UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry Predictions

Main Card:

Heavyweight: Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry
Welterweight: Rick Story vs. Charlie Brenneman
Welterweight: John Howard vs Matt Brown
Heavyweight: Matt Mitrione vs. Christian Morecraft

Shawn's Predictions:
Matt Mitrione vs. Christian Morecraft: Mitrione via TKO
John Howard vs Matt Brown: Howard via TKO
Rick Story vs. Charlie Brenneman: Story via TKO
Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry: Barry via Decision

Vinny's Predictions:
Matt Mitrione vs. Christian Morecraft: Mitrione via TKO
John Howard vs Matt Brown: Howard via Decision
Rick Story vs. Charlie Brenneman: Story via Decision
Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry: Barry via Decision

UFC 131 Prediction Results

A little late, but whatever, I'm a busy yet unmotivated man. For a card that had 4 decision fights on it, it delivered and got my moneys worth. In the main event, Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin fought to a hard fought one-sided decision, with JDS taking the victory. Dos Santos proved he was quicker, more durable, and superior in the stand up, battering and bloodying Shane Carwin with strikes. In the the second to last bout of the night, Kenny Florian defeated Diego Nunes in a bout where he also proved to be superior in the stand-up, using his kickboxing effectively to pick his spots and win on the judges score cards. Rumor has it that his next bout will be against Featherweight Champ Jose Aldo. Also on the card, Mark Munoz defeated Demian Maia in a unanimous 29-28 decision, Dave Herman defeated Jon Olav Einemo via TKO, and Donald Cerrone won a fairly one-sided decision over newcomer Vagner Rocha.

Once again, the UFC hyped up a fight between two heavy-handed strikers in which they claimed a knockout was surely going to happen. As I should have predicted, the fight went to decision. I think this is because strikers like Carwin and JDS wait for others to make the mistake, and land a fight winning shot in doing so. Because of this, the fight isn't boring, but causes a battle where both strikers pick their spots instead of going in for the kill. Neither fighter was able to finish, but then again neither fighter was ever in any serious danger. Because of his victory, JDS will be next in line to face Cain Velasquez for the Heavyweight Championship.

Joe and I (Shawn) were each awarded 8 points, and Vinny and Jon each had 5 points.

Standings:

Shawn: 50 points

Vinny: 46 points

Joe: 44 points

Jon: 35 points

SL

UFC 131 Predictions

Main Card:

Heavyweight: Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin

Featherweight: Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes

Middleweight: Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz

Heavyweight: Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman

Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha

Shawn's Predictions:

Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha: Cerrone via TKO

I'd say this fight is pretty easy to predict. Rocha is a new comer and he is known for jiu-jitsu, but Cerrone's BJJ isn't too shabby. If Cerrone decides to use his wrestling to take this fight to the ground, his skills will prevent him from getting subbed. Cerrone will do what he does best and I think he will dictate this fight on the feet using his effective kickboxing. Expect Cerrone to school Rocha on the feet eventually leading to a stoppage.

Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman: Herman via TKO

Being that this fight is featuring two newcomers to UFC, I find it difficult to predict. Einemo is known for his world-class BJJ skills and many believe that he will easily sub Herman. What makes me questionable of Einemo is his record. With only 7 fights to his name, he isn't very experienced. Also, he hasn't fought in an MMA bout since 2006 which is a very long time ago. Herman on the other hand has been staying fairly active, making a name for himself in the past few years. If this fight hits the mat, it could be over very quickly, but I expect Herman to keep this on the feet, staying as unpredictable as possible to avoid takedowns. I see Herman picking his spots with his kickboxing skills, eventually catching Einemo and pouncing, finishing the fight via TKO.

Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz: Munoz via Decision

In this bout each fighter has clear strong point against one another. Against anyone, Maia's strength is his BJJ. He hasn't landed a sub victory in a while, but there is no doubt that he is still trying. He has also been working intensively on his stand-up as of late, but I don't think it will be able to match Munoz's. I will be surprised if Munoz uses his wrestling to take this to the ground because this is where Maia would like the fight to go. I think Maia is confident enough in his striking to stand with Munoz, but I think soon enough he will realize Munoz is levels above him. I expect Munoz to use his striking to keep this fight standing, picking his spots and scoring points on the feet, winning a clear-cut decision.

Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes: Florian via Decision

Having Nunes being 16-1, this is Florian's fight to lose. An important factor of this fight will be how well Florian deals with the weight cut. I also don't think that Nunes has faced anybody the caliber of Florian. I predict Florian will stay on the outside, mixing in kicks and a different variety of strikes to score points, but he will not do enough to finish the once-beaten Nunes. The pick is Florian by decision.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin: Dos Santos via TKO

Both of these big guys have impressive resume in the UFC so far. Since both of these fighters have very similar methods of destruction, this fight is very hard to predict. Both are known for their knockout ability, and anything could happen. Carwin definitely has a size advantage on Dos Santos, but JDS is much quicker. Also, JDS has better BJJ most likely has better cardio that Carwin. Although Carwin might be stronger, I predict JDS to be quicker, and more agile. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they stared at each other for 3 straight rounds waiting for one another to make a move, but who knows. Predict JDS to use his quickness and power to rock Carwin when he least expects, winning the fight via TKO.

Vinny's Predictions:

Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha: Cerrone via Submission

Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman: Herman via KO

Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz: Maia via Submission

Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes: Florian via Decision

Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin: Carwin via KO

UFC 130 Prediction Results

In my opinion, what was expected to be a lackluster event, turned out to be just that. After the main event  lightweight championship match up between title holder Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard was cancelled because of injuries held by both fighters, this guy card became 10x less exciting. Rampage and Hamill were then forced to step up to headline this card. As for the results, "Rampage" Jackson defeated Matt Hamill in a clear cut-one sided decision, Frank Mir defeated Roy Nelson in similar fashion with an even more dominating decision win, Travis Browne knocked out Stefan Struve with a superman punch, Rick Story defeated Thiago Alves via unanimous decision in a close back and forth battle, and Brian Stann defeated Jorge Santiago via TKO in round 2.

The event was filled with boring and exciting moments. The main event was a decent fight as Rampage showed the most offense but could not finish Hamill. Hamill proved how tough his chin is by eating most of Jackson's shots. Unfortunately he did not have much response to this. As for the co-main event, it was the most dull and uninspiring fight of the night. Frank Mir beat and battered Roy Nelson as Nelson had no offense whatsoever en route to a unanimous decision victory. In my opinion, Nelson should hit the treadmill, reconsider his diet, and lose some fucking weight, because he needs to start taking this sport a little bit more seriously. Its a bad image for the sport and he wont get anywhere close to a title looking like a beach ball.

As for some positives of the fight card, Travis Browne knocked out Stefan Struve with a superman punch from out of nowhere. This shot made GSP's superman punches look lame, as Struve was out before he hit the mat. Browne is moving up in the ranks and I wouldn't be surprised to see him against fighters like Brendan Schaub, Frank Mir, maybe even tubby ass Roy Nelson. Also, Brian Stann TKO'd Jorge Santiago in the second round with vicious shots. Stann proved he is an up and coming middleweight with some serious talent. He even expressed the interest in fighting Wanderlei Silva.

Points awarded for the night: Vinny had 6 points, Jon had 5 points, I (Shawn) had 3 points and Joe had 2.

Standings:

Shawn: 42 points

Vinny: 41 points

Joe: 36 points

Jon: 30 points



SL

TUF 13 Finale Predictions

Main Card:

Lightweight: Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis

Welterweight: Ramsey Nijem vs. Tony Ferguson

Middleweight: Ed Herman vs. Tim Credeur

Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Fabio Maldonado

Welterweight: Chuck O'Neil vs. Chris Cope

Shawn's Predictions:
Chuck O'Neil vs. Chris Cope: O'Neil via Decision
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Fabio Maldonado: Maldonado via TKO
Ed Herman vs Tim Credeur: Credeur via Decision
Ramsey Nijem vs. Tony Ferguson: Nijem via Submission
Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis: Pettis via Decision

Vinny's Predictions:
Chuck O'Neil vs. Chris Cope: O'Neil via Submission
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Fabio Maldonado: Maldonado via TKO
Ed Herman vs Tim Credeur: Herman via Decision
Ramsey Nijem vs. Tony Ferguson: Ferguson via TKO
Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis: Pettis via Decision

*These predictions wont be counted towards the standings, because Joe is currently too drunk to send in his picks. Drunk people fucking suck.