Here's the card: -Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture -Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle -Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald -Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jason Lambert -Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries Preliminary Bouts: -Jon Fitch vs. Luigi Fioravanti -Matt Hamill vs. Rex Holman -Gleison Tibau vs. Jason Dent -Jamie Varner vs. Jason Gilliam Any picks? Thanks, Sensei Tom
I am still trying to process Pride 33, especially since almost every underdog won. So I will go out on a limb and try to pick the winners... Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture- Sylvia KO round 3 Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle- Lytle via KO round 3(upset) Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald- Franklin via KO or TKO round 1 Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jason Lambert- Babalu via submission round 2 Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries- McFedries via TKO round 2 Preliminary Bouts: Jon Fitch vs. Luigi Fioravanti- Fitch unanimous decision Matt Hamill vs. Rex Holman- Hamill via LnP Gleison Tibau vs. Jason Dent- Tibau Jamie Varner vs. Jason Gilliam - This could be a good one...Jamie via submission
OK here's mine: -Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture – Tim Sylvia, KO big right hand -Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle – Matt Huges -Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald - Rich Franklin, Gonna be good, Rich has to come back -Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jason Lambert – Renato Sobral, he has been in w/ Chuck 2X -Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries - Kampmann Preliminary Bouts: -Jon Fitch vs. Luigi Fioravanti - Luigi, I liked how he looked against Chris Leben -Matt Hamill vs. Rex Holman – Hamill, he is 7 yrs. younger, 37 vs 30 -Gleison Tibau vs. Jason Dent – Tibau because he has twice as many fights -Jamie Varner vs. Jason Gilliam - Varner Thanks, Sensei Tom
-Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture- really wana see Randy take it, but if i had to bet my life on it i would go with Tim, hes just too big. -Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle- Hughes will just take him down and do what he does best. -Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald- Should be good, i wana see Jason take it, its a possibility, but i think franklin will take it, i will guess by knockout. -Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jason Lambert- babalu -Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries- kampmann
-Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture -- I like Couture, and I'd love ot see him win, but I just don't see any way he beats Sylvia. I'm guessing a first round knockout without one takedown. -Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle -- Matt Hughes makes Chris Lytle very sad. I'll be very surprised if this one makes it out of round 2. Hughes by TKO or submission. -Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald -- This one... I don't know. Franklin's the obvious choice, but Jason MacDonald is in great shape and has already upset two tough guys. How good is he? I'm going with Franklin, and I'll say by knockout. -Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jason Lambert -- Another good fight. Babalu wins by submission. -Matt Hamill vs. Rex Holman -- I took Hamill, more on the potential I've seen than anything else. I'm more curious about whether he's got some actual standup and G&P now than I am about who actually wins.
I would say tim sylva is definitely going to waste Randy unless he brings it with the old-school clinch boxing.
Having spoken to both Randy and Tim I'd say it's going to be a very close call and I wouldn't want to put money on one to the exclusion of the other. They are both two very motivated guys and both have something to prove right now. This is definitely a must-see fight!
I don't see Hughes losing to Lytle. MacDonald could give Franklin a tough time. The main event should be interesting. Sylvia has been less than impressive before but I'd bet he's highly motivated after being called out by Randy. Ill just be thrilled to be there in Columbus to see it in person.
I'll probably skip purchasing this card, but here are my picks anyway: -Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture: Sylvia by his patented Sprawl n' Stall. I think Randy will have a hard time getting past Sylvia's jab, and even if he does get the clinch, Sylvia, has shown pretty solid takedown defense. On top of that, Sylvia's cardio looks to be really solid. I would say TS by decision. -Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle: I can't see how Hughes will lose this one. Lytle is a tough guy with good skills, but Hughes wrestling and groundcontrol will virtually neutralize Lytle's advantages. Hughes TKO Rd 2. -Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald: I'm looking at an upset on this one. I think MacDonald will suprise a lot of people. My guess is that Franklin will come out a little tentative and MacDonald will come out with something to prove. MacDonald seems to do well when he is the underdog. I'm going for the longshot here and say a surprise knockout a la thierry/randleman in the 1st. -Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jason Lambert: Babalu all the way. Probably rd 1 TKO. -Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries- I dont think I've seen enough of either to judge. I vaguely remember McFedries beating Sakara in an upset. I'll probably go with McFedries, plus I train at a Militech affiliate, so I should probably go with a Militech guy. Let's say TKO rd 3 for fun. Preliminary Bouts: -Jon Fitch vs. Luigi Fioravanti: Of the Prelims, I hope this one gets aired. Fitch looked good against a pretty tough Hironaka and Thiago Alves. Luigi is a solid fighter, but I have to go with Fitch on this one. Probably by decision. -Matt Hamill vs. Rex Holman: Hamill's wrestling will dominate. He will sit in guard and rub a cut open on Holman's face. If this one airs, it would be a good time to go to the bathroom or futz around on your favorite MMORPG for the next 20 minutes. If the UFC is smart, we will be spared. -Gleison Tibau vs. Jason Dent- Is this one at 155 or 170? I wish I could have seen Tibau's fight with Diaz. From what I get from the sherdog playbyplay, Tibau appears to be a pretty solid ground guy until he gasses. Dent's fight with Huerta sounded pretty dull. This might be a snoozer with Dent playing cautious and Tibau worried about gassing. I'll give it to Tibau who will probably manage a takedown and submit Dent, hopefully in the 1st. -Jamie Varner vs. Jason Gilliam- Dont know much about either. Apparently Varner lost to Franca via armbar. I can't say that is an accurate gauge since Franca is a beast on the ground. I flipped a coin. Heads: Varner. Tails: Gilliam. I got Tails. Meh.
