Five Ounces of Pain SPECIAL: UFC Fight Night 8 Preview
Posted by Sam Caplan on 01.23.2007
Sam Caplan is back with a special edition of "Five Ounces of Pain." Sam has a full breakdown of Thursday's UFC Fight Night 8 with predicted outcomes of all eight fights!
Lindsay Lohan can't go a day without vodka while UFC fans will have endured 26 days between fight cards. That's too long but the wait will end this Thursday night at 8 PM ET on Spike TV when the UFC returns with a strong card for UFC Fight Night 8.
"Five Ounces of Pain" is deviating from its normal publishing schedule to bring you this preview (don't worry we're still publishing a regular column on Thursday):
Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon
Evans' MMA record: 9-0 Evans' UFC record: 4-0
Evans' Notable Fights: Decision victories over Sam Hoger at UFC Fight Night 4 and Stephan Bonnar at UFC Fight Night 5.
Salmon's Notable Fights: First-round submission loss to UFC light heavyweight fighter David Heath on June 15, 2005 in a non-UFC bout.
Preview: Evans is a great athlete who has formal training in both boxing and wrestling. His primary weakness has been an inability to finish fights. However, Evans showed improved finishing skills during his last fight at UFC 63 in September, winning against Jason Lambert via knockout in the second round. He trains out of Greg Jackson's camp in New Mexico so Evans' finishing skills will only continue to improve.
Salmon hopes to spoil Evans' perfect 9-0 record by pulling off a stunning upset. He definitely has the pedigree to do it, having been a nationally ranked wrestler at the NCAA level while attending Ohio State University. Evans also wrestled in college for Michigan State, one of Ohio State's chief rivals in the Big Ten conference.
Salmon still believes he has an advantage over Evans when it comes to his wrestling and while that may indeed be the case any advantage he'll have will be minimal. On the other hand, Evans will have a decisive advantage over Salmon when it comes to the standup game.
Predicted Outcome: This is going to be a huge step up in competition for Salmon with none of his nine wins coming off notable opponents. He has one advantage in that Evans admittedly knows very little about him but that does not offset the advantage Evans holds when it comes to striking. Salmon is a solid addition to the UFC but will lose via third-round knockout to the more polished and more well rounded Evans.
Franca's notable fights: Winless in two fights against Yves Edwards; lost via decision to Josh Thompson at UFC 46; defeated Jamie Varner via armbar submission at UFC 62; last fight was a win against Nathan Diaz by way of armbar submission at WEC 24.
Fisher's notable fights: Defeated Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 2 via triangle choke; beat Aaron Riley at UFC Fight Night 3 due to doctor's stoppage; suffered a split decision loss to Sam Stout at UFC 58; last fight was a first-round TKO win over Dan Lauzon at UFC 64.
Preview: This is not officially being billed as a "number one contenders match" but the winner will put themselves in the driver's seat as far as receiving a lightweight title shot when Sean Sherk returns from injury in June.
In order for Franca to win this fight he's going to have to rely heavily on technique. Fisher will have a distinctive size and strength advantage and while Franca's standup is much improved, he cannot afford to stand and trade.
Fisher, who has fought as a welterweight in the past, has strong technical boxing skills and is currently the best knockout artist (sorry, Jens Pulver) amongst the UFC's lightweights. Franca has to get the fight on the ground so that he can utilize his black belt Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills. He's super flexible and moves like a cat when going for chain submission attempts but getting Fisher on the ground won't be easy. Fisher is a member of Miletich Fighting Systems and trains with some of the best wrestlers in MMA.
Predicted Outcome: Franca is small for the lightweight division (his best fight weight is 145 lbs.) while Fisher is big for the division. Fisher has showed tremendous improvement in his past few fights and will be too much for Franca to handle. Look for Fisher to win via second round knockout.
Marquardt's notable fights: Defeated Yves Edwards via heel hook submission at the Bas Rutten Invitational 4 in 1999; lost to Genki Sudo at Pancrase: Breakthrough 11via armbar submission in 1999; defeated Shonie Carter by way of unanimous decision at Pancrase's Anniversary Show in 2000; beat Kazuo Misaki at Pancrase: Spirit 3 in 2002 after Misaki suffered a broken arm; recorded a second win over Misaki by way of unanimous decision at Pancrase: Brave 10 in 2004; won via unanimous decision over Ivan Salaverry at the first-ever UFC Fight Night (then known as "UFC Ultimate Fight Night"); won via unanimous decision against Joe Doerksen at UFC 58.
Lister's MMA record: 9-4 Lister's UFC record: 2-0
Lister's notable fights: Lost to Jeremy Horn via majority decision at King of the Cage 31 in 2003; suffered split decision loss to Amar Suloev at Bushido (PRIDE) 4; lost to Ricardo Arona by way of unanimous decision at PRIDE's Total Elimination 2005; made UFC debut at UFC 60 and beat Alessio Sakara with a triangle choke in the first round; last fight was a win against Yushin Sasaki via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 6.
Preview: Spike TV has decided that this will be the swing match so we may or may not get to see Marquardt and Lister fight. Apparently television executives believe this match could go the distance and bore casual UFC fans in the process. Odds are that the match will indeed go the distance but there are plenty of mixed martial arts purists that are praying there's enough time to show this match on the air.
