This past weekend:
It looks like Takanori Gomi, the Fireball Kid, is back. He knocked out Tyson Griffin in the very first round this past Saturday with a vicious swinging haymaker. I seriously thought the guy was past his prime, but he was aggressive the whole time, and with a win over a top fighter like Griffin, he could soon be back in contention. I was very surprised by how hard he was going at it–I thought for sure that his confidence had been destroyed years ago.
That same night, Yushin Okami won a split decision over Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz. As usual, Okami’s fight was as exciting as watching paint dry. According to the announcers, he’s been training with Chael Sonnen. It’s funny how guys like Okami and Sonnen can put the audience to sleep but can never do the same to their opponents. In Okami’s defense, however, he was clearly winning the striking game against Munoz and was landing some very hard shots.
In the main event, Jon Jones got a first round TKO over Vladimir Matyushenko. At 23 years old, and with a strong wrestling background, Jones could go far. I don’t think he’s ready yet to take on greats such as Rampage or Rua, but he’s working his way up there.
Next weekend:
You all know how I’m always wrong when I try to predict fights. I can’t stand Chael Sonnen and was even thinking of calling it in his favor just so he would lose. No one has ever spewed so much trash talked against Anderson Silva, but Chael Sonnen is the king of trash talk. If you turn on Spike, they are showing commercial after commercial with Sonnen’s claim that he’s going to beat Anderson’s face in and retire him. What’s even more amazing is that all this trash talk is coming from a guy who has never earned a single knockout or submission in the UFC or the far less challenging WEC.
That being said, he is a real threat. In his last outing, he laid on top of Nate Marquardt for three boring rounds in order to earn a unanimous decision, the same way he scored his decision over Okami. As we saw in the second BJ Penn/Georges St. Pierre fight, a wrestler can often defeat a striker within the UFC by tiring him out with strong lay-and-pray maneuvers in the early rounds.
Still, I’d have to favor Silva, even if it means my prediction might cause him to lose. bigWOWO prediction: Silva by KO in Round 2.
They’ve got some other great fights this Saturday, including Roy “Big Country” Nelson vs. Junior Dos Santos and John Fitch vs. Thiago Alves. I think Dos Santos will beat “Big Country,” even though I love watching “Big Country” fight. “Big Country” is great, but I don’t think he’s faced a guy like Dos Santos before. Dos Santos by decision. Alves has been knocked out by Jon Fitch before; I think it’s going to happen again. Jon Fitch by second or third round KO.
And there you have it. Hopefully I’ll finally get it right.
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