ufc UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis

[D. S. Veteran]

I didn't make a thread for UFC on FX due to lack of time but that card, despite being great, wasn't that important. But this one is. Great thing about MMA in 2012, every prelim gets aired and Facebook fights are over. So here we go:

Preliminary card (Fuel TV)

Chris Camozzi vs. Dustin Jacoby - This one is probably a "loser gets cut" fight. Camozzi, a TUF 11 contestant, was already cut before after a loss to TUF 11 alumn Kyle Noke. He got brought back at UFC 137 and lost his fight against Francis Carmont. He gets to fight Jacoby, who lost his UFC debut also at UFC 137. A 0-2 skid in a division like MW doesn't bode well for their future so I hope they put on a good fight.

Joey Beltran vs. Lavar Johnson - "Big" Johnson is another Strikeforce HW that has been brought into the UFC. Make no mistake, he sucks. He has a big right hand, bad cardio and no ground game. Luckily for him, they give him an opponent that also likes to brawl, giving him a decent chance of getting the W. Beltran is 1-3 in his last 4 and really needs a win. Now that the UFC is bringing over the Strikeforce roster, HW can't just hang around with losing records. He has the skillset to win this fight but hey, it's at HW, anything can happen.

Michael Johnson vs. Shane Roller - Michael Johnson is a pretty 1-dimensional wrestler with bad striking that, despite being a wrestler, can't hold people down. Shane Roller has a pretty good submission. I think it's pretty obvious how this will play out if Roller is smart about his gameplan.

Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely - Oliveira needs a win, badly. He's 2-2 with 1 NC in the UFC and the momentum he got from his first 2 fights has fizzled out a bit. He's moving to FW to give himself a boost. I hope he can get himself back on the winning side of things because he showed potential. If he loses this, he's officialy a dud. Wisely is making his UFC debut, can Oliveira capitalize?

Cub Swanson vs. George Roop - Roop will look to rebound from his loss to Hioki against fellow WEC product Cub Swanson. Both guys are pretty good FW but I give the edge to Roop, his striking being the main factor. Should be a great fight.

Johnny Bedford vs. Mitch Gagnon - The UFC is really pushing Bedford. Is it because he looks like recently dethroned Jon Fitch? He's pretty big for a BW. Combine that with wrestling skill and he's a tough test for any low tier fighter in the division.

Mike Russow vs. John-Olav Einemo - Einemo, despite being a world class grappler, was outgrappled by Dave Herman and pounded out. Russow hits like a ton of bricks and since he's from DeathClutch, you can be sure he has a good amount of wrestling training. Unless Einemo has shored up his striking (not likely, a Maia style transformation isn't that easy), he's probably getting KO'ed for his troubles.

Evan Dunham vs. Nik Lentz - Lentz is BORING. He's one-dimensional smother monster of was outsmothered by Mark Bocek and complained about the decision. The UFC is probably trying to get him on a losing streak so that they can cut him. Why is this fight the closest one to the Main card, I will never get since it's 80% likely it will go to a decision.

Main card

Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman - Maia has showed great improvement with his striking in recent fights. That was going to get put to the test against Bisping but things have changed. Maia will now faced surging prospect Chris Weidman, who has a very good wrestling background. Seeing how Maia's grappling is clearly superior to his, it would be wise for him to keep it standing or use a powerful top control game instead of trying for submissions. He's coming in on short notice to face a Top 10 MW so he better have a very good gameplan. Should Maia win, a Maia-Mu?oz for the next title shot at Sonnen wouldn't be farfetched.

Michael Bisping vs. Chael Sonnen - Bisping finally gets a chance to fight for the MW title, something most people would only have dreamed of when the UFC ran out of MW opponents. I don't know why, seeing how he is legitimately a Top 10 MW. Now the only problem is that he's facing Chael for the title shot so... yeah, Bisping will only fight for the title when the UFC runs out of MW opponents. I shouldn't "count" Bisping out entirely (see what I did there?) but Chael is the #2 MW and he's the only guy in recent years to make Silva sweat. Bisping was gassing from punching Miller in the face without opposition and we all know how the UK fighters have troubles with wrestlers. Chael surely knows this and will exploit it as much as he can. Also, Bisping has no chance in hell to beat Anderson Silva while Sonnen vs Silva II would sell PPV like it was the cure for cancer.

Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis - I don't even know. Is this for a LHW title shot? Will Henderson leapfrog Evans? Will Davis be required to fight someone else before he gets a shot? I don't see either guy beating Bones but at least Evans would make the fight competitive. Davis gets thrown into the deep end against Evans, a guy who his extremely well rounded and doesn't have any glaring holes in his game. Will Davis be able to win on physicality alone? Evans showed no signs of ring rust and dispatched Tito Ortiz with ease. Davis struggled a bit to beat Ant?nio Rog?rio Nogueira. He still needed time to develop but this was the fight he was booked for so let's see if he can make something out of it.

[MightyJordan]

The judges decision in Bisping / Sonnen was BS! :angry: Bisping easily won the 2nd round, Sonnen did have the 3rd, but Bisping just edged the 1st round. Bloody favouritism going on there. Just gotta wait for the inevitable now when Anderson Silva submits that arrogant douchebag once again.

[D. S. Veteran]

The judges decision in Bisping / Sonnen was BS! :angry: Bisping easily won the 2nd round, Sonnen did have the 3rd, but Bisping just edged the 1st round. Bloody favouritism going on there. Just gotta wait for the inevitable now when Anderson Silva submits that arrogant douchebag once again.

I'm on Team Sonnen but yes, I must agree, I scored the fight 29-28 Bisping. Bisping was agressive in order to stiffle Chael's style and it worked. While he was fresh, he won the 1st and the 2nd. Christ, what was it with this event and gassing? I still haven't seen the prelims but I'll get to that as soon as I can.

[_I am Reptar]

http://blog.fightmetric.com/2012/01/sonnen-vs-bisping-official-ufc.html

[dippednbutter]

http://blog.fightmet...ficial-ufc.html

I had Sonnen squeeking it out thought the first seemed close and wouldn't have been surprised if it went the other way.

[D. S. Veteran]

Calf slicer :| :| :woot: :woot:

[dippednbutter]

The calf slicer was sweet. At first I was trying to figure out what the heck just happened. Of couse with the beer and cooking made it a little smokier.