My UFC 156 Maincard picks

Well, it’s Superbowl weekend and most people in America don’t care about much else in sports, and rightly so. I don’t know why it took this Tebow drama to finally get into football. I used to just watch the Superbowl, but I’ve been introduced to a totally new sporting experience this year, it’s crazy. Well not that crazy. Other than soccer, every sport I ended up following, was introduced to me by the freakshow. For instance, I was introduced to MMA by Kimbo Slice street fighting in boat yards lol. But anyway, for those of you who are fans of MMA or just the UFC, we are in on this weekend’s biggest kept secret in sports.

Deutsch: Logo von Ultimate Fighting Championship Русский: логотип Ultimate Fighting Championship (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

UFC 156!!!!!

I used to think I was a hardcore fan, a connoisseur of MMA, but when my favorite fighters started losing, I lost the interest I once had. I love some of these new guys, but my favorite fighters come from an era posthumously known as the Pride era. Fighters like Shogun, Rampage, Dan Henderson, Fedor Emelienenko, Big Nog, Cro Cop, Josh Barnett. I don’t know why I’m more fond of the Pride era fighters. They could all be characterized as tough guys. I think they also had more exciting styles. For too long for my liking the UFC has signed too many one-dimensional wrestlers who only use their wrestling to stall their opponents’ various styles. Not all hope is lost. I still keep interest in the sport because of the exciting new era of fighters entering the sport. These guys have elevated the sport because of what they add in overall technique. Now you have wrestlers who are also competent strikers. The modern fight game has strikers with very difficult takedown defensive techniques to protect against wrestlers or other grapplers. That’s why I still watch hoping these new guys can match the toughness and excitement as the fights from the good ole days of MMA. And truth be told things are looking great with fighters like Jon Jones(strange personality but potentially the best ever), Anderson Silva (part of the old guard. Legend still going strong), GSP(iconic still has some years to go), Rashad Evans, Overeem, Aldo, Frankie Edgar, Carlos Condit, Mike Pearce, Machida, et al.

English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That’s why this upcoming UFC is gonna be the shit! So many of my current favorite fighters are on one card ahead of the Superbowl. Frankie vs Aldo, Rashad Evans vs Lil’ Nog, Overeem vs Bigfoot, Benavidez vs Mcall, Fitch vs Maia.

In this first fight I got Aldo over Frankie, because I think  Frankie’s speed advantage at Lightweight is now nullified at Featherweight against the champ and P4P great Jose Aldo. Frankie’s strengths are his wrestling, boxing, mental toughness, and physical toughness, but Aldo’s footwork striking and take-down defense are gonna prove to be too much for Frank. Frank’s perseverance will come to him at a cost, because he will sustain a hefty beating from Aldo. Aldo by decision

In the Rashad Evans vs Lil’ Nog fight, I have Rashad over Lil Nog with a comfortable victory. 

Rashad Evans should beat Lil Nog easily in their marquee fight at UFC 156

Lil Nog has better boxing, but Rashad has more tools and weapons in his bunker. Few fighters can mix the martial arts as well as Rashad “Suga” Evans. I have Rashad by TKO 2nd round.

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva vs Allistair Overeem

English: Alistair Overeem at Frank Valies’ premier of Warrior at the Pathe Arena theater in Amsterdam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Overeem wins 3rd round. Overeem holding numerous titles, most notably K1 heavyweight champ, is the superior striker with a more varied repertoire of stand-up and has the greatest advantage standing Bigfoot. His only weakness standing is his chin. Overeem still has suspect strike defense as evidenced in his K1 fight against Ernesto Hoost, but he has yet to be KO’d at Heavyweight (or submitted). He also has the speed advantage over Bigfoot. In other words I think Bigfoot is screwed. Unless Bigfoot can channel the flailing fists of fury that is Badr Hari, he will lose. Bigfoot’s only advantage is in grappling. He is a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt and uses his size very well. However, Overeem is a very underrated grappler in his own right, winning the European equivalent of Abu Dhabi. I don’t think Bigfoot has what it takes to shoot for a takedown successfully on The Reem either to get it to the ground anyway. Brock Lesnar couldn’t even do it. Overeem by TKO round 3

Demian Maia vs Jon Fitch is the hardest fight to call on the entire maincard!

