Picks for UFC 102

Bigger Stronger Leaner
21

[quote]Bingbeast wrote:
excuse my ignorance… i am a new fan to UFC/MMA.

are any of these fights for a contender position?[/quote]

Kind of.

Nog vs. Couture - Dana has hinted that the winner of this fight will be in contention for title shot. He has also hinted at Velasquez getting the next shot. My guess is that it will come down to how good Velasquez looks (impressive victory) and same for the winner of Nog/Couture. Who is actaully holding the belt after Lesnar/Carwin will probably play into it as well.

Marquardt vs. Maia - Winner should be in line right behind Henderson, or fighting Henderson for the title. Depends on if Silva (current champ) moves up a weight class and leaves his belt behind.

22

MAIN CARD
Randy Couture
Thiago Silva
Chris Leben
Nate Marquardt
Krzysztof Soszynski

PRELIMINARY CARD
Gabriel Gonzaga
Mike Russow
Tim Hague
Nick Catone
Evan Dunham
Aaron Simpson

23

I’m beginning to worry for Marquardt, he’s starting to sound like he’s letting pride get in the way of victory.

24

Aint no way Marquardt tries to Gnp Maia unless Maia gets hurt in the exchanges on the feet.

I don’t know if Leben will be able to stop Rosholt’s takedowns, but he had a good camp, lots of wrestling…his experience in the Octogon will hopefully give him an advantage.

Can’t really call Nog-Couture…so hard to bet against Couture, but at some point we’ve got to admit that the guy is in the better half of his 40’s. Can’t fight forever, but I think they need to keep Couture fighting against guys who grapple as his reaction time can’t be what it once was…I’ve heard Anderson wants to fight Mir, if they gave him Randy as a warm up match, Randy would die

25

Weird night of fights.

Couture vs. Nog made up it.

Nog looked really sharp. Conditioning, striking, aggression were all better than they have looked since coming to the UFC. He managed to outwork Randy in every round.

I thought Randy was done a few times. To get out of the positions he did against Nog and to recover from the knockdowns like he did was simply amazing. The fact that he was rocked more than a couple times against Nog, probably means he is going to be in trouble with some of the other heavy hitters at HW. Should probably go to LHW for a few more fights.

Really wished this would have been a 5 rounder.

26

Bummed Maia Marquardt didn’t even hit the mat, but why was Maia throwing kicks? He should have covered up until he could initiate a takedown, oh well. Is Nate all of the sudden a douche or just phsyching himself up if he gets a rematch. Once again Jardine is over agressive and pays the price.

Hope this means Nog is back, and I think the light heavies hit harder than the heavies so lightweight would be a dumb move for Randy imo.

27

[quote]drewh wrote:
and I think the light heavies hit harder than the heavies so lightweight would be a dumb move for Randy imo.[/quote]

Really?

28

truly

29

Damn Randy signed for 28 months 6 fights.

30

[quote]drewh wrote:
truly[/quote]

Who at LHW do you think hits harder than guys like Carwin, Duffee, Cro Cop, Fedor, really any of the heavy handed/footed HW’s? There are definitely some hard hitting LWH’s, but seriously, you’re crazy if you think they hit harder than someone like Carwin.

31

Carwin is one thing, but Fedor=not in the UFC, Cro Cop ehhh maybe, but really Machida KO power, Silva’s, KO Power, Rampage KO Power, Rashad KO Power etc… Nog and Brock knocked Randy down, Chuck put him out cold.

32

Wow, Todd Duffee is a big dude. That and a 7 second knockout will earn you some cred.

I’m glad Nog won. He hasn’t looked that good in a while, and although Randy hit him with a lot of clean shots, Nog was too much. Props to him.

Nate with a nice shot to Maia’s jaw, I believe he should be in line to fight Anderson.

Silva with a nice knockout on Jardine, who got overaggressive and paid for it.

33

[quote]drewh wrote:
Carwin is one thing, but Fedor=not in the UFC, Cro Cop ehhh maybe, but really Machida KO power, Silva’s, KO Power, Rampage KO Power, Rashad KO Power etc… Nog and Brock knocked Randy down, Chuck put him out cold.[/quote]

After seeing him fall a few times last night, he probably wouldn’t fair too well against the top of the LHWs. Any of the guys could probably tap on the chin a few times, so it probably wouldn’t matter if they hit as hard as Carwin. I don’t think that’s what they’d have planned for him anyway after 2 losses. Presumably, he can still draw viewers. Probably see him in non-title money fights. Another one against Tito would probably be a good money fight. Maybe Franklin?

34

[quote]drewh wrote:
Carwin is one thing, but Fedor=not in the UFC, Cro Cop ehhh maybe, but really Machida KO power, Silva’s, KO Power, Rampage KO Power, Rashad KO Power etc… Nog and Brock knocked Randy down, Chuck put him out cold.[/quote]

Silva is a sharp shooter. It’s not that he’s got hugely powerful punches as much as he hits exactly on the button, which then doesn’t require as much power to KO someone. Definitely not arguing that Randy would be in for a rough night against him though. Rampage does have some big power, Rashad can obviously bring it as well. Machida seems to hit pretty hard too.

I’m not arguing with you that Randy would have a tough time against some of the guys you mentioned. Just don’t think that any of those guys you mentioned actually hit harder than Carwin, possibly this new kid Duffee, Brock (even though Brock’s accuracy and technique still have a long way to go, look what he did to Mir’s face with just arm punches), or Cro Cop’s kicks.

And Nog isn’t really known as a KO guy, but dropped Randy a couple times in that fight. Big Kudos to Randy for even surviving that fight though. And congrats to Nog for coming back into the Octagon strong and regaining top form. I still think he’s gonna be in for a rough time against the winner of Carwin/Brock though.

