UFC 87: Seek and Destroy

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This is a card we will be watching together FOR SURE (Sat., August 9th). In fact, my good friend Dave Tanner, one of the original "MMA Friends," will be coming down from Utah for business and we already made plans to watch this. This is one of the, if not, the BIGGEST card so far this year. Just check it out:

Main card

• Welterweight championship bout: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch
• Lightweight bout Number One Contendership: Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta
• Heavyweight bout: Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring
• Lightweight bout: Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson
• Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia

Notes: Do I even need to talk about the GSP v. Fitch fight? GSP is my all time favorite fighter and Fitch has won FIFTEEN fights in a row! Florian vs. Huerta is an awesome match up and the winner gets a title shot with BJ Penn. Brock Lesnar is the famous ex pro-wrestler who had a shaky start in the UFC losing by submission after he dominated most of the first round with some vicious ground in pound. Herring's a tough dude who could have had a shot at the title before losing to Noguiera. Manny Gamburyan is undefeated in the UFC after getting injured fighting Nate Diaz in the TUF Finale. McDonald is a great MW with good BJJ but Demian Maia, a newcomer to the UFC and already one of my favorite fighters, is an INCREDIBLE PRACTITIONER of BJJ and submitted the crap out of this last opponent (how's that done? Well, he triangled the dude and beat him down while doing it).

Preliminary card

• Heavyweight bout: Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen
• Welterweight Bout: Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno
• Welterweight Bout: Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins
• Welterweight Bout: Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory
• Light Heavyweight bout: Tomasz Drwal vs. Andre Gusmao

Irvin Talks Silva: I'm Gonna Beat Him Up in the Clinch

Melvin Manhoef: Scary Striker

Walter sent me this. Wow. This guy's got power. Roids? I don't know. But he'd be a nice addition to the already stacked LHW division.


Info:

Manhoef was born in Paramaribo, Suriname. When he was three years old his family moved to Rotterdam. Manhoef was involved in soccer during his youth, and was introduced to Muay Thai by his younger brother, Moreno. He soon joined Choku Gym in Zaandam and started training.^{[citation needed]} At 18, he had his first fight, which he won by decision. He made his comeback in September 2001, as part of Chakuriki Gym, in Amsterdam. He made his K-1 debut against Remy Bonjasky in K-1 Holland GP 2002 in Arnhem, Netherlands. Melvin lost the fight by unanimous decision.

In 2004, Manhoef entered the Cage Rage promotion in London. After beating Fabio Piamonte he became the World champion. He successfully defended his title for almost two years, until re-entering the K-1 fighting circuit's, MMA affiliate HERO'S in 2006. He won his first fight at Hero's 4 against Shungo Oyama by technical knockout in first round.

His last kickboxing bouts were in K-1 against Ruslan Karaev, and Remy Bonjasky. Manhoef beat Karaev via knockout, but was KO'd by Bonjasky via 3rd round head kick.

Melvin has switched his main focus to MMA over the past couple of years. He lost to Dong-sik Yoon by submission armbar in K-1 Dynamite!! USA, he defeated Bernard Ackah at K-1 HERO'S 9, and also recently got a TKO win against Fabio Silva, a Chute Boxe fighter, by TKO in K-1 Hero's Middleweight GP Final.

In his latest fight he fought Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM.4. Manhoef and Sakuraba circled the ring for the first minute of the fight, before Manhoef dropped Sakuraba with a hard right head kick and finished him via TKO (hammerfists) at 90 seconds into Round 1. With the win, Melvin has advanced to the semifinal round of the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix.

