The Ultimate eXperience 08.05.08: The Axe Murderer is Coming
Posted by Ryan Seymour on 08.05.2008
Wanderlei Silva will be fighting in December and has the choice of 10 opponents. But who should he fight? Also the latest news on Rampage, the latest Affliction card, a Preview of UFC 87 and much more on this week’s edition of The Ultimate eXperience.
NEWS BREAK-DOWN
"I'm talking with (UFC co-owner) Lorenzo (Fertitta), they're talking about December because it is the best event of the year. (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira is going to fight (Frank) Mir for the belt for the heavyweights.
This is the best event. It's much more promotion. They told me to be ready to fight in December.
They gave me 10 (possible) names. My division is the best division in the world. They have so many names. I think they're going to give a good opponent to me."
Wanderlei Silva is fighting in December which is going to be great. Wanderlei's fights are always exciting to watch and I doubt this one will be much different. Ten possible names that Wanderlei could fight are a bit surprising to me, but there are certainly a few of the top of my head that I would love to see. The winner of the lightweight showdown between Rich ‘Ace' Franklin and Matt ‘The Hammer' Hamill could be a good opponent for Wanderlei Silva. Of course more hype would come with a Franklin/Silva fight and would pit fighters who were champions for a while and are trying to get back to the glory days. Wanderlei Silva could also face the winner of Thiago Silva vs. Lyoto Machida. Thiago idolized Wanderlei Silva and on the UFC website he says that one of his heroes is Wanderlei. Lyoto on the other hand is an incredibly good fighter and is unlucky not to be getting a title shot. Machida's style isn't the most entertaining to watch, which has slowed him down from getting a title shot. On paper Lyoto Machida should really kill Wanderlei Silva, as Wanderlei's aggressive style could play right into Machida's counter punching technique. If course a third fight with Rampage could be in the equation, but the way Rampage has been lately – that fight could be much further away.
Advertising for the next Affliction show on 10/11 no longer mentions Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski and now instead mentions Andrei Arlovski vs. TBD.
This isn't terrible news if Fedor ends up facing a different top-10 heavyweight. Rumor has it that Fedor is going to face of against Mirko Cro Cop on a new years event under the DREAM banner. That fight will be good to watch but Mirko has pulled out of a few fights recently due to nagging injuries, so hopefully it is all healed up by then. If Andrei Arlovski faces of against Josh Barnett at the next affliction show, then I won't be that disappointment. The winner of that fight NEEDS to fight Fedor, both would of defeated big names and Fedor needs to keep fighting top competition rather then jokes. Also isn't Randy Couture supposed to face of against Fedor sometime in the future, that fight can't wait too long as Couture is 45. A VERY busy schedule for the #1 Heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko.
Graciefighter.com is reporting that EliteXC is very interested in putting a Nick Diaz/KJ Noons rematch on the October 4 EliteXC CBS show. Diaz is very interested in the fight, however it is unclear if KJ Noon's camp will accept the bout. If Noon's camp does not accept the fight it is very likely that Diaz could end up facing Hayato "Mach" Sakurai at the September DREAM event. In another interesting note, DREAM has yet to pay Diaz for his victory over Katsuya Inoue back in May.
This is very interesting, EliteXC need big ratings for their show on CBS in October. To do that they are trying to have all there stars be involved in the event. Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano are pretty much certain to be at this event, and now they are trying to have Noons/Diaz II. I am not a big fan of Diaz but I really respect his ability and he is a very crafty fighter. I honestly think both fights have potential to be really great to watch, and I could care less which one happens first. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai is a veteran of the sport and has defeated some very good fighters such as Mac Danzig, Shinya Aoki, Jens Pulver, Joachim Hansen and Frank Trigg. Sakurai and Diaz would be a very good fight as both fighters are very well rounded and have nothing but respect for each other. That can hardly be said about Nick Diaz and KJ Noons. Nick Diaz was unhappy on the way the first meeting between the two finished and he was so disgusted that he was raising his middle finger on his way out of the arena. At another EliteXC event where KJ Noons and Diaz were facing different opponents, the end of the night still ended up with Diaz and Noons trying to fight each other at the end of the night. So Diaz/Noons would probably be better to see because of the bad blood between the two, but I think both will be good fights.
"Huntington Beach woman who was more than 16 weeks pregnant and who police said was injured in a hit-and-run crash with mixed martial artist Quinton ‘Rampage' Jackson on the 55 Freeway two weeks ago has had a miscarriage, her fiancé said Friday.
Could anything else go wrong for Rampage Jackson? It is hard to believe that everything was fine and dandy only a few months ago. Losing the title to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86 has made Rampages life hell since then. He has an out of character hit and run accident, thinks he is GOD and now news has came out he caused a woman to have a miscarriage due to his hit and run incident. You have to feel for Rampage. I would love to see him in the octagon come December and be facing of against Wanderlei Silva but it looks like it could be a longer time before he fights again.
Amir Sadollah can take any punishment.
Wanderlei Silva does it all.
UFC 87 PREDICTIONS
Andre Gusmao (5-0) vs. Jon Jones (5-0)
Steve Bruno (11-3) vs. Chris Wilson (13-4)
Tamden McCrory (8-1) vs. Luke Cummo (6-5) Ben Saunders (5-0-2) vs. Ryan Thomas (9-1) Cheick Kongo (11-4-1) vs. Dan Evensen (10-2)
Manny Gamburyan (8-2) vs. Rob Emerson (7-6) Demian Maia (7-0) vs. Jason MacDonald (20-9) Brock Lesnar (1-1) vs. Heath Herring (28-13) Kenny Florian (9-3) vs. Roger Huerta (20-1-1) Georges St. Pierre (16-2) vs. Jon Fitch (17-2)
This event is going to be incredible. The three main fights are really great fights and with two of them I am a little undecided who will win. Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta is a real 50-50 fight for me. Roger Huerta's UFC record is 6-0 while a case could be made that Florian has faced tougher opponents, Florian's UFC record is 7-2. The thing that made me choose Florian is how dominant he was in his last fight against Joe Lauzon. Florian controlled that fight and was able to finish Lauzon in the second round. While on the other hand, Huerta was really getting beaten by Clay Guida in his last fight at TUF Finale 6. Guida had the first two rounds in the book but Huerta was able to turn the tables and come back in the third to win the fight.
Brock Lesnar against Heath Herring was another fight that I can see either man winning. Lesnar has a very strong wrestling background and did look good in his loss to Frank Mir at UFC 81. Herring proved Kongo's weakness in the ground game at UFC 82 and was able to hit Kongo with a few dozen knees to the body. If we see the fight standing it will be very interesting. We have yet to see Lesnar's stand up skills while we have seen Herring knockdown (the current UFC Heavyweight Champion) Rodrigo Nogueira, but wasn't smart enough to capitalize on it. I can see Lesnar pushing for a takedown and then trying to cement his ground and pound, I could also see Herring using his experience to win this fight. It's a really hard fight to pick.
