The Ultimate eXperience 05.12.08: An Inside Look At UFC 84
Posted by Ryan Seymour on 05.12.2008
Join me as I break down five exciting fights from the next UFC event entitled 'UFC 84 Ill Will'. How could Sherk possibly beat Penn? - Will Thiago Silva have any trouble with his relatively unknown opponent? - All that and more answered in this weeks edition of The Ultimate eXperience.
Welcome once again to The Ultimate eXperience, this weeks main theme revolves around UFC 84. Probably the best card of the year so far, hopefully it can deliver. Not wasting any more time, here is five fights that I have analyzed closely and my thoughts of ways to win for each opponent.
Lyoto Machida vs. Tito Ortiz
First of, the undefeated Lyoto Machida faces of against Tito Ortiz which will sky rocket the winner up the light heavyweight division. Hopefully reports which have said that this will be Tito Ortiz's last bout are wrong as I would still like him to face some people in the light heavyweight division (like a rematch with Wanderlei). A win for Machida would help him as although he has defeated some great names (Penn, Bonnar, Franklin) he is yet to get the fan support and recognition yet.
Tito has been alright lately but hasn't been fighting as well as he should be. He should have beaten Evans but after saying that he has only lost to Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell in the last eight years. I think Tito Ortiz will be looking for the take down in this fight and looking to do damage in the guard, throwing punches and elbows. Lyoto Machida isn't very well known to some of the UFC fans but he has a very different style which has troubled a lot of people that he has faced. Machida is one of the fighters that looks to be good at most aspects in MMA and has a ton of potential. This is one of the fights where I am really looking forward to see who comes out the victor.
Keith Jardine vs. Wanderlei Silva
Another fight that has a lot of potential is Wanderlei Silva against Keith Jardine, which should be a very interesting fight. Wanderlei is currently on a three fight losing streak but you can never count him out. Silva has a very aggressive style as well and most of the fights he is in either have a knock out or are entertaining bouts like his fight with Liddell at UFC 79. Keith Jardine on the other hand is a real competitor in the light heavyweight division as he has had some big wins over the likes of Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell.
Wins very important for both fighters here as a win for Jardine pushes him ever so close to a title shot while Silva needs the win to come out of the drought he has been in recently. Silva needs to be really aggressive to Jardine and make sure that he controls the fight as when Jardine has a good game plan and is able to control the fight he can beat just about anyone, UFC 76 is a clear example of this. It'll be interesting if Jardine uses the leg kicks and body kicks that he used in the Liddell fight as he was very successful with them. Only difference is that Liddell has a counter puncher style while Silva is more aggressive.
Sean Sherk vs. BJ Penn
Then the main event of the show which has got a bit heated as Sean Sherk faces of against the lightweight champion BJ Penn. Sherk is making his return from a 6 month ban he got slapped with for supposedly taking steroids. Sherk has a very impressive record of thirty one wins, two losses and a draw. With wins over Kenny Florian, Karo Parisyan, Manvel Gamburyan and Nick Diaz you can hardly deny that this guy is a great fighter. He has only lost twice and them losses coming from future UFC hall of famer Matt Hughes and current welterweight champion George St. Pierre. BJ Penn on the other hand has been very impressive lately and his win over Joe Stevenson was a show of how well he can be, Penn looks to be good in most areas of MMA.
Sean Sherk needs this fight to go into the 4th & 5th round as Sean Sherk is one of only few who is just as good at the start of the 4th round as he is at the start of the fight. His conditioning is incredible and most people should know that. Another thing that Sean Sherk has over BJ Penn is that Sherk is a great wrestler and may choose to take this fight to the ground but he has to look out for BJ Penn's submissions. BJ Penn has the advantage on the ground as he can either go for the submissions as he is very flexible which helps with submissions or he can either ground ‘n pound. Although he is known for his submissions, his attack and punches on people when he is on top of them is pretty brutal.
Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes
Thiago Silva is the second fighter on this card with an impressive undefeated record of 12-0. Silva had the big victory over Houston Alexander at UFC 78, Silva was able to use his good technique on the ground and really expose Houston Alexander. Thiago Silva was going to face of against ‘Sugar' Rashad Evans at first but then Evans was added to the UFC 85 card which has changed a lot in the last few weeks/months. Silva would have had more to gain out of a fight with Evans as both would have been undefeated and would help the winner get closer to a title shot. With this fight Silva has more to lose as he is predicted by almost all to win this fight, if he ends up losing it'll be a huge disappointment.
Antonio Mendes is relatively unknown is this fight, the things we do know about him is he has won 11 fights in a row and has an overall record of 14-2. By reports that I have read, his last fight at ‘M-1 Russia vs. Europe' he was getting beaten but thankfully for him the fight had to be stopped because his opponent had a bad cut. Thiago Silva is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt so he may choose to take this fight to the ground or either stand it up as many from the Chute Boxe academy (including Silva) have good Muay Thai skills. I hope Antonio Mendes can show some of his skills and make this a very entertaining fight but I am skeptical at the moment.
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Although Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic has been named on the main card, I feel this fight has more well known fighters. Sokoudjou is out to prove that he is not a one hit fighter like Houston Alexander as so far he is very similar to Alexander (beating two known fighters, then getting beaten themselves). Sokoudjou knocked out both Antonio Rogerio Nogueria - at PRIDE: 33 – and Ricardo Arona at PRIDE 34. In his debut ion the UFC it was a different story, he was absoloutly dominanted by Lyoto Machida and really needs to bounce back from that. Sokoudjou has showed his heavy hjands in his big wins but has yet to show his Judo ability, as he won the US Open Judo championship.
As for Kazuhiro Nakamura, he has had a MMA carrer of ups and downs. Nakuamura has defeated some big names like Murilo Bustamante, Kevin Randlemen & Igor Vovchanchyn. But with a MMA record of 11-7 it is obvious that he hasn't been able to get on a roll with big wins. Both fighters are known for their Judo skills so it will be interesting if they cancel each other out in that aspect. Sokoudjou's stronger upper body strength might help him get the win, also he would of worked a lot of greko-roman wrestling with Dan Henderson. But I wouldn't be counting out Nakuamura as he has been able to get some big wins when being the underdog.