Maia is an elite grappler who can twist time and space and make it submit if he wanted, but will have a tough time against Jon Fitch who’s never been submitted as a professional fighter. Maia is the better grappler being so highly decorated in BJJ(Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) but Fitch knows how to use his wrestling to nullify just about any style. In my opinion Fitch’s future nemesis will be wrestlers with superior striking, like his losses against GSP and Hendricks(both one-sided beatdowns). Fitch will try to keep this fight standing, using his wrestling to keep the fight from hitting the mat. Demian Maia has improved his striking drastically since his debut, but is still not good enough to outstrike Fitch. I go with Fitch by decision.

Benevidez vs Ian Mccall 

Benevidez will win due to superior footwork and better striking. Ian will make many attempts to get this fight to the ground and hope to land in top position, but Benevidez is too quick for this tactic to be effective. But should the fight hit the mat, Benny will make things interesting by threatening with submissions from the bottom. I have Benevidez by decision.

MMA I gotta talk about it.

(What’s up world. I added a new track “Swagger Like Mine,” in my box on the home page. You can download it there. )

Brock Lesnar is the new UFC Heavy Weight Champion

This is a Hip Hop blog.

But I really wanna talk about Brock vs Randy Couture at UFC 91. I am glad I don’t bet on MMA, because I would be a very very very disappointed man. My money was on Randy. I basically wanted Randy to win bad so he could fight Nog. Randy vs Nog? I thought Nog would murder Randy easily. I just wanted to see the fight. But nonetheless reality struck Randy Couture with a big over-sized elbow behind the ear on the night of November 15, 2008. Well where do we start? Randy Couture ‘Captain America.’ Randy is a legend in my eyes because he always seems to beat the odds when his back’s against the wall. I also think Randy Couture is a tad bit overrated. His record is 16-9 now. He’s beaten some great opponents but Fedor hardly gets any slack from the same people hyping Randy. But I still look at Randy as one of the sports greatest fighters and ambassadors inside

Randy "The Natural" Couture

and outside the ring. They’ve been saying Randy is too old to fight since as far back as I can remember him fighting. He didn’t start his UFC career till he was 33. Now he is 45. And he still always looks impressive. But having said that. Randy didn’t look his best, but I don’t think that can be attributed to age. Randy hasn’t been fighting for about a year because he wanted to fight Fedor. And I really wanted to see that fight too. More so than Nog vs Randy man. But anyway, I really doubt that will happen now. But we’ll see.

But anyway congrats to Brock Lesnar. I’m not a hater of Brock at all, but I’m not really a fan. I just love watching a good fight. I’ve said this before. He’s a very good fighter naturally because of his ginormous size and his athleticism. But he’s also a former collegiate wrestler and NFL player(training team). When you mix that with his knack for learning MMA he is a formidable opponent in the HW division. Not to say he isn’t beatable. Because he lost to Mir already because of a rookie mistake in the first round. But he has learned from his victories and defeats it appears. Beating Randy Couture is not something every top 10 HW can boast about. Yeah Randy’s been off for a year or so. Or we can maybe say Randy is getting older or whatever. Or my favorite; Brock Lesnar didn’t deserve a title shot anyway. But uh, what if he beat the incumbent Champion? Come on diehards you have to give credit where credit is due. Brock was the better fighter on the night. Overall, it was an ok fight.

Brock Lesnar defeats Randy Couture

And another thing people let’s not talk too crazy. Brock Lesnar vs Fedor?????

I would like to see that fight too damn it. I happen to think Fedor is the best Heavy Weight in MMA history, but regardless of what I feel, I think Brock has a long way to go before he beats Fedor Emelienenko. We will see exactly how close Brock is to Fedor after he fights Nog(assuming Nog easily defeats Mir like I predict, but I was wrong before). But nonetheless great win for Brock Lesnar the new UFC Heavy Weight Champion. But peace. This is African Origins signing out. I got more blogs here or you can check me out at myspace at http://www.myspace.com/africanorigins or click me!