|
presto
|
 |
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2008, 11:20:50 PM » |
|
TIM SYLVIA (+160) vs ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUEIRA (-200)
This fight is for the 'interim' heavyweight title belt, which was vacated by Randy Coture - who i very much doupt will return to the UFC after his falling out with the organisation.
Both fiighters are former champions, Sylvia with the UFC and nog over in pride.
Style wise i beleive that Nogueria holds the advantage. Sylvia is a big heavyweight at the upper reaches of the 265lbs limit and 6'8" tall, he is very powerfull and has pretty good takedown defence, for a big man his cardio isn't too bad and shouldn't be too much of an issue in this fight.
Nogueria on the other hand, might not have the physical size of Sylvia at 6'3" 230lbs. However he is an elite level heavyweight with good standup and excelent submission and ground skills, he has also fought the best the heavyweight division has to offer.
In recent fights Tim Sylvia has had a unanimous victory over brandon vera last time out, in an uninspiring fight mainly consisting of stifiling Vera's skills by keeping him against the cage.
a loss against Coture in a fight that Tim looked very poor and was dominated by coture, most shockingly in the standup department.
And a win decision win over jeff monson.
Nogueria's UFC debut was a decision victory over Herring, a fight he looked dominant in early before Herring caught nog with a peach of a head kick that would have stopped a bull, Nog looked finished but to his credit managed to survive.
His 2 other previous fights were against Josh Barnette consisting of a win and a loss.
As for the fight i can't really see past Nogueria here, i feel that in the standup he has the silkier skills, though maybe not the power of his opponent. On the ground i feel that Nogueria will be dominant. I don't feel that Tim will be able to overpower his opponent this time unlike Vera last time. Tim does have his ways of winning though, as there is always the possibility of a KO with someone of his strength, and head kicks.
VERDICT - ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUEIRA
FRANK MIR (+115) vs BROCK LESNAR (-145)
Another heavyweight fight with 2 previous champions in this one, Mir a previous UFC champion and Lesnar former WWE heavyweight champion - ok so that dosn't really count.
This fight holds great interest for me, mainly with Lesnar. Forget all the WWE stuff, he is a monster of a man, strong, athletic and one hell of a wrestler (i said forget the WWE) , at college level he was an 'all American' werstler. He also has a fighters attitude and is keen to prove himself as a 'real' fighter.
Mir on the other hand is mainly known as a grappler and ground specialist.
This is a tough fight to call for several reasons. Firstly Lesnar is completely new to the sport of MMA - he does have one previous fight, though a quick, simple takedown and vicious GnP victory, against a 'no name' opponent hardly gives us much detail of his pedigree as an MMA fighter. Mir is also a shadow of his former self since returning after a horrific motorbike accident sidlined him from the sport for a long period of time.
The wrestler vs submission speciallist is also another factor to consider, due to inexperience with the sport, just how will Lesnar cope with Mir's submission attempts? can Mir actually overcome Lesnars power, cardio another factor - mir has looked 'gassy' in his recent fights and Lesnar also untested in a real fight.
As for the fight, though i may be going out on a limb here i have high hopes for Lesnar, he should be able to outpower and dominate Mir on his feet, if the fight goes to the ground i am forcasting that it will be Lesnar who takes it there for GnP as opposed to Mir forcing him to the ground, Mir will certainly be looking for the submissions but with Lesnars strenght it will be a hard task.
VERDICT - LESNAR
JEREMY HORN (+215) vs NATE MARQUARDT (-275)
Jeremy horn has got more experience in MMA than most having hit the centuary mark of 100 fights, though has never really broken through to that superstar rank of elite fighters, Nate Marquardt has been on a decent run in the UFC, though was defeated in his last fight against the awsome Anderson SIlva. I feel that Marquardt should take the fight.
VERDICT - MARQUARDT
GLEISON TIBAU (+240) vs TYSON GRIFFIN (-300)
Looking forward to this fight, which promises to be a good one, the ji-jitsu of Tibau and the well rounded Griffen, This fight has a Griffen victory all over it for me, he should dominate the standup and has fantastic submission defence.
VERDICT - TYSON GRIFFiN
|
