UFC 85 Predictions

[patriot]

This is going to be a stacked card this Saturday.
The double main event includes Matt Hughed vs Thiago Alves and Brendan Vera Vs Fabrecio Werdum. The two fights I am looking to see are Marcus Davis vs Mike Swick and Martin Kampman vs Jorge Rivera. also their is no non hispanic black person on the card.

Predictions
Hughes def Alves(155)- Alves is a better striker but I think hughes is going to take it to the ground and control the action.

Jason Lambert vs Luis Cane(205)- Both fighters are very inconsistent but I think Lambert is going to KO Cane early.

Paul Taylor vs Jess Liadin (170)- Taylor will easily dominate the fight in front of a home croud.
Marcus Davis and Mike Swick(170)- tough call. winner is probably GSP's next opponent. This could be the fight of the night. Davis has won his last 10 descions and is a very talneted golden gloves boxer, while Swick is a great striker. my prediction is Davis by decision.

Michael Bisping vs Jason Day(185)- Day was impressive in his last fight,but Bisping is the more well rounded fighter and has the home croud. Bisping by ko.

Werdum vs Vera (heavyweight)- Both are very good fights. Werdum is good on the ground while Vera has great standup. while Vera will probably be a heavyweight champ eventually; I see Werdum pulling out a close decision.

Kevin Burns vs Roan Caniero(170)-I have heard good things about Burns, but Caniero has the experience.

Kampman vs Rivera(185)- Kampman is one of the best young prospects and seems unstopable. I see him Submitting Rivera.

Matt Wiman vs Thiago Taveres(155)- Wiman is one of my favorite young fighters, but I just don't see him defeating Tavares.

Marquardt vs Leites(185)- I don't know much about Letes, but Marquardt is always a tough opponent and is one of the best wrestlers in MMA. I think he will etch out a decision.

 

[Poacher]

Looking forward to seeing Kampman back in action. Hughes too for that matter.

 

[dkr77]

* Welterweight bout: Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves-
* Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Jason Day
* Welterweight bout: Mike Swick vs. Marcus Davis
* Heavyweight bout: Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera
* Middleweight bout: Nathan Marquardt vs. Thales Leites


1- Ill take Hughes over Aves- Alves missed weight by 3 pounds! Hughes pounds him out to a ref stoppage

2- Bisping over Day-I have never watched Day perform but I think Bisping will pose problems for anybody in the 185 division.

3- Davis over Swick-Davis has better hands and good power. Davis by second round KO.

4-Vera over Werdum-Decision win by Vera over an exhausted Werdum.

5-Marquardt over Leites-Decision win by Marquardt.

 

[guest301]

I am hoping Werdum beats Vera because I hate that bobble-headed surfing the wave snake dance that Vera does after his victories.

 

[White Shogun]

I am getting to where I hate making predictions. Under normal circumstances I would expect Hughes to beat Alves handily within minutes, similar to the way BJ beat Stevenson. But these days, you just don't know. Is Hughes up for this fight? Did he suddenly go over the hill?

I've never seen Day fight before, but unlike some here I am not all that impressed with Michael Bisping. In my opinion he lost the fight to Hamill, and my opinion of Rashad Evans is so low that I expected Bisping to own him (no pun intended.)

Swick has seemed very tentative in his last few fights, going to 2-1 in three straight decisions, whereas Davis has finished his last three fights in the first round. But I'm not sure if that means anything when you look at their respective opponents in those last three fights.

I expect Marquardt to win his fight though. Interestingly enough, the man who Marquardt is fighting, Thales Leites, has lost to a fighter who is stuck on the undercard, Martin Kampmann. Kampmann is fighting Jorge Rivera in a fight that I think is a huge mismatch in Kampmann's favor, but we'll see.

By the way, the fights are live on PPV at 2:00 PM today, and the undercard results are probably posted on the net somewhere, so stay off the net if you plan on waiting til tonight to watch the replay.

 

[Guest]

Well, the two worst rules of the new, watered down UFC have cost Nate Marquardt.

Sometimes I think they should change the name, because there is nothing "ultimate" about having over 20 rules and 5 weight classes.

Over hundreds of fights, nothing bad ever happened when you were allowed to hit the back of head and kick people in the head when they were on the ground.

Now, almost every event, the two rules against this cause controversy.Edited by: nevada

 

[Guest]

Marquardt's pile driver was also illegal under the new gay rules. I guess Herb figured he had already taken enough points.

Most exciting moves are illegal now. Just punch each other in the head until somebody falls down, this is ultimate boxing after all.

Edited by: nevada

 

[White Shogun]

I agree nevada. Marquardt thoroughly dominated Leites standing and on the ground. The elbow to the 'back of the head' wasn't to the back of the head anyway, he hit him in the temple. At least they can't say Marquardt is a boring fighter anymore.

