WE’LL MAKE THIS QUICK. IT’S ABOUT SEVEN HOURS before the broadcast starts; that is an hour after the event really kicks off at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
We’ll risk error and humiliation by making known our picks for UFC 76: Knockout. Drum roll, please. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua over Forrest Griffin by knockout. Rua is too strong, too quick, too complete, too brave for Griffin. Despite the injury to his right arm suffered in the Pride match against Mark Coleman, Rua will win by sheer dominance. But then again, the UFC has been blessed with a lot of surprises the past five tournaments or so.
Chuck Liddell over Keith Jardine. Again, on sheer superiority. By KO. Liddell is still the supreme striker in the light-heavy 205-pound division. Don’t let the loss to Quinton Jackson fool you. There are humps in the road you just can’t get over. Rampage is the Iceman’s bump too high too climb. There is a word for it in Cebuano – nabalhibo-an. Against most other opponents, Liddell will need just a few minutes to warm up and get his range. He is the best at picking his shots and making them count.
This corner roots for Diego Sanchez against Jon Fitch. Nothing against Fitch. We just want Sanchez to get back on the road to winning, just like Liddell. They’re both gifted athletes with big hearts whose winning records will be good for the sport. Although underdogs have an uncanny way of biting you in the ass when you least expect it. Sanchez by submission. We hope.
That’s all the time we have. I got to get some sleep for the big event later. Dabbled and wrangled with a new blog…on classic rock…of all things. Among many things. I fancy myself a writer but I ain’t no visual artist/designer. Took me 10 hours to get it all together.
YAWN! G’night. Or g’mawnin’. See you around the Octagon or in front of your TV set.
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1 comments:
ey Paul. good to see your update again. Well, about UFC 76, it was all but knockout. Kinda ironic that the event was titled as 'Knockout' but not 1 single fight ended by a KO or even a TKO.
They were probably expecting the favorites, namely Shogun and Chuck to steamroll and KO their opponents. My pick was the same as yours. Shogun by KO in Round 1 and Chuck in Round 2.
With the poor performance of the Pride fighters in the UFC (save for Rampage), a lot of people in the forum are beginning to doubt that fighters were juiced up in Pride since Japan does not have any drug testing of any kind before and after fights. I'm beginning to believe that too. We saw what happened to Cro Cop against Gabe Gonzaga and Chiek Congo. And now, the cream of the crop at 205lbs, Shogun. I couldn't believe he gassed out in the 1st round! Pride's 1st round is 10mins while UFC's lasts only 5mins but he gassed!
This also marked the first time Shogun has been stopped convincingly as his loss to Coleman was more of an accident. And to be dominated by Forrest. With all due respect to Forrest, he's not even top 20.
For The Iceman, he simply just didn't have an answer to Keith's devastating leg and liver kicks. Chuck's legs and ribs were RAW. Red all over. What bothered me is that Chuck never attempted to take the fight to the ground where he has a distinctive advantage over Keith with his collegiate wresting and BJJ purple belt background. He looked lost, confused and frustrated.
What happens now? The dream fight between Wandy and Chuck is screwed. Chuck was supposed to be Wandy's welcome back UFC party this December.
Anyway, hope to see more of your writings
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