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Welcome to the Informative Sports UFC 95 Preview, I am your party Host-
David Snipes and with me is Robert "X" Menn
Mike Ciesnolevicz vs. Neil Grove Robert: 6'7" 280lb Neil Grove, aka Goliath, is 7-1. All wins coming from some sort of KO. This beast has power. He makes his UFC debut against another UFC rookie. Ciesnolevicz has shown more dimension to his fighting game. But he gives up 7 inches in height and a small child in weight. I just don't see how "David" will takedown this Goliath. Grove wins, and UFC gets another new Heavyweight prospect. David: Let me defend Mikey here ok? He;s no scrub- I saw the fight with Alex Schoenauer, and he was a little impressive and . . . .ok- I got nothing- Mike can take a punch though, but I think he;s in for a quick payday. Winner: Robert: Grove, Round 1, TKO -Terry Etim vs. Brian Cobb Robert: Cobb had to relinquish his PFC title belt just to sign with the UFC. He's coming off of 9 straight wins, all pretty convincing. Etim, 2-2 in the UFC, is inconsistent. In that middle realm of should he be in the UFC, should he not. If he wants to stay, he better use his submission skills to get the job done Saturday night. Out of his 4 losses, Cobb has lost 3 due to submission. But like I said, he's won 9 straight. Seems to me like he's rectified that situation. David: David: I have to think this is Etim’s last fight in the UFC if he loses- guy is tough- but it seems like every time he is mentioned its “X” holds a win over Etim. . . . He might be in a win or go home, especially with Rich Cleminti being fired, I don’t think any UFC fighter on the pre-lim should get a second mortgage. Cobb is coming in with a lot of “minor league” Press- I don’t know how high the quality is at the KFC, but Terry Etim is a pretty good target to start with. If he Submits Etim- Dana may need to look for some heavyweights at the KFC. Winner: Per Eklund vs. Evan Duhnam Robert: Evan Duhnam, undefeated prospect, making his UFC debut against a hometown favorite. Both these guys favor the submission game. Should be interesting if one tries to see if his stand up game is better than the others. I pick the rookie to use this opportunity to try and make a name for himself and do just that. Look for these guys' submission skills to nullify each others and for Evan to gain the upset victory via TKO. David: Here is a fight that is going to be stand, clinch, trip, roll, pray, stand, clinch, trip- repeat. Per only has one win inside round 1 since 2004 and Evan’s last 3 fights have gone 3,2,3 rounds- Evan fought 5 times in 2007, only once in 2008- but moved up a “class” and already is 1-0 so far in 2009, I wonder if he can roll through Per and make it back for UFC 100? Winner: Robert: Duhnam, Round 2, TKO Troy Mandaloniz vs. Paul Kelly Robert: Mandaloniz hasn't fought since The Ultimate Fighter 6 finale. Long time to be out of action. Especially against someone with twice as many fights as you have. Anyone remember Paul Kelly vs Paul Taylor? Kelly can throw some bombs and take some as well. Kelly will get the win in front of some hometown fans using those fists, and then applying a submission. David: PAUL KELLY ladies and gentlemen! We are in England so he gets another shot! Troy, by the way is moving up to 170 and Kelly is moving down from 185- this one should be interesting as they both are trying to avoid that 2 on the right side of the W/L – odd thing is Troy is not that good on the ground, but trains in Hilo- Kelly loves to stand and bang- but might be better off going to the ground here vs Rude Boy. I think Paul has more ways he can win here. Winner: Robert: Kelly, Round 2, Submission Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve Robert: After his perfectly timed uppercut against Werdum, Junior Dos Santos get rewarded with the undercard? I guess. This card is semi-stacked, so I can see why. Still, I feel disrespected for him. Anyways...this is Struve's UFC big chance. He's 6'8" 220lbs. Kinda like a Tim Sylvia, sans fatness. Half of his 12 submission wins are by triangle choke. Impressive, to say the least. However, Junior will win this by not letting this fight end up on the ground and getting inside the reach of the skyscraper and punishing him with viscious strikes. David: And he SHOULD feel disrespected! Stefan is no joke however, (look up his fight with Denis Komkin, by the way) Only 3 of his 18 fights have gone past round 1- and no one has gone to round 3 with him- his last 5 fights have all been submissions- so Junior is going to have to work a little bit here to move on- and if he wins this- then he can start looking at the main event. I really would like to see this fight, but I don’t think Junior will Monday morning. Winner: Robert: Junior dos Santos, Round 3, TKO Josh Koscheck vs. Paulo Thiago Robert: Another Brazilian submission specialist making his UFC debut. (Guess those Brazilians know a thing or two about fighting) I really don't get the matchup. Koscheck isn't a gate keeper, not yet at least, and Thiago is undefeated, looking to make it in the big time. Well, the UFC isn't making it easy for him. Koscheck is probably the UFC's 3rd or 4th best Welterweight. While true that if Paulo get a victory over Josh, he'll have the "name" he wants, I don't think he'll pull it off. The opportunity is there, but he won't capitalize on it. Koscheck is too good, too experienced, and too strong. Not only that, Kos' striking has vastly improved every time he steps into the Octagon. He's going to use his wrestling and improving striking to end this and make his way back up the Welterweight ladder. David: Can I just come out and state for the record I hate Koscheck? Guy was an Ass in TUF and still is. I respect the guy as a fighter and an improving one- but I hope he gets his head ripped off. Sadly I don’t see anything but a can out of Paulo – I mean you are 10-0 and all you have is a tryout from Jungle Fight? Somehow I think Dana is looking at a guy to repay Kos for going back to back as