UFC 65 Thoughts
Heading to Sacramento for UFC 65, which I'm really looking forward to. I cannot wait for Hughes/St. Pierre II, and I may have more interest in that individual fight on a personal level than any other fight I've ever attended live. In short, I really want to see GSP win. That's a bad sign, because the general rule with me and sports is that whenever I really want to see an individual or team win, they lose. Okay, that may actually go beyond being a general rule to being a universal rule. Brief thoughts:
Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre: For all this talk of Hughes "getting in St. Pierre's head," I just don't see it. A few years ago when they fought Hughes had every reason to be in St. Pierre's head. St. Pierre had nowhere near the same level of experience and Hughes seemed practically unbeatable. And yet GSP came in with tremendous confidence and fought a really even first round and gave Hughes problems before being caught at the very end. Since then GSP has improved much more than Hughes. Hughes has improved his BJJ, but GSP has shown marked improvement in wrestling, striking and submissions. And as far as GSP being bullied, Frank Trigg going into his fight with GSP basically said he was going to bully GSP and put him in a real fight. GSP pounded him. So I'm picking St. Pierre, even though it violates my first rule of MMA predicting: never pick against Matt Hughes. What can I say? I'm an idealist with hope rather than a realist with doubt.
Jeff Monson vs. Tim Sylvia: It seems nobody's giving Monson much of a chance, but I think this has more of a potential for an upset than a lot of people. Yeah, Sylvia has a ridiculous reach advantage and will pick apart and knock out Monson standing. But Monson is strong, a good wrestler, and great submissions. If he is able to get in close on Sylvia, get the clinch, and take him down, he could win quickly. I think whoever wins here is going to make the other look kind of bad. I agree with Sylvia being the favorite and think he'll probably win, but it's no foregone conclusion.
Brandon Vera vs. Frank Mir: This could be Mir's last stand. He needs to prove he's got something left. I think Vera's probably overrated right now, but Mir's been overrated for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if Mir won this one either, but I expect Vera to pick him apart standing. And if Mir gasses again, he's not going to get as lucky as he did last time.
Undercard is pretty good by recent UFC standards, but I haven't been enamored with recent UFC undercards so that isn't meant to be high praise. As a matchup I like Stevenson-Mishima the best of the remaining fights, but I always enjoy seeing Nick Diaz and Sakara's a lot of fun too.
Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre: For all this talk of Hughes "getting in St. Pierre's head," I just don't see it. A few years ago when they fought Hughes had every reason to be in St. Pierre's head. St. Pierre had nowhere near the same level of experience and Hughes seemed practically unbeatable. And yet GSP came in with tremendous confidence and fought a really even first round and gave Hughes problems before being caught at the very end. Since then GSP has improved much more than Hughes. Hughes has improved his BJJ, but GSP has shown marked improvement in wrestling, striking and submissions. And as far as GSP being bullied, Frank Trigg going into his fight with GSP basically said he was going to bully GSP and put him in a real fight. GSP pounded him. So I'm picking St. Pierre, even though it violates my first rule of MMA predicting: never pick against Matt Hughes. What can I say? I'm an idealist with hope rather than a realist with doubt.
Jeff Monson vs. Tim Sylvia: It seems nobody's giving Monson much of a chance, but I think this has more of a potential for an upset than a lot of people. Yeah, Sylvia has a ridiculous reach advantage and will pick apart and knock out Monson standing. But Monson is strong, a good wrestler, and great submissions. If he is able to get in close on Sylvia, get the clinch, and take him down, he could win quickly. I think whoever wins here is going to make the other look kind of bad. I agree with Sylvia being the favorite and think he'll probably win, but it's no foregone conclusion.
Brandon Vera vs. Frank Mir: This could be Mir's last stand. He needs to prove he's got something left. I think Vera's probably overrated right now, but Mir's been overrated for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if Mir won this one either, but I expect Vera to pick him apart standing. And if Mir gasses again, he's not going to get as lucky as he did last time.
Undercard is pretty good by recent UFC standards, but I haven't been enamored with recent UFC undercards so that isn't meant to be high praise. As a matchup I like Stevenson-Mishima the best of the remaining fights, but I always enjoy seeing Nick Diaz and Sakara's a lot of fun too.
posted by Todd Martin at 1:24 AM
2 Comments:
How long do UFC's PPVs usually run? I've wanted to go to my local Buffalo Wild Wings where we watch WWE's PPVs to watch one, but have always been turned off by the 10 PM start time over here because of stuff usually going on on Sunday (in this case it will be prepping for Browns/Steelers).
3 hours. Yeah, it's a late start. But I highly recommend it.
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