22 Wins (21 (T)KO's, 1 decisions), 4 Losses, 1 Draw
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time
06/15/2008	Win	Kazushi Sakuraba	DREAM.4	TKO (Strikes)	1	1:30
05/11/2008	Win	Dae Won Kim	DREAM.3	TKO (Knees and Punches)	1	4:08
12/31/2007	Win	Yosuke Nishijima	K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!!	TKO (Punches)	1	1:49
09/17/2007	Win	Fabio Silva	K-1 Hero's Middleweight GP Final	TKO (Strikes)	1
07/16/2007	Win	Bernard Ackah	K-1 Hero's 9	KO (Strikes)	1	2:13
06/02/2007	Loss	Dong Sik Yoon	K-1 Dynamite!! USA	Submission (Armbar)	2	1:17
03/12/2007	Win	Yoshiki Takahashi	K-1 Heros 8, Japan	TKO (Punches)	1	2:36
10/09/2006	Loss	Yoshihiro Akiyama	K-1 Heros 7, Japan	Submission (Armbar)	1	1:58
10/09/2006	Win	Shungo Oyama	K-1 Heros 7, Japan	TKO (Strikes)	1	1:04
08/05/2006	Win	Crosley Gracie	K-1 Heros 6, Japan	TKO (Strikes)	1	9:12
07/01/2006	Win	Ian Freeman	CR 17 - Ultimate Challenge, England	KO (Punches)	1	0:17
03/15/2006	Win	Shungo Oyama	K-1 Heros 4, Japan	TKO (Cut)	1	2:51
02/04/2006	Win	Evangelista Santos	CR 15 - Adrenalin Rush, England	KO (Punches)	2	3:51
09/10/2005	Win	Fabio Piamonte	CR 13 - No Fear	KO	1	0:51
07/03/2005	Win	Paul Cahoon	CFC 4 - Cage Carnage	TKO	1
06/12/2005	Win	Bob Schreiber	It's Showtime - Amsterdam Arena	Decision
04/30/2005	Win	Ladislav Zak	Queens Fight Night, Eindhoven, Netherlands	KO
02/26/2005	Win	Matthias Riccio	CR 10 - Deliverance	KO	1	3:01
05/20/2004	Loss	Rodney Faverus	It's Showtime - Amsterdam Arena	KO
04/08/2004	Win	Slavomir Molnar	HOH - Heaven or Hell	KO	1
04/06/2003	Win	Alexandr Garkushenko	M-1 MFC - Russia vs the World 5	KO	1	6:57
03/16/2003	Loss	Bob Schreiber	2H2H 6 - Simply the Best 6	KO (Punches)	1	4:04
09/29/2002	Win	Mika Ilmen	It's Showtime - As Usual	KO (Left hook)	1	0:35
12/15/2001	Win	Husein Cift	Hoogwoud Fight Gala - Free Fight	KO	1
06/20/1999	Draw	Rodney Faverus	Rings Holland - The Kings of the Magic Ring	Draw	2	5:00
12/02/1995	Win	Jordy Jonkers	BOA - Battle of Amstelveen	TKO

James "The Sandman" Irvin Talks about Anderson Silva

James Irvin

If you read the excerpt from an interview with Irvin below, you'll see that he's going into this fight with Silva with something to prove and he feels he can handle what Silva dishes out. Now, I am a fan of Silva and we've all seen what he can do, but he obviously better take this fight with Irvin very seriously. I don't think Irvin is someone who is posed to give the MW champ major problems, but if Silva gets in the pocket with Irvin, he could very well get put out. As the lead in to the interview states, "Of Irvin’s 14 victories, ten have come by way of (T)KO, a staggering 71% - including a record-tying 8-second KO of Houston Alexander at UFC Fight Night 13."

In my opinion, Silva is going to want to stay on the outside, take the fight into the second round or so, and then either pick Irvin apart OR take him down and submit him. Irvin, on the other hand, wants to keep things standing but he'll need to get on the inside and used his muy thai, namely elbows, in combination with clinching and big straights and hooks. This is a fight in which Silva's own clinch game, rock solid or not, is simply not going to be as effective since he's moved up a weight class and will not necessarily be as strong.