Lister, who has been spending a lot of time recently training with Randy Couture, is a unique individual whose story needs to be told to UFC audiences. He grew up in a military family and lived in Panama as a child during the U.S. invasion in 1989. According to Lister, he was living "right in the middle of a serious combat zone" during the invasion.
He's also one of the most decorated Jiu Jitsu practioners in mixed martial arts having won the U.S. Machado National Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships (weight class and open classes) on four occasions. Additionally, Lister is a National Gracie Jiu Jitsu champion and won the Absolute Division of the Abu Dhabi grappling championships in 2000.
Marquardt is coming into this fight on the heels of a five-fight win steak and is a true mixed martial artist with a strong ground game and solid standup. If Lister is successful in taking the fight to the ground he will not have the huge advantage that he's been accostomed to against other fighters. If Marquardt can somehow keep the fight off the ground then he'll be in a position to score a very decisive win because Lister's standup is nowhere near as developed as Marquardt's.
Predicted Outcome: Lister has never been submitted or knocked out during his MMA career so this match has a good chance of going the distance Look for Marquardt to utilize his superior standup in winning a unanimous decision.
Herring's notable fights: Lost to Evan Tanner at USWF 7 in 1997 after deciding he could not continue; fought Tanner a second time in '97 and won via rear naked choke in the first round; defeated Enson Inoue at PRIDE 12 due to strikes in 2000; suffered decision loss against Vitor Belfort PRIDE 14 in 2001; beat Mark Kerr via TKO at PRIDE 15 in 2001; lost via unanimous decision at PRIDE 17 against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira; suffered a first round TKO loss to Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE 23 in 2002; lost via TKO in the first round against Mirko Cro Cop at PRIDE 26 in 2003; lost again to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE's Critical Countdown 2004 after tapping to an anaconda choke in the second round; last fight was a second round TKO win over Gary Goodridge during K-1's Hero's in March of 2006.
O'Brien's notable fights: Beat Christophe Midoux via referee stoppage in the second round at UFC Fight Night 6 and won a unanimous decision against Josh Shockman at UFC 65.
Preview: Herring has fought a who's who of elite heavyweight fighters. Unfortunately, he's lost a lot more than he's won when matched up against the best fighters in MMA. O'Brien doesn't qualify as one of the best in MMA, but the up and coming heavyweight is a perfect 9-0 during his career and 2-0 lifetime in the UFC.
This match will be more evenly contested than some pundits are expecting. Both have wrestling backgrounds but O'Brien gets the edge in that department while the debuting Herring gets the edge when it comes to punching power.
Predicted Outcome:O'Brien has been impressive since entering the Octagon and will upset Herring in a split decision.
Undercard Matches:
Chris Price vs. Ed Herman - This will be Price's (MMA: 8-1/UFC: 0-1) second fight inside the UFC Octagon. He lost in his first fight against TUF 3 alumnus Kendall Grove by way of verbal tapout due to strikes at Shamrock vs. Ortiz III on Spike TV. Herman (10-5/0-2), a member of Team Quest, has good ground skills and is extremely tough. However, his skills have not transcended to the Octagon with Herman having lost both of his fights in the UFC. He was favored heading into the TUF 3 finale but lost to Grove via unanimous decision and was upset again against Jason MacDonald on the undercard of Shamrock vs. Ortiz III. Both have a common opponent in Grove so I'm picking Herman based on the fact that he went to a decision against him with Price having lost in the first-round.
Din Thomas vs. Clay Guida - Guida (21-6/1-0) has been an active fighter, fighting 27 times since making his debut in 2003. Eleven of Guida's 21 wins have come via submission but he faces an opponent in Thomas who has tapped just once in his career. Thomas will be looking for the tap as well with 55% of his wins having come by submission. A TUF 4 alumnus, Thomas has the edge when it comes to Octagon experience having fought five previous times in the UFC compared to just once for Guida. Look for Thomas to win via split decision.
Josh Burkman vs. Chad Reiner - Reiner (13-1) was very active in 2006, fighting 11 times. He went 10-1 in those fights with his lone loss coming to UFC fighter Dustin Hazelett. Burkman (7-3/3-1) is an underrated wrestler who has good punching power and will represent a major step in competition for Reiner. Reiner has more career fights under his belt but Burkman has fought four times in the Octagon while this match will be Reiner's UFC debut. I'm going with Burkman via rear naked choke in the first round.
Ross Pointon vs. Rich Clementi - Clementi (23-11-1/0-2) will be moving up in weight to fight at welterweight as he searches for his first-ever UFC win. The colorful Pointon (4-7/0-1) is also fighting outside of his normal weight class and is looking for his first victory inside the Octagon. Clementi is a more successful, more experienced, and better well-rounded fighter than Pointon. Pointon is a big hitter who has a puncher's chance but Clementi should have little trouble winning this fight via first round submission.
Sam Caplan is a Philadelphia-based sports talk show host and freelance sportswriter. He's also an amateur mixed martial artist (and we do mean amateur) who trains out of the Mixed Martial Arts Academy of Philadelphia. Sam can be reached via e-mail at SCaplan8@comcast.net or you can check out his blog at: caplanmma.blogspot.com
