UFC 79

The biggest news so far has to be Matt Serra's withdrawal from his bout with Matt Hughes for the UFC Welterweight championship. He apparently has a couple of herniated discs in his back, confirmed by MRI.

According to UFC.com, the new main event will now be Matt Hughes vs Georges St. Pierre for the interim title. The winner will face Serra sometime next year for the 'undisputed' title.

So far, the other two fights on the card have Chuck Liddell facing Wanderlei Silva, and Lyoto Machida v Rameu Sokoudjou.

Unbelievable card so far. I can't wait to see who else is added.

Cool Wanderlei clip on the 'tube.

Sokoudjou, the muscle bound african fighter who had an impressive victory from just when pride was going under (if I remember it correctly) and a quick win over noguiera vs Lyoto Machida, who I'll be honest here, I have no clue about, but according to wikipedia he is undefeated so it should be a good one!

Anyway this sounds awesome, we could be looking at a serra pierre rematch, and Lidell could gain some legitimacy back if he defeats Wanderlei. Looks like it's wings and beer again for me, oh the humanity! Edited by: nopictures

I cannot see how hughes can defeat Pierre. I am a huge Hughes fan and will be pulling for him again in this fight like I did in the first 2. However, Pierre is a great fighter who is in his prime. I see Pierre stopping Hughes midway through the fight. Sometine in the 3rd, or early in the forth. In my opinion Hughes is the greatest welterweight of all-time. But Hughes has seen his better days.


Lyoto Machida in my opinion is one of the most boring
fighters I have ever watched in the Octagon. Now before I get a talking to let me explain.
Is he a skilled fighter? Hell yea.
Is he in great shape for every fight? Yes.
Is he technically sound? I have never done his art but I would assume that he his from the crispness of his movements and the competition he has defeated.
That being said, for whatever reason his fights come off as sleepers to me. I do hope he defeats the African.

Machida has a great remsume with ko victories over Rich Franklin and Stephon Bonnar. I think it will go the distance but I would be shocked to see anyone defeat Machida.

Also Soukoudjou beat the less talented noguiera brother not the one that deafeated Josh Barnett and crocop,but the other twin.

Soukajou (spelling?) may turn out to be another Houston Alexander. It will be interesting to find out. I agree that Machida is not the most exciting fighter around but he has an undefeated record and that means apparently he's doing something right. What's most interesting in these type's of matchup's is the fact that the general public will look at the body type's, Souk looking like a bodybuilder and Machida looking like your neighbor, and think that Soka automatically win's by appearance alone. I'm quite certain everyone on this forum knows the folly in that I'm leaning toward Machida on this one (decision win with Soka gassing bad in the third round.)

Liddell and Silva should be a slugfest! Of course I'm rooting for Liddell but Silva is a formidable opponent and Chuck has not looked good of late. Add that to the fact that Randy Couture will most likely be the mastermind behind Silvas' gameplan and I am leaning toward Silva by KO late in the second round. Of course Chuck has KO power in either hand and I would absolutely love for him to prove me wrong.

Hughes vs St. Pierre. Two great caucasian competitors! This bout maybe even better than Silva / Liddell! I think Hughes took St. Pierre lightly last time (Hughes supposedly has a tendency to undertrain) and I don't think he'll make that mistake again. The reports that I have read say Hughes asked for this fight and if that's accurate I think Matt is well prepared for a back and forth war. I'm betting Hughes experience will pull him through this fight and he wins by his traditional GNP style.

Should be a great night of fights and looking forward to it! Regards, Dan

Matt Hughes was shown last night introducing the Pittsburgh offence and defence in the Pitt/WVU game last night. I didn't catch what kind of affiliation he has with Pittsburgh. I always assumed Matt was a Iowa Hawkeye.

Sokoudjou was the 2001 US Open Judo Champion, so I expect his ground game to be better than Houston Alexander's. But judo isn't mixed martial arts, either,so...

This tidbit was found on his wikipedia entry:

Sokoudjou is regarded as an extremely taxing training partner, having blown out the knees of both Kit Cope and Frank Shamrock in preparation for their upcoming fights.

Click to expand...

If you are consistently injuring your teammates during training, that makes you an *******, not a 'taxing training partner.'

Edited by: White Shogun

"Sokoudjou was the 2001 US Open Judo Champion, so I expect his ground game to be better than Houston Alexander's. But judo isn't mixed martial arts"



I know Karo Parysian stated he had thrown Sokoudjou a few times in competition. Some Judo guys are very skilled on the ground (Karo Parysian, Manny Gambryan) and if Sok has that kind of game then Machida is in for a loooong night

I saw the judo match between Sokoudjou and Parisyan. Parisyan did not hit any throws cleanly. He actually got kind of pushed around. That is no big deal though. Sokoudjou is 30 pounds bigger. You would expect Parisyan to have trouble throwing him cleanly.

Parisyan is a "don't you know who I think I am?" kind of guy. I would pretty much ignore whatever he says.

the other thing about sokoudjou is his age many claim he is 22 but some sources I know have told me he is closer to 27. This is not uncommon for people in Nigeria. My high school has some Nigerian on are track team who turned out to be 23. Many people inside boxing including Shannon Briggs have claimed Sameul Peter is 36.

nevada said:

I saw the judo match between Sokoudjou and Parisyan. Parisyan did not hit any throws cleanly. He actually got kind of pushed around. That is no big deal though. Sokoudjou is 30 pounds bigger. You would expect Parisyan to have trouble throwing him cleanly.

