Soooo.....New Year, new blog? Haha, that wasn't my intention, but somehow I kept delaying the writing of blogs, creating a series of non-starts and unfinished articles. My New Years resolution this 2010 consists of 3 things:
- To blog more and take this blog in an upward and onward direction
- To lose some of those unwanted holiday pounds. And good lord, were there a lot of 'em!
- To not kick myself if I don't follow through with these resolutions...foreshadowing, much?
Anyway, on with the predictions! I've included predictions from
MMAFighting.com and
MMAMania.com , 2 of my favorite MMA websites.
Main Event: Rashad "Suga" Evans vs. Thiago Silva
MMAFighting - Evans.
MMAMania - Silva by TKO.
NTheKlinch - Evans. This fight is harder to call than I originally thought, but I gotta go with Evans here. I have a weird feeling in my gut that Silva can pull off the win by TKO, but there's literally a see-saw effect going off in my brain. I need an Aleve. Ring rust or not, I'll take Rashad by virtue of out-working Silva and ducking his power shots with that bobblehead movement of his. He'll also be able to take Silva down fairly easily and avoid getting hit.
Heavyweight: Gilbert Yvel vs. Junior "Cigano" Dos Santos
MMAFighting - Dos Santos.
MMAMania - Dos Santos by Unanimous Decision.
NTheKlinch - Dos Santos. Yvel is a talented fighter that I've had to see internet video of because I haven't been privileged enough to see him fight in person but like many others, I'd heard about his in-ring antics more than his actual fighting. He is a talented fighter, but I'm admittedly on the Dos Santos bandwagon. In his fight against Cro Cop, Dos Santos withstood Cro Cop's strikes and didn't wilt and even in the twilight of Cro Cop's career, those strikes have got to hurt. Pair that with Dos Santos' formidable ground game and I think he'll survive Yvel's onslaught to win a decision.
Lightweight: Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout vs. Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon
MMAFighting - Lauzon.
MMAMania - Lauzon by submission.
NTheKlinch - Stout. Call this my one "blind guess" of the bunch. The prediction where I go out on a limb...and likely lose. *Shrugs* Oh well! I can see Stout improving his takedown defense long enough to swing some well-timed bombs at "J-Lau" and catching him in a TKO victory. Lauzon is the more well-rounded, but if Stout can hand out some punishment on the feet and end the fight with some ground and pound (see Stout's victory over Steve Claveau in TKO 17), it could be a surprising victory for Stout.
Welterweight: Dustin "McLovin" Hazelett vs. Paul "Semtex" Daley
MMAFighting - Hazelett.
MMAMania - Daley by TKO.
NTheKlinch - Hazelett. "McLovin" hasn't fought in a year and Daley's last fight (a TKO win over welterweight standout Martin Kampmann) was a great introduction to UFC fans. However, McLovin's outstanding submission game exploits a decent-sized gap in Daley's arsenal. Much as I love to see the KO's, I'm just as excited to see another Sub pulled out of Hazelett's hat.
Welterweight: Duane "Bang" Ludwig vs. Jim Miller
MMAFighting - Miller.
MMAMania - Miller by unanimous decision.
NTheKlinch - Miller. Ludwig may hold a lightning-fast knockout record in the UFC (over Jonathan Goulet), but his MMA record is extremely spotty. He usually folds when facing top competition and that's what I believe Miller to be. I see Miller outworking Ludwig on the ground en route to a unanimous decision
Prelim Predictions...just for fun
Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon - Miller by submission
Mark Munoz vs. Ryan Jensen - Munoz by split decision
Rafaello Oliveira vs. John Gunderson - Oliveira by split decision
Mike Pyle vs. Jake Ellenberger - Ellenberger by unanimous decision
Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann - Kampmann by TKO
Alright...I'll be back after the fights to see how I did on my picks this time. Feel free to let me know your picks (nsiderkrissie@gmail.com) and enjoy the fights!
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