Interview excerpt:

Jesse Holland (MMAmania.com): Well you don’t get Rashad Evans but now you’ve got UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

James Irvin: Yeah that’s a pretty big jump, huh? I can’t think of an opponent outside of Rampage or Liddell - maybe even Fedor that would be more shocking. But hey, Dana White seems to repay the people who fight hard for him. We all know about the big bonuses he gives out. I’ve been lucky enough to get three of them. This is my seventh UFC fight and he knows I’m gonna go out and fight hard for him. I’m gonna stand there and trade and I’ll take one to give one. In this case I might have to take two to give one.

Jesse Holland (MMAmania.com): Can you take two from Anderson Silva? Can anyone?

James Irvin: Absolutely. He has one or two tools that are problematic but I know what they are. I think he’s more of a right-handed guy but he stands in a southpaw stance. He likes to lead with that left leg and he’s comfortable now. He’s used to getting guys on the defensive. There’s nothing he can do that I’m afraid of. I’m not afraid of him taking me down - that would be a shame, wouldn’t it? He’s a showman. He moved up to 205 to make a point. Maybe he feels like he ran through the 185 division and now he’s gonna start picking off the 205 guys.

Jesse Holland (MMAmania.com): And you’re not taking that lightly I assume.

James Irvin: No way! If anything I kind of feel like a representative of the light heavyweights division. I want this guy to know there is a reason we have weight classes.

Jesse Holland (MMAmania.com): Just so I have this clear - your intention is to keep this thing standing?

James Irvin: Absolutely. Even though I want to focus on Muay Thai and boxing I am training a ton of jiu-jitsu under Cassio Wernick. He actually knows Anderson and that’s where we wanna use my weight to my advantage. Not to stall him out or anything but to be in a position where I can be safe and punish him from the ground. I just don’t see the fight going there. He’s not going to take me down, I’m not going to try and take him down, but if it gets there I have to be ready.

Anderson Silva

UFN 14 Trailer

Forrest's the Champ

I was wrong. Griffin came in with a game plan, in addition to being in great shape, and beat the champ. I think Juanito Ibarra, Jackson's trainer, needs to retire and Jackson needs to get a whole new approach. His boxing looked really good but other than that I didn't see any signs of good work in the clinch or from the guard and to beat Griffin, Jackson needed to come with a multi-pronged attack.

Anyway, the rest of the card was decent, but there were a lot of decisions, at least on the main card. Tyson Griffin, the lightweight fighter from the Xtreme Couture camp, as well as Joe Stevenson (LW) and Josh Koscheck (WW), all move one step closer to a title shot in their respective weight classes.

Now it's time to wait for July 19th. We'll be watching the fights at my place that night around 9PM and anyone who wants to come by is more than welcome.

Kos at 155 maybe? Huh?

UFC Quick Quote: BJ Penn vs Josh Koscheck at 155 on the horizon?

By: MMAmania

“I just want to be a world champion, whether it be at 155, 170, 185, wherever. I believe I have a lot of fights left in me. With my work ethic and the training partners I have and the coaches I have, I believe some day that dream is going to come true…. You never know [about possibly making the drop to 155]. If people would want to see me fight B.J. Penn at 155 for the title, because there is really nobody there for him to fight, I’d do it…. I know B.J. very well, but business is business. We’re friends, but at the end of the day, it’s about making money together. If the fans would want to see it, I’d suck it up and I’d live that life to where I’d do whatever I have to do to make 155…. What are you in this business for, to make money and to win a title. Usually, they go hand in hand. A fight with B.J. would be like a dream for me.”

– Top welterweight contender Josh Koscheck tells Yahoo!Sports.com that he would consider a move down to the lightweight division if it meant he could challenge BJ Penn for his 155-pound title. “Kos” has a tough 170-pound fight tonight against Chris Lytle tonight at UFC 86: “Jackson vs. Griffin,” which he will have to take care of first before entertaining the possibility. In addtion, Penn has hinted that after he takes on the winner of Roger Huerta against Kenny Florian that he plans to move up to 170 to take on Georges St. Pierre or Jon Fitch. Put simply, a lot of things need to not happen — or not happen — for this fight to become a reality. But it would be interesting to say the least.