Parisyan is a "don't you know who I think I am?" kind of guy. I would pretty much ignore whatever he says.

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I agree with you about Parisyan's attitude, After seeing him in the TUF show big timing his way through a confrontation with Nate Diaz with his "do you know who I am" attitude. I can't stand the guy and would root against him in almost any fight, maybe even against a brutha.

I'll be definitely pulling for Hughes, Liddell, Machida, Clementi, Irvin, Mohr & Lister. Who do ya'll like? Here's the current card...

Main Card
Interim welterweight championship bout: Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre [6]
Light heavyweight bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva [2]
Light heavyweight bout : Lyoto Machida vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou [4]
Lightweight bout: Rich Clementi vs. Melvin Guillard [7]
Heavyweight bout: Eddie Sanchez vs. Soa Palalei[8]

Preliminary Card
Light Heavyweight bout: James Irvin vs. Luis Cane [9]
Welterweight bout: Tony DeSouza vs. Roan Carneiro [10]
Lightweight bout: Nate Mohr vs. Manvel Gamburyan [11]
Middleweight bout: Dean Lister vs. Jordan Radev [12]
Lightweight bout: Doug Evans vs. Mark Bocek [13]

Are those numbers after their names supposed to be their rankings? How is Matt Hughes not listed as a top ten welterweight?

White Shogun said:

Are those numbers after their names supposed to be their rankings? How is Matt Hughes not listed as a top ten welterweight?

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WS, those numbers are references from the Wikipedia page I copy+pasted the card info from...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_79Edited by: DixieDestroyer

As long as Melvin loses I don't care who wins the other fights.

Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre: I hope that GSP teaches him a lesson, can't stand Hughes.

Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva: Great slugfest, the fight won't go the whole distance. Silva by KO(2 Round)

Lyoto Machida vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: Machida is a very boring fighter but also very effective and smart. Machida by UD.


Edited by: itsme

itsme said:

Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre: I hope that GSP teaches him a lesson, can't stand Hughes.

Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva: Great slugfest, the fight won't go the whole distance. Silva by KO(2 Round)

Lyoto Machida vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: Machida is a very boring fighter but also very effective and smart. Machida by UD.

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What lesson does Hughes need to learn from GSP? Any guy who comes out to the music "A County Boy Can Survive" is a guy I will always root for. I like GSP's athleticism but Hughes is the man who made the welterweight division and I predict he has another title reign in him.Edited by: guest301

Have any of you had the opportunity to watch UFC All Access with Wanderlei Silva?

The guy's workout is unreal. More incredible than Sherk's, if you can believe that. He uses a snorkel with his nostrils closed during his workouts to build up lactic acid. Scary, incredible workout, determination, and focus.

Chack is in for a helluva night. Only way Chack wins in my opinion is catching Wand on the button when Wand is on his way in. Otherwise, Chack goes down brutally.

On a side note, I read where Clementi stated the fight between him and the negro Guillard was a match between brains and brawn.

White Shogun said:

Have any of you had the opportunity to watch UFC All Access with Wanderlei Silva?

The guy's workout is unreal. More incredible than Sherk's, if you can believe that. He uses a snorkel with his nostrils closed during his workouts to build up lactic acid. Scary, incredible workout, determination, and focus.

Chack is in for a helluva night. Only way Chack wins in my opinion is catching Wand on the button when Wand is on his way in. Otherwise, Chack goes down brutally.

Click to expand...

crazy stuff

ufc-all-access-wanderlei-silvaEdited by: itsme

Melvin got choked out.

Chuck smashed Wandy in a great fight. There was alot of "feeling out" but when they got to business it was pretty impressive. That Silva can take a freakin' punch.

Sanchez got a victory and almost ruined it by throwing some sort of tantrum at the end.

GSP beat Hughes again. It was a really one-sided fight. GSP is just a better fighter.

Machida exposed the African's weakness...his ground defense.

Good fights.

the Italian vs the Hurricane Katrina survivor

Clementi v Guillard = Clementi

I loved the way this fight played out, and I loved Clementi's "Showmanship"

the Yellow Alien vs the Predator!

Machida v Sakoudjo = Machida, it looks like some big wigs were pulling for Sak, who came to the ring in a Predator face mask, which I thought was funny. Also, Machida told him to go back to the jungle, which was equally hilarious. Sak is clearly more well-rounded than Alexander was as he laid out a competent but insufficient ground defense strategy

Liddell v Silva = Liddell

a real slug fest, leaving the door still open for both fighters. Chuck's getting up in years and I was happy to see his dominating performance tonight. Silva showed that Jay Leno doesn't have anything on him when it comes to chins, he took a real beating but when it was all over he was still able to stand and fight.

GSP v Hughes = GSP

Dammit, I'm beginning to dislike the poster boy for white identity crisis more and more, I was really pulling for Hughes but GSP showed that he outclasses him in every respect.

machida destroyed sokoudjou. I knew he would win. he should get a sot at rampage or thiago silva next.