i know it is not “cool” these days to give a shit about heavy weight divisions in combat sports, but fuck it.
i love watching the big men rumble
i thin Mir takes it.
both are AGING HEAVYWEIGHTS.
the heavies, seem to retain skill/technique and strength, but lose explosiveness, and speed/reflexes
from my point of view, limited as it is, i think this puts Mir at an advantage.
I’m picking Barnett all the way. I think he can out grapple Mir, he has better fight IQ and better chin and that should put him way ahead of Mir. Not expecting much fireworks though, rather slow paced 3 round decision in favor of Barnett is what I predict. Tbh I wouldn’t be very surprised if we saw no finishes on the maincard at all.
Poirier and Koch are both kinda hard to finish and being a 3 round featherweight fight its not that long of a shot to see this being a bit more exciting 3 round scrap. Rothwell and Vera might well turn out to be a boring big boy hug-fest, though both guys are well capable of knock each other silly if an opprotunity presents itself. Mendes should manhandel Guida but I don’t really see him getting a finish here as Guida has endless gas, and just like any good Jackson’s fighter likes to play it safe.
That coupled with his granite chin I just see Mendes shutting him down en route to 3 round decision. Bendo - Pettis is really what I’m looking forward to though, I think Henderson will come out on top cause I think he has improved more since their last meeting which was really close, but that being said he likes to give his opponents one too many chances every once in a while and Pettis is really good at capitalizing on those.
Going to be really exciting to watch, I see Henderson taking the decision with Pettis taking a round or two.
I’m also picking Barnett as I think he has better striking and his takedown defense is better than Mir’s takedown offense. Either fighter could potentially end it on the feet, but I suspect that it’ll go to the judges.
I always enjoy watching the little guys fight but haven’t seen enough of Porier or Koch to call that one. Hope it’s an action packed technical fight.
Mendes should beat Guida, but Guida is one of those fighters who can derail others fighters’ title runs.
Vera should beat Rothwell on paper, but Brandon is a very inconsistent fighter, so it depends on which Vera shows up.
I’m picking Bendo over Pettis if he fights a smart fight (utilizes his wrestling to smother Pettis and keep the fight on the ground as much as possible). But, given his last few performances I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t and Pettis ended up with his hand raised.
Either way, if the fight is even remotely comparable to their first fight we are in for a treat.
I am kind of looking forward to this card.
Koch vs Poirer
I have no real opinion on Koch vs Poirer. Other than making Germany vs France jokes. Which I will now make.
How do you say “Maginot Line” in German?------------“Speed Bump”
WW2 on Facebook
Rothwell vs Vera
I always pick Vera. He is like someone built the perfect MMA fighter for a video game. Greco background, muay thai, BJJ and cover him with tats.
Vera never wins.
I am picking Vera.
Mendes vs Guida
I think Mendes should beat Guida. Guida does bring enough cardio and size to make this interesting. I picture a 3 round decision for Mendes, going exactly like Sento described.
Mir vs Barnett
I always enjoy Barnett’s fights and Mir seems to rub me the wrong way in a lot of interviews. Both these guys are getting long in the tooth. At this point I think Mir is a bit bigger and stronger while Barnett has a bigger gas tank.
I’ll pick Barnett and hope there are no positive urine tests in the future.
Henderson vs Pettis
Pettis beat Henderson with a kick that “shouldn’t” have worked. The way Guida took him down makes me think Henderson can grind out a decision if he wants to. IF Henderson tries to make it exciting this will get very sporty.
Regards,
Robert A
[quote]Robert A wrote:
I always pick Vera. He is like someone built the perfect MMA fighter for a video game. Greco background, muay thai, BJJ and cover him with tats.
[/quote]
A lot of people have had faith in Vera (at least at some point in his career) because of his training resume. My view is that he is just not a born fighter. He can keep training all he wants but he will never have ‘it’.
[quote]stupidlikeafox wrote:
[quote]Robert A wrote:
I always pick Vera. He is like someone built the perfect MMA fighter for a video game. Greco background, muay thai, BJJ and cover him with tats.
[/quote]
A lot of people have had faith in Vera (at least at some point in his career) because of his training resume. My view is that he is just not a born fighter. He can keep training all he wants but he will never have ‘it’.[/quote]
I think I need counseling to stop.
The whole fight I kept thinking he would pull it off.
I mean shouldn’t muay thai plus BJJ plus Greco = win?
He should be a 220 lb. Jose Aldo with better clinch work and takedown defense.
Regards,
Robert A
Did anyone else think Guida and Mir both got stopped early.
Not saying another 5 seconds would have changed the outcome, but I they both seemed like they were still able to continue.
I don’t think they were really that early, Barnett knee’d Mir in the face and he buckled as if he just got KTFO, just dropped flat on the floor and Barnett was right on top of him, hard to see how he would’ve recovered from that and thus IMO smarter to let the guy get away with less punishment than bank for that 1 in a 100 longshot. Better for carreer longetivity and shorter layoffs between fights.
Was impressed with the destruction Barnett put on Mir, I’d like to see him fight Browne next for the number one contender slot. Mir is a solid gatekeeper and decent top 10 fighter so I don’t think they’ll cut him despite 3 straight losses (all of those being against very high level of competition as well), but he desperately needs a win in his next bout to keep him relevant so throwing him in there with Reem might not be the best idea if UFC wants to keep him around.
They could sell him fighting Gonzaga as exciting grappler vs grappler fight, or he could fight Mitrione/Schaub winner or loser depending on how to fight plays out. Should be fights he could win. I’d like to see Vera fight Reem, might seem like easy steamroll fight for Reem but both are guys who are known for their amazing ability to fuck up when the fight seems theirs for the taking. Vera could tire Reem out by running around the cage like he did today, although I don’t really see it working as well against someone with more refined striking as even Rothwell, a large and immobile heavyweight was able to stop some of his circling with hooks.
Either way some interesting matchups to be booked and looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
Koch - Poirier was good entertaining scrap, I was little bit surprised how easily Poirier was able to tag Koch over and over as I was kind of expecting Koch to hold the striking advantage here. Mendes - Guida was some of the best entertainment the night had to offer as well, I just really enjoy watching the smaller men keep up such a hectic pace and excecute with proper technique through out the fight. Also very cool flying groin kick by Guida 
. Mendes is a fucking animal though, would love to see him rematch Aldo or fight Edgar.
The more I think of it, if they could sell Edgar - Mendes as a main event I think that would be one hell of an exciting fast paced action packed scrap, but I don’t know if they could do that, maybe for some smaller free TV event but definitely wouldn’t sell enough for a PPV. Fight like that would need those 5 rounds to do it any justice though.
Pettis really surprised me with that armbar, Bendo seemed to take it really well considering his arm must’ve been a little messed up and he’d just lost the belt. Pettis seemed to get the better of the little striking exchanges they had, forcing Bendo to work the takedowns and clinch game, he seemed to be doing fine up until getting caught with that sub. Was little bummed to see it end so early, would’ve liked to enjoy full five rounds of it…