I'm not a big fan of Koscheck

But I believe if there's a guy who can become the future of the welterweight division who isn't French Canadian (or my favorite fighter) then maybe it's "Kos." He's a great wrestler, is becoming a very good striker and has passable BJJ; all of those skills coupled with his great cardio and it's tough to imagine him losing too many more fights in his career which is saying a lot for him since he's in what is arguably the deepest division in the UFC (the light-heavyweight division being the only other weight class that is nearly as stacked). One cannot avoid that fact that was out worked by GSP when they met last year but I, along with many others, think Koscheck is evolving very quickly and, perhaps, he grew a lot from that loss. It must also be mentioned that GSP could not finish Koscheck and, if you rewatch that bout, you'll see that Koscheck did not take a whole lot of punishment in terms of getting struck in the face. Personall, I don't think Lytle is any where near the top ten in the WW division and Kos should be able to showcase his talent and finish this fight. Indeed, if Kos has any trouble Saturday night, it doesn't bode well for his chances at a title shot. On the other hand, this is MMA and anything could happen. If "Light's Out" Lytle has his say, Koscheck will be waking up to smelling salts behind closed doors.

UFC Undisputed Video Game Footage

I can already imagine us playing this game and saying the stupidest things. Even if this game sucks, it'll be fun. I don't understand how submissions and stuff are going to work though.

Rounding up the UFC News of the Day

1. Wondering who Dan Henderson will fight next? Well, remember short, powerful Brazilian who just submitted Ivan Salalverry (who officially retired by the way)? Probably not. But I do, and he's a tough, tough dude who has amazing BJJ. Well, he's next for Dan.

2. Rich Franklin moving up to Light-Heavy? Yep. Fighting Matt "The Hammer" Hamill? That's the word on the street.

3. The WEC may drop their LHW and MW divisions. Who cares? We all do...that means some of the best fighters in the world, including Paulo Filho, one of the top ranked middleweights, would automatically be ushered into the UFC since Zuffa LLC owns the WEC which they bought some time ago. The most famous fighter in the WEC is the Featherweight champ, Urijah Faber. This is good for the UFC.

That's it for now. There's plenty of other news tidbits regarding Strikeforce, etc. but since I know most of you aren't as interested in other orgs, I'll let you dig that stuff up on your own if you so desire.

UFC 86

What comes first, the wife or MMA? MMA of course!

All joking aside, our six year anniversary is Sunday and since Sunday is our Sabbath, we'll be celebrating by going out on Saturday night. The funny thing is that I actually thought I was going to watch the fights somehow, but she got me up to speed real quick. Anyway, I'm a bit bummed that I'll have to catch them on the net later that night, but I'm more happy to have a wonderful woman with whom I get to spend the rest of eternity.

So if you're watching the fights, have fun! Don't forget, July 19th is FREE and it's going to be awesome (Anderson Silva at LHW!!)

Ok, so my prediction for 86's main event:
Jackson by TKO round 2.

Now that's going out on a limb. Who knows what's going to happen, it's MMA for crying out loud. I will say, however, that I don't think Griffin has what it takes to deal with the big bad Rampage man. If Griffin keeps on the outside and/or can get Jackson on his back, or perhaps pull of a submission, then things may very well go his way. I think, though, that Jackson can keep things on the inside and use the clinch to tie up the lankier fighter and maybe it'll be a boring 5 round snoozer. Who knows? I'm just excited to find out who wins so we can anticipate the next title defense because this weight class is mucho exciting, no?


I just hope Forrest doesn't cry like a baby like he did after the Jardine loss. That was just pathetic. Poor guy...I like both of these fighters and it's going to be sad to see either of them lose.