UFC 78: A Night of Decisions

For various reasons, "decisions" will be prevalent when determining the majority of the outcomes of these televised fights as well, the decision for the "casual' fan to continue to watch and support the UFC afterwards.

My prediction for UFC 78 is by Unanimous Decision for the UFC and its fans to hang on to the hope that is UFC 79: Nemesis.

As there are no title fights in UFC 78, we, the viewer will bare witness to 15 minutes of back and forth action in almost every bout resulting in educated judges making the final decision as to which fighter deservedly won the match.

Think the opposite of Bisping/Hamill of UFC 75 and you have UFC 78.

I've slagged this card for this very reason short of the Alexander/Silva fight, you'll need to hold on to your beer consumption and keep your ADD in check if you're gonna enjoy this one.

I'm not a casual fan and yes, I do enjoy the odd barn burner however, I do not want to see two fighters fighting a sloppy match, with sloppy punches and sloppy submission attempts only to climax with a sloppy outcome by competent judging?

This is what will be wrong with UFC 78... mark my words.

Here are my picks for UFC 78: Validation

Rashad Evans (-320) vs. Michael Bisping (+240)

Look for a very cautious bout between the two TUF champions. Lots of takedown attempts resulting in more takedowns from Rashad than strikes from Bisping which will be the ultimate deciding factor in this Main Event.

A takedown contest that will see Rashad in the top position for most of the Lay and Pray fight resulting in, you guessed it, a Unanimous Decision for "Sugar" Rashad Evans.

Whoopie!!!

Karo Parisyan (-350) vs. Ryo Chonan (+250)

There is only one other fighter on this card that knows the downside when waiting for the judges decision and that is Chris Lytle... more on that later. Karo Parysian is the disputed champion of taking his fights to the judges scorecards. The only difference this time when he faces Ryo Chonan is that his hand will be raised when his 15 minutes of fame are up in the judges eyes.

Karo is always a bridesmaid and never a bride however, expect the angry Armenian to throw his bouquet at Dana White for a chance at a Welterweight title fight following his Unanimous Decision win.

Still with me or have you fallen asleep yet?

Houston Alexander (-140) vs. Thiago Silva (+110)

Without a doubt, both fighters have MMA attention deficit disorder and don't know what a second round is or even, what it's for. This is going to get your MMA juices flowin' for a spectacular display of "Which guy will get caught first".

Both have knockout power and are true finishers in a sport that Tito Ortiz hasn't fully figured out yet. Either fighter would end the days of Tito resulting in a second instance of Tito driving his pickup into a pine tree... true story!

I would say toss a coin a few days ago but now I have the confidence to say that Houston will prevail over the undefeated Silva by ground and pound TKO stoppage victory in the first.

The MMA Community will be screaming for a title match with Rampage Jackson or in the least with Forrest Griffin for his fourth octagon experience that has yet to total 5 minutes in the octagon.

Houston IS the real deal, not taking anything away from Thiago Silva of course but Alexander fights like a man possessed who is also fighting against the ticking clock that ages the 35 year old who happens to be the second coming of Iron Mike Tyson in combat sports.

Houston's big pay day will come in 2008 and MMA fans will be pumped for "Big Card" matches next year like Dana White has promised recently.

Wouldn't you want to see Houston Alexander fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson for the Light Heavyweight belt?

Spencer Fisher (+100) vs. Frankie Edgar(-130)

Ah, the KING against "Win by decision against Tyson Griffin" Frank Edgar. Spencer has more experience than the young 7-0 Edgar however, when I compare Edgar to Sam Stout, I see that cloning has been going on undetected for years which leaves very little room to contrast Sam Stout and Frank Edgar's styles.

Why mention Sam Stout?

Sammy has beaten Fisher by decision once and recently lost to KING at UFN10 in June of this year. This is significant because Fisher will fight Edgar in the same slugfest manner as Edgar fought Tyson Griffin.

This looks like it will be the Fight of the Night with balls to the wall brawling for 3 full rounds however, "The Answer" will not come to Frank Edgar as the KING will raise his hand in victory, sing "Suspicious Minds" then leave the building with Edgar's broken MMA record cherry.