35

If Nog does end up being the UFC HW champ at some point, it just makes the UFC’s HW belt look even more “not-so-ultimate,” since Fedor has not just beaten Nog, but fucking STOMPED him. TWICE. And those videos are all over the 'net, of course.

I’m not blaming the UFC at this point at all, it’s Fedor and his management that shit the bed . . . I guess I’m just bitching aimlessly. :slight_smile:

Sigh.

36

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
drewh wrote:
Carwin is one thing, but Fedor=not in the UFC, Cro Cop ehhh maybe, but really Machida KO power, Silva’s, KO Power, Rampage KO Power, Rashad KO Power etc… Nog and Brock knocked Randy down, Chuck put him out cold.

Silva is a sharp shooter. It’s not that he’s got hugely powerful punches as much as he hits exactly on the button, which then doesn’t require as much power to KO someone. Definitely not arguing that Randy would be in for a rough night against him though. Rampage does have some big power, Rashad can obviously bring it as well. Machida seems to hit pretty hard too.

I’m not arguing with you that Randy would have a tough time against some of the guys you mentioned. Just don’t think that any of those guys you mentioned actually hit harder than Carwin, possibly this new kid Duffee, Brock (even though Brock’s accuracy and technique still have a long way to go, look what he did to Mir’s face with just arm punches), or Cro Cop’s kicks.
[/quote]
My comment about him moving to LHW was really assuming he would not be in title contention. There are great strikers at the top of the LHW ranks. Problem with the HW div is that even the mid tier guys can hit pretty hard. He got rocked several times by Nog. I haven’t gone back and watched it again in slomo, but I doubt Nog is hitting him as hard as Hardonk, Kongo, Barry, or Duffy would hit him. We don’t even need to talk about the guys at the top.

I wouldn’t mind seeing him against Mir or even Velasquez, but it would probably look somewhat similar to the Nog fight last night. I think there are more interesting fights are at 205. I can’t beleive they signed him for 6 fights. I wonder if he will fight them all?

[quote]
And Nog isn’t really known as a KO guy, but dropped Randy a couple times in that fight. Big Kudos to Randy for even surviving that fight though. And congrats to Nog for coming back into the Octagon strong and regaining top form. I still think he’s gonna be in for a rough time against the winner of Carwin/Brock though.[/quote]

He looked great last night, but you are right. He would be giving up a ton of size and strength to those guys.

Nog did to a good job at staying off the fence with Randy which would probably be the game plan against Brock. I do wonder if he would try and keep it standing against Lensar? His sub defense/positioning on the ground looked pretty damn good against Mir. Outside of Mir coming close to grabbing a leg again when they first hit the ground, I didn’t see him give Mir anything to work with. Nog is probably better on the ground then Mir, but if Brock doesn’t give him anything to work with the outcome would probably be the same.

I would think Carwin would want to keep it standing, so Nog may be able to catch him like Gonzaga did. No idea what Carwin sub defense looks like. Would like to see him on the ground with a submission guy. Win or lose, I would like to him against Mir.

We’ll probably have to see how Velasquez looks against Rothwell before we know who is going to get the winner of Carwin/Lesnar. I would rather see Nog get the shot at this point. One more solid fight after Rothwell wouldn’t be a bad think for Velasquez.

Velasquez/Rothwell - Velasquez
Lesnar/Carwin - Lesnar
Dos Santos/Cro Cop - Dos Santos

Lesnar/Nog - Lesnar
Carwin/Mir - Mir
Velasquez/Dos Santos - Dos Santos

Lesnar/Dos Santos
Nog/Carwin
Velasquez/Mir

…would be pretty cool. Even if the Dos Santos and Velasquez are reversed.

37

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
drewh wrote:
Carwin is one thing, but Fedor=not in the UFC, Cro Cop ehhh maybe, but really Machida KO power, Silva’s, KO Power, Rampage KO Power, Rashad KO Power etc… Nog and Brock knocked Randy down, Chuck put him out cold.

Silva is a sharp shooter. It’s not that he’s got hugely powerful punches as much as he hits exactly on the button, which then doesn’t require as much power to KO someone. Definitely not arguing that Randy would be in for a rough night against him though. Rampage does have some big power, Rashad can obviously bring it as well. Machida seems to hit pretty hard too.

I’m not arguing with you that Randy would have a tough time against some of the guys you mentioned. Just don’t think that any of those guys you mentioned actually hit harder than Carwin, possibly this new kid Duffee, Brock (even though Brock’s accuracy and technique still have a long way to go, look what he did to Mir’s face with just arm punches), or Cro Cop’s kicks.

And Nog isn’t really known as a KO guy, but dropped Randy a couple times in that fight. Big Kudos to Randy for even surviving that fight though. And congrats to Nog for coming back into the Octagon strong and regaining top form. I still think he’s gonna be in for a rough time against the winner of Carwin/Brock though.[/quote]

I’m starting to wonder if he ever got into a fight or sparred with people in different weights. Lighter people have faster looking punches, but you can’t replace mass. Getting hit with 265 pounds behind it just has more power and force behind it than 205lbs. If a hw gets on top of Randy and starts pounding it’s going to hurt way more then a light heavy.

38

Man if you watch the replay of the Maia KO the floor knocked him out.

39

[quote]drewh wrote:
Man if you watch the replay of the Maia KO the floor knocked him out. [/quote]

I think he was heavily rocked on the way down. Maybe the floor finished him off, but the punch did the majority of the damage from what it looked like to me.

40

I see Todd Duffey got some attention. ATT is deep as hell.