UFC 70 review

[dagreat1]

I've been swamped with work so my review was both started and finished late last night. It was to be part of the Round Table and I'm Not sure if Boone is around or is going to go back and edit the main page to include my piece and well it's only good for today and tomorrow so I'm just going to post it in the forum so it can at least be read and not be a total waste.



Mirko Cro Cop Vs. Gabriel Gonzaga:
With a title shot hanging in the balance for Mirko should he emerge victorious in this match, expect him to be all business as usual and incredibly focused on his goal, to become the UFC HW Champion. Cro Cop appears to be nearing the pinnacle of his career, winning the 2006 OWGP with all 4 of his victories coming from strikes and not a single match going past the 1st round. Following his OWGP Championship and arrival into the UFC, Cro Cop picked up right where he left off, not missing a beat by defeating UFC newcomer Eddie Sanchez in the very 1st round via strikes from the mount. Now Gonzaga is a vastly underrated athlete with great takedowns, world class Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, knockout power and he can take a great deal of punishment, however, Cro Cop is by far the quicker of the 2 and has some of the best takedown defense in MMA. Certainly not to underestimate Gonzaga, but he cannot win this fight standing, Cro Cop will utilize leg kicks to wear him down and from then on, it’s only a matter of time so Gonzaga will need to come out aggressive and setup a takedown with some well timed strikes to get the fight where he needs it and is most dangerous so he can work his submissions on the relatively untested Cro Cop ground game.

Fightl Outcome – Mirko Cro Cop via Technical Knockout.

David Heath Vs. Lyoto Machida:
Machida is undefeated in 9 fights and has taken down some goliaths of MMA that include former MW champion Rich Franklin and BJ Penn, to be perfectly clear, Machida is NASTY! He is one of the most complete fighters in the LHW division from his unorthodox fighting style & stance, striking, to his ground game and is moving into title contention quickly. And what makes Machida such a difficult match up for his opponents is his quickness when on his feet which makes him extremely evasive while very effective at moving in and out of the pocket to unload while rarely being hit by his opponent. Replacing Forrest Griffin due to staff infection is David Heath who is undefeated as well, sitting at 7-0. Heath is a strong submission wrestler with power in his hands who looks to be a solid up and comer. He is going to need to keep his hands up constantly as he has a tendency to drop them during exchanges and load up with his punches. Both fighters are aggressive, Heath likes to throw leg kicks and Machida likes to counter them, look for Machida to dictate the pace of the fight and control the center of the octagon while landing clean shots and landing them often. Machida’s last 5 have gone to decision, this one however will not.

Fight Outcome – Machida via Ref stoppage due to strikes.

Michael Bisping Vs. Elvis Sinosic:
Contrary to Sinosic’s record he is a dangerous opponent, especially for Bisping due to the fact that he will be out classed on the ground. The difference between this match up and Schafer vs Bisping is that Sinosic actually has a standup game so he can setup takedowns. If Sinosic wants to stand and trade with Bisping the fight will last about as long as it took for him to make his ring entrance. I don’t think Sinosic will be able to get the fight to the ground before getting hit with a barrage of punches and kicks.

Fight Outcome – Bisping via Knockout

Andrei Arlovski Vs. Fabricio Werdum:
The most anticipated fight on the card and one of the most anticipated fights thus far in 07. This fight will determine the #1 contender following Cro Cop’s potential title shot. Arlovski looked much more aggressive in his last fight against Cruz though I’m sure it had something to do with Cruz’s striking abilities or lack thereof. Arlovski’s knockout power can end the fight in an instant if something connects cleanly and Werdum is no slouch when it comes to striking either, though certainly not as technical or powerful as Arlovski’s, Werdum’s striking is very effective because his ground game is so phenomenal and his opponents are looking to avoid the takedown. This is a very even match up but I am giving the edge to Werdum due to him having the experience fighting better competition and the vast array of diversity those opponents challenged him with. However if this fight goes longer than 1.5-2 rounds, I think Arlovski will land the knockout blow on a fatigued Werdum.

Fight Outcome – Werdum via Submission *Fight of the Night*

Assuerio Silva Vs. Cheick Kongo:
Kongo is going to have to keep this fight standing due to the huge holes in his ground game which is where Assuerio thrives. Assuerio has never been knocked and has not been TKO’ed in his last 15 fights spanning over the course of 8 years and has faced some of the most heavy-handed strikers in MMA ala Aleksander Emelianenko, Vallentijn Overeem, Tim Sylvia and Brandon Vera so it is going to take everything in Kongo’s arsenal to defeat Auserio whereas Ausserio simply needs to get the fight to the ground which should not be too difficult a feat considering Kongo’s takedown defense and ground game which have only had 6 months to improve since his last fight at UFC 64 where he was taken down at will.

Fight Outcome – Assuerio Silva by Submission

Overall Thoughts on UFC 70:
This event marks the UFC’s long awaited return to the UK, last time coming at UFC 38 in 2002 with the Hughes Vs Newton rematch. The fight card on UFC 70 as a whole is solid, The Main Event and Co-Main are what make this card what it is. It will be very interesting to see the atmosphere in the UK and see how they handle the ground game if and when the fights end up there in addition to whether or not the crowd will also grow restless if there is not action every second of the fight like they do here in the states. Losing Forrest does hurt the card slightly but still as a whole, the main card is pretty nice on paper. Werdum Vs Arlovski has all of the makings for fight of the night and what could be one of the best fights so far this year. Then to have this event being shown on Spike TV in the US is just icing on the cake that we like to call Mixed Martial Arts.

[dagreat1]

bump

[smoogy]

All in all a good writeup, you provide some original insight into the Heath-Machida and Kongo-Silva matchups which is what I like to see. My only advice would be to balance it out a little, in this type of article you probably want to keep the analysis pretty much equal for each matchup.

[dagreat1]

Originally Posted by smoogy

All in all a good writeup, you provide some original insight into the Heath-Machida and Kongo-Silva matchups which is what I like to see. My only advice would be to balance it out a little, in this type of article you probably want to keep the analysis pretty much equal for each matchup.

Thanks man, yeah after I finished it and read it I knew it was very 1 sided in most cases (I just did not have the time to go back and add more to the other opponent's analysis), trying to use as little bias as possible but it still came out that way. It was the first one I have done and if I have the time I will keep doing them and hopefully become pretty decent at it.

[smoogy]

Originally Posted by dagreat1

Thanks man, yeah after I finished it and read it I knew it was very 1 sided in most cases (I just did not have the time to go back and add more to the other opponent's analysis), trying to use as little bias as possible but it still came out that way. It was the first one I have done and if I have the time I will keep doing them and hopefully become pretty decent at it.

Overstating the case for a guy isn't necessarily a bad thing (if he is a favorite), but I actually meant more like keeping the amount of space for each matchup the same. But yeah obviously providing an even-handed portion of info on each guy is a good idea, by coming up with interesting stats and stuff you will definitely set your work apart from the rest.

P.S. You need to clear space in your inbox.