry to see him go"

Courtesy of @ForrestGriffin - "I guess I'm on twitter solely to find out what it feels like to be a victim of cyberbullying. It suck. Damn people mean"

Courtesy of @JohnyHendricks - "Good morning everyone tired and hungry and hurting lol can't wait to sleep on the plane"

Courtesy of @ShaneCarwin - "WOW Brock just retired. He was a great champion and a true asset to the sport of MMA. Thank you."

Courtesy of @DC_MMA - "Great win for overeem. Brock is good wrestler. Strength doesn't make u great wrestler. Technique does. U have to take all these dudes down."

Courtesy of @MiguelTorresMMA - "Thanks to my family, friends, supporters, fans, @GlennAuthentic, @DanaWhite, & @LorenzoFertitta. I'm back."

Courtesy of @MayhemMiller - "Happy New year to the @ufc. Don't worry motherfucker, I'll be back. Like the terminator."

Courtesy of @MayhemMiller - "In 2012 I don't want you to call me white. I want you to call me "European-American.""

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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

Gilbert Melendez - Strikeforce Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Josh Thomson back on December 19, 2009 at Strikeforce: Evolution

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos - Strikeforce Featherweight Female Champion

Won the title from Gina Carano back on August 15, 2009 at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg

Miesha Tate - Strikeforce Bantamweight Female Champion

Won the title from Marloes Coenen back on July 30, 2011 at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson





Bibiano Fernandes - DREAM Bantamweight Champion

Won the title from Antonio Banuelos back on December 31, 2011 at DREAM 2011 New Year's Eve Fight For Japan.

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

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Upcoming Events:

Here are a few of the upcoming events in the wonderful world of MMA:



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
-Vagner Rocha vs. To Be Announced
-Duane "Bang" Ludwig vs. Josh Neer
-Karlos Vemola vs. Ryan Jimmo
-Kamal Shalorus vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
-Reza Madadi vs. Fabricio Camoes
-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. Nik Lentz
-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
- Johnny Bedford vs. Mitch Gagnon
-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. To Be Announced
-Scott Jorgensen vs. Renan Barao
-Ed Herman vs. Clifford Starks
-Amir Sadollah vs. Jorge Lopez
-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


UFC 144 "Edgar vs. Henderson" - February 25 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

-Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson (for the UFC lightweight title)
-Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
-Jake Shields vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
-Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon
-Cheick Kongo vs. Mark Hunt
-Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
-Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
-Takanori Gomi vs. George Sotiropoulos
-Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
-Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
-Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso
-Leonard Garcia vs. Tiequan Zhang

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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....

Check out my awesome recording skills with the iPhone as I record Josh Barnett power bombing some poor sap at the DREAM New Year's Eve show.....

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The Ultimate Writer MMA Predictions for 2012

Last week, I took a look back at my MMA predictions for 2011 and if I may say so myself, I actually did fairly well. Now that we are officially in 2012, I figured it's a perfect time to release my predictions for what I believe will happen in MMA in 2012. So sit back, grab a Coke and let's take a look into the crystal ball I recently bought at my meth head neighbor's garage sale.


-By this time next year, Anderson Silva or Jon "Bones" Jones will no longer be champion of their respective weight division.

-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Rich Franklin, Tito Ortiz, and Forrest Griffin will all retire from MMA.

-B.J. Penn will be back in the Octagon by November.

-Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal, Gilbert Melendez, Shinya Aoki, and yes....Fedor Emelianenko (OH SNAP!), will all be in the UFC by the end of the year.

-Nick Diaz will capture the interim UFC welterweight title by defeating Carlos Condit, but will get owned by Georges St. Pierre when he finally returns from his injury.

-Junior dos Santos will be the most dominant UFC champion of 2012.

-Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II will happen. (Yes, I made this prediction last year and I'm making it again!)

-Jose Aldo will vacate his UFC featherweight title and move up to the lightweight division full-time.

-Cain Velasquez will bounce back in 2012 and will get a rematch with JDS by the end of the summer.

-Gina Carano will actually fight in 2012.

-Joseph Benavidez will become the UFC's first flyweight champion.

-The UFC's PPV numbers will continue to decline due to oversaturation and lackluster non-title main events.

-The UFC's ratings on FUEL TV will be a huge disappointment considering a large portion of the country does not have FUEL TV avaliable to them.

-Cris "Cyborg" Santos will once again dominate any opponent she faces leaving more people to wonder if she should actually get the chance to fight a male opponent.

-Bellator will find a way to get on SPIKE TV in 2012 (they are set to debut on the network in 2013, but there are legal issues that could allow them to get on the network this year) and the promotion will see a nice increase in it's fan base due to the move.

-Alexander Gustafsson will earn a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title.


And that's that. Some of my predictions are a little bold (Silva or Jones losing their title?!?! Am I nuts?), and some of them are a little predictable (Tito Ortiz retiring...), but that's the way predictions fall sometime. I'm interested in what some of your predictions are so feel free to leave them in the comments section and maybe I'll make fun of them next week....

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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....

Heavyweight:

1. Junior dos Santos
2. Cain Velasquez
3. Alistair Overeem
4. Shane Carwin
5. Fabricio Werdum

Light Heavyweight:

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. Nick Diaz
3. Josh Koscheck
4. Carlos Condit
5. Jake Ellenberger

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. Diego Nunes
5. Pat Curran

Bantamweight:

1. Dominick Cruz
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Urijah Faber
4. Demetrious Johnson
5. Brian Bowles

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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.....


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