For those who didn't watch the fight, Nate had a point deducted for a knee to the head of a downed opponent in the second round, and an elbow to the back of the head in the third. Those points proved to be the margin of victory for Leites, who might have won the first round but was thoroughly dominated by Marquardt in rounds the second and third rounds.

Day was completely overwhelmed. He was a last minute substitute and it showed. They're trying to make a star of Bisping, and well.. good luck to them. The fight was stopped due to strikes from GNP in the first. Rogan and Goldberg were hanging from Bisping's nuts throughout, even going so far as to say Bisping had officially put everyone in the middle weight division on notice. I'm sure Anderson Silva is quaking in his boots right now.

Matt needs to retire. He reminded me of Tito, with his slow takedowns and weak strikes. But Alves did come in 4 lbs. over weight, and he did look much, much bigger than Hughes. Alves gets the TKO stoppage in the second after hitting Matt with a knee and several hard strikes.

Werdum beat Vera in the first round, but it was another controversial stoppage by Dan Miragliotta. Werdum was beating Vera throughout the round and established a solid mount with 15 seconds left in the first round. He put on some GNP but Vera wasn't really hit by any of them, taking most of them on his arms. He was intelligently defending and appeared to be waiting for the round to end. Miragliotta stops the fight with about 2 seconds left in the round. After this and his despicable performance in the Kimbo - Thompson fight, he needs to consider retirment.

If you could watch just one fight on the card, I would say watch the Matt Wiman - Thiago Tavares fight. Great display of ju jitsu on the ground and some awesome exchanges in the standup. Wiman wins by TKO in a great fight.

Kampmann subbed Jorge Rivera rather easily in the first round of his fight, and Antoni Hardonk got KO of the night with his stoppage of Eddie Sanchez.

I knew I was forgetting something. The Swick - Davis fight was fairly boring and consisted of Swick putting on a Rashad-like display of lay n' pray for the UD, despite losing a point in the third for holding on to the fence.

Oh, and Lambert lost a toughman slug fest to Luis Cane in the first.

 

[Guest]

Dirty words as far as I'm concerned:

"Watch the back of the head."

Uttered by the referee in almost every match now.

Fights are faster, more exciting, and safer when hitting the back of the head is allowed.

Don't even get me started on knees to the head. Under the old, vastly superior rules, Marquardt won that match by KO in round 2.

 

[Guest]

 

[guest301]

I agree with many on here that there are far too many rules. A elbow or kick to the back of the head should be well within the rules and I am not even sure that headbutting should be against the rules. Well maybe I won't go that far. The UFC is over compensating to avoid all the media critics out there who will never like MMA anyway.

 

[JD074]

The UFC is over compensating to avoid all the media critics out there who will never like MMA anyway.

No, they had to change the rules so that their sport could continue to exist, period. They couldn't get licensed in most states before then. I think they worked with the Nevada State Athletic Commission to make all of this happen, so if anyone's to blame for unnecessary, frustrating rules, it's them. You can't blame Dana White et al. for taking a bankrupt organization and turning it into a massive success. They did what they had to do.

 

[guest301]

The UFC is over compensating to avoid all the media critics out there who will never like MMA anyway.

No, they had to change the rules so that their sport could continue to exist, period. They couldn't get licensed in most states before then. I think they worked with the Nevada State Athletic Commission to make all of this happen, so if anyone's to blame for unnecessary, frustrating rules, it's them. You can't blame Dana White et al. for taking a bankrupt organization and turning it into a massive success. They did what they had to do.

I stand corrected, at least partially anyway. I know very well they had to change some things like having different weight divisions, qualified judges and doctors at the fights, some changes in rules and whatnot, I get that. The sport wouldn't be where it is today without those changes, I respect Dana White and have always appreciated what he has done with the UFC. I have been a fan since UFC 1 and so I am not a johnny come lately to MMA. But you are right that this is a multi-million dollar business now and not a fledgling enterprise anymore and I have to respect that and I do. However with all that being said, I still think they have gone too far with some of the rules, I am not convinced that the UFC had to adopt every rule change on behalf of whatever sanctioning goverment agencies they have had to deal with. Don't see why elbow strikes to the back of the head should not be allowed, or kneeing somebody in the head as well. It's not like I am bloodthirsty and want a true gladiator fight to the death or anything and I would much rather see a ref stop a fight too early than too late but I want the MMA competition to match as close as possible(within reason) to a real fight to truly gage who is the better fighter in the cage. Nate Marquart was obviously the better fighter as posted above but because of some unneccesary arbitrary rules he got screwed. But to your point, that's maybe not the UFC's fault and if so I stand corrected on that point.Edited by: guest301