Joe Doerksen (+140) vs. Ed Herman (-170)

As a Canadian myself, I've bet against Canadians and lived to endure the shame for months to follow... Patrick Cote KO-ing a former TUF Champion in Kendal Grove is definitely a deep bruise to my ego that hasn't healed yet for me. I should have listened to my brother when he said, "Never bet against a Canadian".

Joe Doerksen is Canadian who already has a win over "Short Fuse" Ed Herman just over three years ago... 3 YEARS AGO!

Doerksen is a last minute replacement for Herman because he was to fight Dave Terrell who fell to injuries and could not test the short fuse. Doerksen recently blogged about his biggest challenge in cutting a bunch of weight to make 186Lbs to be eligible to fight the Middleweight bout with Herman.

Hmmmm.... Canadian nationalism aside, I'm giving this one to Herman by Unanimous Decision victory due to multiple submission attempts and escapes from the submission specialist, Doerksen. Avenging a previous loss to Doerkson will be enough to carry this battle of cardiovascular fitness in favor of Ed "Short Fuse" Herman because of the limited prep time and huge weight cut for Joe.

NON-TELEVISED BOUTS:

Thiago Alves (-200) vs. Chris Lytle (+160)

Lytle who has 16 fights of his result in 13 decision losses with 3 wins will inspire Karo Parisyan to win in the same fashion over Ryo Chonan. You see, Lytle is a tough muthafuckah who is brilliant at Jiu-Jitsu who fought Matt Hughes to a decision loss.

Thiago Alves is a force for sure against lesser fighters that do not have the MMA experience that Lytle has and that will be the deciding factor in this match. Lytle, who is as exciting to watch as a geriatric pornographic movie has the Viagra power to outlast the anaerobic Alves for the Unanimous Decision win.


Akihiro Gono (-280) vs. Tamdan McCrory (+220)

Gono is an MMA journeyman with a 27 - 12 - 7 MMA record against relative upstart and unknown and undefeated, Tamdan McCrory 10-0-0. McCrory is a giant amongst men in the 170Lb division as he is 6 foot 4 fighting against the 5 foot 9 inch Gono.

Gono has seen his own fair share of decision victories in his career however, he will add another decision to his record that will be the upside for McCrory as "The Barn Cat" will prevail over the old dog by Unanimous Decision.

Marcus Aurelio (-500) vs. Luke Caudillo (+350)

Marcus is coming off three consecutive losses that span all the way back to June 2006. He lost his UFC debut against "The Carpenter" Clay Guida by Split Decision at UFC 74 at the end of August 2007.

Now, "L'il hulk" Luke Caudillo is 14-8-0 in his MMA career and lost his UFC debut against Nate Mohr at UFN 11 by you guessed it, decision.

As both fighters are coming off decision losses in their UFC debut, the jitters of the big stage will still be there enough for both to end this one the same way except one will be the victor and that fighter will be Marcus Aurelio by Unanimous Decision.

Joe Lauzon (-400) vs. Jason Reinhardt (+280)

If Joe Lauzon loses, I'll be more surprised than "The fight we dare not speak of" (Serra/GSP). Jason Reinhardt is 18-0 yet the difference here is that he hasn't fought any top tier talent in his MMA career... until now for his UFC debut.

Lauzon by submission in the first... I'm thinking RNC due to Jason Reinhardt being overwhelmed by the attention (the chicks) that the UFC brand and Las Vegas offers the young gun.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There you have it... 7 out of 9 fights I have predicted as Unanimous Decision victories instead of fighter/referee stoppage.

Why unanimous decision? Because any fight ending in split decisions will turn off more people from MMA and the UFC in particular than the UFC 78 fight card itself. Besides, the judges for UFC 78 are MMA veterans who know the sport and understand that the unified rules bithplace is in fact in their home state of New Jersey therefore, we will not encounter any judging debacles like many, many recent UFC events.

Validation is the correct name for this fight card on so many levels.

The good thing is that you can expect more fighting coverage with less commercials to fill the void.

Enjoy and as usual, MMA Fever will break the rules and have the fights posted right here... Stay tuned.

P.S. If you know process mapping then you got the joke ;)