UFC 79 Retirement Party Picks!

My apologies for my absence from the scene... you see, I was literally "Down with the Sickness" for a week and now that the venereal disease is all but gone, here are my UFC 79 Retirement Party picks:

Harmonic Convergence - “the point at which the counter-spin of history finally comes to a momentary halt, and the still imperceptible spin of post-history commences.”

In MMA Fever terms, it means the ushering in of a new era for MMA and the UFC with the changing of the old guard that we all grew to love then love to hate as is the case for Matt Hughes and Chuck Liddell.

Main Card Bouts:

Georges St. Pierre (-200) vs. Matt Hughes (+190)

It is inevitable that Georges St.Pierre will win the UFC Interim Welterweight Championship. GSP is on a mission to reclaim the glory that was once his for a moment in time when he dethroned the former 9-time Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes decisively in a 2nd Round TKO victory at UFC 65.

GSP admitted that he was battling personal demons prior to his UFC 69 title defense fight against TUF 4: The Comeback winner, Matt "The Terror" Serra which resulted in GSP's poorest performance in his MMA Career to date and Serra's crowning moment as the current UFC Welterweight Champion.

Well, Serra slipped a couple discs in his lower back preventing the new champ from taking on Matt Hughes to defend his new title at UFC 79 so the stage was set for an Interim Welterweight title (giving Serra enough time to recover from the injury) and a savior that would hail from Saint-Isidore, Quebec, Canada - Georges St.Pierre.

This will be the third time GSP and Hughes have squared off in the Octagon with each recording a victory and now the drama is set to crown a new Champion and also a new era for GSP to eclipse the 9-time Welterweight Championship record going forward into his evolution of his mixed martial arts career.

GSP has been training with some big names in MMA recently with the likes of Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, Denis Kang, David Loiseau, Nate Marquardt, and a few other dudes that could kick your ass at a moments notice under the watchful eye of Jackson's Submission Fighting captain, Greg Jackson.

In contrast, Hughes has left (MFS) Miletich Fighting Systems to start up his own training facility with Ruthless Robbie Lawlor, TUF 6 loser - Tommy Speer and a few other dudes that like to meet and train on the weekends at the YMCA.

See the difference? I took some flack for an article I wrote explaining that Matt Hughes has not evolved as a mixed martial arts fighter and I still have yet to proven wrong by anyone over the age of 15... so there!

To be honest, there isn't anything left for Matt Hughes at 170 if/when he loses other than retire or even satisfy his ego to jump to 185 to fight Anderson Silva for another chance at UFC's greatest honor, the Championship Belt. Who knows, it could be Dan Henderson with the belt instead of The Spider which would be a helluva lot more attractive to Hughes to fight wrestler vs. wrestler instead of nose crusher vs. midget wrestler.

I predict that GSP will submit, that's right, submit Matt Hughes via Rear Naked Choke or even a cheeky armbar just like GSP lost to Hughes the first time. I'm hoping for the armbar because that would be the cherry on top however, If GSP comes out to fight Hughes the way he did when he DOMINATED Frank Trigg at UFC 54 then we're all in for a very special treat indeed!

Pick: GSP via submission in Round 1




Chuck Liddell (+100) vs. Wanderlei Silva (-125)

My man-love for Chuck Liddell hasn't ceased even though he's coming off consecutive losses to face the pride of Pride FC, "The Axe Murderer" - Wanderlei Silva. You see, when you're a Liddell fan, you come to accept a few things as fact... when your guy throws down like he does, someone is gonna fall and the chances of the IceMan falling isn't very likely given his natural sprawl 'n' brawl elusive fighting style with one-punch knockout power.

For the record, Chuck KTFO'd Randy Couture twice which is why I consider Randy a CAN. Couture needs to get off of his silicone-jugged Blonde bimbo wife to fight Chuck to avenge his overwhelmingly convincing losses, not Fedor for fuck sakes! Get me now?

I digress... Even though I get wood thinking about Chuck fighting, I can't seem to get it up for this fight against Wand. I'm actually scared for the Iceman because I know this will be the last time I see my hero fighting at 205 reminiscent of Couture who supposedly "retired" after Chuck whooped the old man's ass.

Wanderlei is in a similar situation as he too is coming off of consecutive losses and both know the highs of being Champions in their respective organizations and also the extreme lows of defeat when they fail to win. It's the addictive drug of excellence that drives these two to the pinnacle of their MMA careers to finally meet to determine who the best 205 Lber in the world is (Just forget for a moment what's happened over the last year with Rampage being the current Light Heavyweight Champion and all that because this fight should have happened a year ago).

Now, Wanderlei has been training with my favorite Can at Xtreme Couture as I am sure he has also been given an excellent game plan crafted out by arguably, the world's greatest MMA strategist, Randy Couture. (That was a compliment for the can... did you miss that?)

The pre-fight hype and the past history of fights of the two fighters will lead you to believe that this fight will end Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome style, "Two men enter, one man leave". I don't buy that crap for a minute. I predict that this fight will see a dominant fighter over a fighter who is struggling to save whatever pride is in tact to not go down in shame a third time which will result in a unanimous decision victory and also, the fight of the night.