Hughes isn't losing this. Lytle is a pretty small guy compared to Hughes, if I'm not mistaken, and he's gotta fight his way back to the title. He's gonna come in with a strong gameplan and a hell of a lot of motivation. Franklin really "shouldn't" lose to MacDonald...but MacDonald's got some seriously tricky jiujitsu, which always leaves the possibility for an upset. And Franklin's also been "out" and "cold" for some time. MacDonald's on a hot streak. I'm going to say Franklin though...for pretty much the same reasons as Hughes...bigger guy, motivated to win back title, etc. I'm banking on Franklin playing it smart and trying to stay on his feet. Everything else is either too close to call or I just don't care much.
lol i like the "Sprawl n' Stall" analogy. that's exactly what Sylvia is. he perfected it what's worse, sprawl n stall or lay n pray? in your opinions?
-Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture: As much as it pains me, I'm picking Sylvia in this one. Randy won't want to be the victim of the Sylvia Sprawl 'n' Stall (and won't be as susceptible to it as Monson due to his height) so he'll come after Sylvia hard. He'll press the pace, try to get Sylvia down from the clinch and, unfortunately, eat a right hand that'll crumple him to the mat. It'll be sad to see, but I don't see it ending another way. Betting against Couture's not usually something I'll do, but in this case, I don't think he can do it. He's always going to be dangerous, but I think Sylvia's just too big and too heavy handed. If Couture wins, then he's gotta fight Crocop. I don't want to see that -Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle: Hughes by TKO. I don't think he'll want to stand up with Lytle, I think he'll go back to what brought him to the show in the first place - wrestling and GnP. Lytle's well rounded and a likeable guy that is usually very game and entertaining, but he's not on Hughes' level -Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald: I don't think MacDonald's got much of a chance here. He was getting outstruck by Chris Leben before he caught the sub, I don't think he'll last long with Franklin, unless he comes out gunshy. Franklin's bound to be rusty - he had a long layoff after the injuries from the Louiseau fight and then got smashed quickly by Silva; he's not had much cage-time in the last year or so. That could be MacDonald's shot, but I just don't see it. Franklin, KO in the first. We might see another highlight reel -Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jason Lambert: Babalu by absolutely anything he wants -Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries: Probably McFedries, but this fight doesn't really interest me much. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the hell happened in McFedries' last fight against Sakara (the completely inexplicable drop from Sakara after he was dominating McFedries) -Jon Fitch vs. Luigi Fioravanti: Fitch by submission -Matt Hamill vs. Rex Holman: Hamill by yawnfest -Gleison Tibau vs. Jason Dent: Dent by decision, probably -Jamie Varner vs. Jason Gilliam: Varner by sub, maybe Not a hugely interesting card, to be honest. There's just not much in the way of competitive matchups, much like the last one
I think Couture will fight Mirko anyways, he did say he signed a 4 fight contract... Anyways I hope Couture wins..but my brain is telling my heart that it isn't going to happen.
He did sign a 4 fight contract, but according to the interview in Tapout magazine, he says that depending upon how this fight goes, he can re-retire at any point.
I still expect him to fulfill his new contract, the only logical explanation is that he wanted the kind of money that top fighters are getting paid now and he can get that even if he loses all 4 fights.
You know in retrospect his choice of weight class could be interpreted as an interesting statement from him about the UFC HW division. Apparently he didn't feel confident he could take on Chuck Liddell again...not surprising considering the record books, but Chuck is smaller, and closer to Randy's age. Whereas up at HW, not only is everybody bigger, Sylvia is also a young guy at his prime. Despite all that, he apparently feels more confident taking on the HW division. Pretty crazy.
Throw enough money at someone, they'll do crazy things The fight itself makes very little sense on the face of it (how does someone who lost to the champion in a smaller weight class and retired for a year become a legitimate number one contender?), this one's purely about trying to make people take Sylvia seriously enough for them to be able to sell him vs Crocop. It's a marketing ploy, nothing more, nothing less. It just sucks that they had to use Randy Couture as the sacrificial lamb
How stoked will the UFC be though if Randy pulls off an upset and they can have a Cro-Cop-Couture title fight...
