When UFC announced its first foray into the Canadian province of British Columbia last June, many people pointed to the fast sellout (the fastest on record until UFC 127 in Australia this past February) as a clear reason of the exponential rise of the growth of Mixed Martial Arts in Canada. While that was true, others pointed to the fact that Dana White could have promoted a Hyena fighting a Giraffe and it would have sold out (due to that aforementioned growth), and a lackluster card, the card will best be remembered for Tito Ortiz pulling out of the main event with an injury and Rich Franklin stepping in to send Chuck Liddell into retirement.
On Saturday night, the UFC returns to Rogers Arena, again with an injury suffered from a coach on TUF (Brock Lesnar pulling out due to illness) and a late replacement (Shane Carwin) stepping in to fight the other coach (Brazilian Junior Dos Santos). While others point to another disappointing card, I believe it has several intriguing fights that aren't headliners, but do grab your attention.
Onto my picks :
Dos Santos vs Carwin - The main event will be a heavyweight championship eliminator, as Carwin steps in for Brock Lesnar to face Dos Santos. Carwin will be fighting for the first time since a back injury (and subsequent steroid investigation regarding him) forced him to take some time off following his fight with Brock Lesnar last July, while Dos Santos is fighting for the first time since taking a unanimous decision victory over Roy Nelson last August on the UFC 117 undercard. Carwin was supposed to face promotional newcomer Jon Olav Einemo before the injury to Lesnar brought him to the forefront.
I do not expect this fight to last long. Carwin has very heavy anvils for hands, and while he will stand and trade with the Noguiera protege Dos Santos for a bit, I expect Junior to have worked his ground game very meticulously and have the strength to stuff a Carwin takedown late in round 1. I also expect like Gabriel Gonzaga, Dos Santos will have Carwin in Trouble. However, unlike his countryman, Dos Santos won't get dropped by a Haymaker brought to you by EA Sports.
The Pick : Dos Santos by TKO.
The co-main event will see promotional history, as former lightweight contender Kenny Florian will drop another 10 pounds and make his featherweight debut. In doing so, he will be the first fighter in UFC's history to fight in 4 differing weight classes (if you'll remember, he was a Middleweight on The Ultimate Fighter, dropped to welterweight and won both fights there, then dropped again to lightweight and won 9 of 12 fights including 2 world championship matches at 155). He'll be facing 16-1 Brazilian Diego Nunes, who will be fighting for the first time since his dismantling of former featherweight champion Mike Brown on New Year's day at UFC 125.
I fully expect that Florian will be successful in his new endeavor. This will be a grappling heavy contest, and I expect Florian's newly acquired wrestling skills (remember he was training with the Tristar team, including GSP's coach Firas Zihabi according to reports), to come in handy. While Nunes' Jiu-Jitsu prowess will have the American in trouble, expect Florian to weather the storm, and ultimately grind out a victory.
The pick : Florian by split decision.
Mark Munoz vs Demian Maia - The "Filipino Wrecking Machine" and arguably the Philippines greatest combat sports export aside from some guy named Pacquiao, Mark Munoz will fight Demian Maia in a 3 round middleweight affair. Munoz is fighting for the first time since dropping CB Dolloway in March, while Maia showed improved striking skills (especially compared to his fight against Anderson Silva) in December when he dispatched Kendall Grove by unanimous decision. It will be interesting to see how Maia fares against another member of the "Black House" team, though I think Munoz is better than most people give him credit for and will use his wrestling and striking to secure a victory. Yes, i'm going with the upset here.
The Pick : Munoz by decision.
Sam Stout vs Yves Edwards - In a fight that has "Fight of the Night" written all over it, Canadian Sam Stout will face UFC veteran Yves Edwards in a 3 round affair. Stout will be fighting for the first time since defeating Englishman Paul Taylor at UFC 121 last October, while Edwards dispatched TUF graduate (and master of the guillotine choke) Cody MacKenzie at "Fight for the Troops 2" in January. It will be an entertaining affair, with Edwards using his grappling knowledge to wear out Stout on the ground, though the kickboxing expertise of Stout will ultimately have him prove victorious.
The Pick : Stout by decision.
-In other news, Dana White has announced that from here on in, all main events will be 5 rounds regardless of title stipulations or not. While I applaud the long needed change, I disagree it should only be title bouts. Maybe they should give non-title fights up to 4 rounds and have title rounds 6 rounds instead? Oh well. Just because they'd have to stretch the time on the PPV's shows you how little I know.
-Watched ESPN E:60 recently with a piece on Dada 5000. Apparently this man is the best friend of Kimbo Slice, also a former guidance counselor.. Though while Kimbo made it big fighting in backyard brawls, 5000 takes it to another level : He promotes backyard street brawls, selling tickets and having people gather in his mother's backyard to watch. Watching this, just makes me wonder how extreme people will go to get a piece of the MMA pie. Not trying to say these guys aren't tough and don't have guts going in there, but I am saying fighting on youtube isn't going to cut it.
Questions? Comments? leave one at the bottom or email me at mmarmaggedon@gmail.com or feel free to follow me on twitter at twitter.com/mmarmaggedon.
Until next time, fight fans!
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