Both men will be standing for the judges decision however, it will be Wanderlei Silva who will be the victor in what could very well be the bloodiest MMA match that you've ever seen and also and exit stage left for the former 5-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion to reevaluate his position in the UFC then on to make the jump to Heavyweight like the can he knocked the fuck out of twice before, Randy Couture.

As for Silva well, wouldn't you want to see him fight Shogun Rua in a few months after this fight with Chuck then in 6 months fight Rampage for the LHW strap? (Yep, I predict that Rampage will KTFO Griffin easier than Jardine did).

Pick: Wanderlei Silva by unanimous decision

Here's my favorite Wandy clip fighting Rampage Jackson for the second time and leaving him hanging when he was done.





Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (+100) vs. Lyoto Machida (-130)

Ryoto "Lyoto" Machida has been nothing but a sleeping MMA phenom racking up win after win against some very impressive opponents, the most noteworthy being that of B.J. Penn, Rich Franklin and Stephan Bonnar. Lyoto is currently 8-0 looking to add another win in his already impressive rise in the Light Heavyweight rankings.

Sokoudjou has a great deal of attention of his own with shocking performances at Pride 33 by knocking out Big Nog's little brother then on to Pride 34 knocking out Ricardo Arona with a combined 2 minutes 22 seconds for both showings.

Sokoudjou reminds me a great deal of Alexander Houston with one exception, Sokoudjou can roll on the ground as he is trained in the skillful art of Judo. Machida also has a deep martial arts training background in Karate under the tutelage of his father, a Japanese-Brazilian Shotokan Karate master, Yoshizo Machida.

Soku trains out of Team Quest with the most notable fighter being Dan Henderson as well, Machida trains with equally if not more impressive partners in Anderson Silva, Nogueira and Vitor Belfort from Black House.

I know Machida is a boring fighter on the surface but this dude can really fight and completely understands how to leverage the other fighter's weight and force to gain a dominant position in less than a blink of an eye which is totally awesome to watch if you know what you're watching that is.

Machida will as usual, be less than aggressive coming out of the gate unlike the African Assassin, Sokoudjou who will most likely blow his load in the first and second rounds only to gas in the third to drag this out by.... you guessed it, a unanimous decision victory, AGAIN by Machida marking his 5th consecutive win by decision.

Sokoudjou will eventually be a force in the UFC but not right now as he is still trying to acclimate to the live circus of MMA in America that is called the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Pick: Machida by unanimous decision yawn!

Here is Lyoto's last effort in the octagon at UFC 76 against the pot smoker Nakamura.




Melvin Guillard (-260) vs. Rich Clementi (+200)

Hey, my favorite pimp is back in the 8 and I'm delighted as a hooker on the rag to see that. Seriously, Melvin is one of those fighters who has shades of brilliance in his fighting style and approach especially timing and then... he doesn't. He's a Dr.Jeckle & Mr. Hyde type of fighter who seems to show up in either personality whenever Mr.Gump (Guillard's psyche) hands him a metaphorical chocolate from the "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get" side of his brain.

Clementi actually impressed me when he RNC'd Anthony Johnson (you know that dude who knocked the fuck out of Chad Reiner at UFN 10 in 13 seconds in the 1st round?). Melvin hasn't fought since he was subbed by Joe "Daddy" Stevenson way the fuck back in April of this year.

For the sake of Melvin who is highly susceptible to the submission, I hope he bates Clementi into a stand up pugilists competition because that is where Melvin shines however, if Clementi in any way gets close to Guillard then call it a night for the young pimp 'cause Melvin has left the building fo the 'hood and won't be coming back any time soon.

Pick: Melvin "The Pimp" Guillard via KO in Round 1

Here's a Melvin Guillard Highlight video:




Eddie Sanchez vs. Soa Palelei

Both fighters have similar fight records 7-1 and 8-1 respectively however, only one of them have faced and lived to tell about their loss against Mirko Cro Cop and that man is Eddie Sanchez. I felt sorry for Eddie a bit because he trained for that fight and knew better than anyone that he was gonna be a human kicking post for Mirko and sure enough he was but only for a short while.

I'm throwing my support over to Eddie Sanchez due to his experience in the 8 as well as his new found respect and maturity that comes with breaking the undefeated MMA record cherry that desperately needs a win to keep the food on the table down the line.

Soa Palelei is a huge mother fucker (265Lbs) from Australia who's only loss happened on the big stage when he fought in Pride against Mu Bae Choi (Mu who the fuck?) and also knows how to end a fight quickly however, I'm giving the nod to Sanchez for the Barrio will to win and to survive disaster in the UFC.

Pick: Eddie Sanchez via KO in the 1st round.

Here's Eddie with his one-punch power in the second round against Mario Neto.



Preliminary fights:

Dean Lister vs. Jordan Radev
Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Mohr
James Irvin vs. Luis Cane
Roan Carneiro vs. Tony DeSouza
Mark Bocek vs. Doug Evans

Thanks for reading and now I have to put some more cream on my Johnson so go fuck off now and an enjoy the fights tonight and don't forget to get yer ass right back here for the posting of the UFC 79: Nemesis fight videos or else I'll call you a tool!