he builds him for a rematch with GSP. Only thing is- Thiago might screw this up by winning, and Kos will still get spanked by GSP. Only one of the above things will happen, and my money is on GSP unless Anderson comes in the ring. Thiago does have 7 submission victories on his resume, so he;s no joke on the ground- but I bet Kos faces guys in practice that are better than the 7 Thiago has beat. WINNER: Robert: Koscheck, Round 2, TKO Robert: Can we please get Demian a title shot? No? Oh, we're giving it to Thales Leites first. Yeah, that makes sense. Sarcasm, anyone? Oh well. I guess Maia will just have to submit Chael Sonnen. I have all the respect for Sonnen, especially after that Paulo Fihlo debacle. But Maia will actually use his BJJ in this fight. (Yeah, I'm still pissed at Paulo) Chael just doesn't have enough weapons to to counter Maia's world class BJJ. Demian submits his opponents, all except one due to injury. And he does it very quickly, usually in the first round. He has 4 UFC fights, his first 3 garnering Submission of the Night honors. Look for that again. David: Maia is part one of the two fighters on this card who with a win, will be in line to get a quick loss by Anderson Silva this summer. Maia has EXCELLENT ground game- and if he can get anyone to the ground with 3+ minutes left- they either have to be GSP good or they won’t last the round- problem is, if he can’t get to the ground- he’s no Leben on the feet- heck he might not even be Matt Hughes on the feet. The longer we go before the Maia / Silva matchup- the better Maia MIGHT be on the feet- I Maia even comes CLOSE to competing on the feet, he will beat Silva- but that’s another show. Sonnen is a good fighter, But I don’t see him getting an upset here. WINNER Robert: Maia, Round 2, Submission Robert: Hardy's razor thin Split Decision win over Akihiro Gono was unimpressive to say the least. But, he won and is still undefeated (10-0). Dan's chin will be tested when Rory gets into the cage this Saturday though. Markham loves the knockout. 11 of his 16 wins have come in some form of KO. Now, Rory hasn't been in the cage since he decapitated Brodie Farber last July with a viscious head kick, so cage-rust may play a factor, but I see Markham fighting through it, and ending this fight the best way he knows how. David: This one should be
interesting- both fighters seemed to snatch victory from defeat in the
last fights, Gono was beating Hardy before an illegal kick gave him time
to recover, and he went on the win, Rory was losing before giving a KO
kick that won KO of the night- on the SILVA vs IRWIN card no less!
I don’t see this one as nothing but a standup war- and I’ll go with
Hardy- he can take a punch almost as good as he can throw. WINNER Robert: Markham, Round 2, TKO Robert: Nate the Great finally
gets back into the cage. And this time, it's against decent enough
competition. Gouveia has a black belt in BJJ. His ground game is there.
It's his striking that is questionable. Nate has a huge advantage if
this fights stays standing. Nate has basically only lost to one man in
the UFC, Anderson Silva. But who doesn't lose to him? Yeah, Nate lost to
Leites, but that was a Split Decision, and Nate was deducted 2pts for
infractions. But he dominated Thales. Anyways, look for Nate to keep
this standing and to try to end it early. David: Nate is the other half of
the next challenger to get beaten up by Anderson Silva I mentioned
earlier. I think that whomever can fight first between Maia and Nate
gets the next title fight, Cote in the wings for early ’10 Wilson
Gouveia is 6-2 in the UFC, with a win over Keith Jardine (a win a LOT
more impressive now than then) , Seth “Kimbo Killa” Petruzelli
(always fun to have) and Jason Lambert, Nate is also 6-2 in the UFC but
has gone 2-2 in his last four. Wilson pads the resume, but Nate has
fought Anderson Silva before and the rematch might sell pretty well as
Nate has improved and can take a LOT of punishment, Wilson is a slow
starter and I think that costs him as Nate might fall FAR in the current
UFC- even in a division that isn’t as stacked as others. WINNER Robert: Marquardt, Round 2, TKO Diego Sanchez vs. Joe
Stevenson Robert: Very interesting matchup. Diego's first at 155lbs. (because let's face it, he's not going to beat Thiago Alves..err, GSP for that belt.) Sanchez has never been finished, his only 2 losses coming from a decision. (Koscheck, Fitch) He's very well rounded and is the much larger fighter in this bout. Much larger. Joe Daddy's last outing against Kenny Florian pretty much solidified his "gate keeper" status. Stevenson better watch out, or this could easily turn out to be Penn/Stevenson 2. Q: When Joe won the TUF 2, what was the Main Event for that card? I am SO Jacked for this fight- one of my Favorites from TUF 1 vs TUF 2, unlike the previous matchups between winners of the Ultimate Fighter- I didn’t like Forrest on the Show, he was a Kos lackey it seemed but I grew to like him a LOT after he left the house and Evans, well- my feelings on Evans is a whole story- buts lets just say I don’t like him. Didn’t like him vs Bisping ( a fight that was MUCH closer than it looked ) and hated when he beat Forrest. Anyway- That being said- this is a HORRID matchup for Joe- is standup is not that good- and on the ground Deigo is going to outwork him. Joe’s best bet is to channel Matt Hughes and simply overpower him- I do think he is the stronger of the two, but I think Diego is a little too quick and a little too sharp for him to do that. Joe’s ONLY chance really is to catch him making a mistake and either dropping him or opening him up. Lets break this down Size- Deigo Bottom line- unless Deigo turns into
Brandon Vera at 155 (and rumors are he is having a REAL hard time
cutting) he is going to walk through Joe far more easily than he should-
he is simply a bad matchup for him. Winner Robert: Sanchez, Round 3,
Submission. Comment on this article to Comments@informativesports.com
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