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Saturday, August 9, live on pay-per-view from the Target Center, in Minneapolis, MN. @ 7pm PT/10pm ET. Doors to the Target Center open at 6pm CT, first bout is scheduled to begin at 7pm CT, and goes live on television at 9pm CT.
Main Card
* Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch (Welterweight Championship Bout) wins by UD!
* Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta wins by UD!
* Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring wins by UD!
* Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson wins by KO in RD1!
* Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia wins by RNC in RD3!
Preliminary Card
* Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen wins by TKO in RD1!
* Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno wins by UD!
* Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Thomas wins by armbar in RD2!
* Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory wins by decision!
* Andre Gusmao vs. Jon Jones wins by UD!
Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch (Welterweight Championship Bout)
Much talk about the GSP and Fitch fight circulating. The typical conversation mentions the athleticism and “riddum” of GSP and his P4P status, and when it comes to Fitch everyone mentions his undefeated status in the UFC and his impressive 15 fight win streak. Fitch’s biggest wins come over Luigi Fiorvanti, Josh Burkman, Brock Larson, Thiago Alves, Roan Carneiro and Diego Sanchez. The criticism launched against him however, is that he doesn’t finish fights. 9 of his 17 wins have come by way of KO/TKO or submission. I find the criticism to be unfair considering in 2007 he fought 3x, finishing 2 opponents (Carneiro and Fiorvanti) and in this year thus far he has one fight and it went to decision. Would be TERRIFIC if every fighter finished every fight, but when you fight at the top level, it is increasingly more difficult to finish your opponents (and making it just THAT much more impressive when people like GSP do finish). Regardless, he has been around long enough and DESERVES a title shot.
With a finish rate of 78%, 2x champion, and 11 of his 16 wins coming by finish, GSP’s resume is just so much more impressive. Not only that, but GSP came out of the gates, debuting in MMA against top level competition (TKOing Ivan Menjivar) and hasn’t stopped since. Wins over Thomas Denny, Pete SPratt, Karo Parisyan, Dave Strasser, Mayhem, Matt Hughes (2x), Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, BJ Penn, Josh Koscheck, and Matt Serra are a stark contrast to who Fitch has faced. GSP has just fought better competition, and has more ways to win. Fitch is VERY capable of winning this fight, but I just see GSP’s “riddum”, transitions, and striking making the difference. I can’t imagine Fitch outstriking or controlling GSP in the clinch and/or placing GSP on his back, which is what he HAS to do if he wants to beat GSP.
GSP by TKO in Rd2 is my prediction.
Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta
Ken Florian is another one of those guys that started his career believing in himself and fighting top notch opponents since his first match. His 9-3 record is misleading, as he has fought some of the best and his only loss via TKO came to Diego Sanchez. His 2 other losses came to Sean Sherk and Drew Fickett. NO SHAME THERE. K-Flo has in his few fights demonstrated an evolution and proved that he is always trying to get better. He started out as a BJJer and added striking, then Muay Thai to his arsenal. His elbows are some of the most vicious in the UFC, and he throws them with bad intention standing and on the ground. He is a VERY dangerous, and in all 9 of his wins, he has finished his opponents.
20-1 Roger Huerta has been on a win streak since his loss in 2004 against Ryan Schultz at Superbrawl 36. He then went on to win 19 fights in a row (except 1 NC against Melvin Guillard. He has gone 5-0 in 2007, finishing 4 of them. He is a monster and seems on the precipice of doing some big things. He BETTER be careful in this fight, for if he tries the same game plan that he did w/ Clay Guida, the night will come to a short end. Florian is too dangerous to stand there and trade punches with and hope your chin is better. Unfortunately for El Matador, he may be too emotional of a fighter and may find that kind of fight irresistible. If Huerta can come to this fight with a different game plan, and fight a more intelligent stand up game, he has a decent chance of pulling this one out.
I am going to go out on a limb, and pick Huerta to win this one by decision, and possibly even a TKO. I picked every fight in the last WEC and maybe it has gone to my head!
Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring
When it was originally announced that Mark Coleman would be fighting Brock Lesnar, I thought that it was a fight that Brock could actually win. When they announced that Coleman was out and Heath Herring was in, I did a 180. I think this is an awful matchup for Lesnar and I’m not sure he has the right management picking fights for him. To go from fighting a tomato can in Min Soo Kim, to fighting an ex-champ in Frank Mir and then to Heath Herring is just plain and simple POOR management. To think that in one year anyone can become a world beater in MMA, is just obnoxious. He has skills that need to mature and needs to be brought up through at least a handful of fights to gain some experience. Maybe he sees himself as too old and his opportunity is slipping away. I don’t know.
Heath Herring is a veteran of the sport, and has fought everyone who is everyone. He is a salty dog. Lesnar only has 10#s on Herring, and Herring has just so many more ways to win this fight. The only fault with Herring is he can be a luke warm fighter and will win one and lose one. Lesnar has 2-3 minutes to get a standing KO by some fluke or to gruel out a TKO from the guard or he is done. If he doesn’t do what he has to do in in the first 3 minutes of the fight, it will get UGLY for him.
I am picking Heath Herring to win this in the latter part of RD1 or beginning of RD2.
What are YOUR picks?
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