As I said previously
when Ronda Rousey fights it's not just another fight it's not just
another card it's an event. UFC 190 pretty much sold sole on who
popular Ronda is was the best selling UFC PPV in over a year. Now's
she headling a massive arena show. And this is a loaded card so here
are my picks
UFC Bantamweight
Championship Ronda Rousey © 12-0 MMA 6-0 UFC vs. Holly Holm 9-0 MMA
2-0 UFC- This fight has been
talked about for years. By now we all know Rousey's story Judo
Champion Olympic Bronze Medal winner who becomes the top Women's MMA
Fighter in the world. Holm was a top ranked boxer and held numerous
world championships. She
also came in MMA and you would hear her name brought up long before
she signed with the UFC. Well know we are getting that fight. Of
course now people are bashing it because they feel the need to bash
Rousey and anything the UFC does. But that's another story.
Rousey
last fought in August at UFC 190. She was paired with Bethe Correia.
The fight had become very personal. Correia had mocked Rousye's
friends she made some pretty tasteless comments about Rousey. The
champion had talked about wanting to drag out the fight and Punish
her challenger. And she kind of did since the fight went 34 seconds
as opposed to 14 or 16 her previous two had. Going into the fight the
thought was Correia's only chance was if it was a brawl. Rousey made
it a brawl went right into Correia's face and than landed a powerful
punch right to the side of the head. The challenger fell down face
plants eyes wide open but the brain had turned off. Holm's
last fight was July at a UFC fight night. She
dominated Marion Reneau on the way to a decision win. Some will focus
on “She's beat two mid level fighters and not finished either.”
Me I'm looking at the fact she looked much more at ease and her style
could give the Rowdy One trouble.
This
time I'm going to have to split the striking advantage. In terms of
knockout power with the hands that goes to Rousey. She has 3 KO's and
the last two were due to her hands. She rocked Alexis Davis and just
destroyed Corriea. But in terms of technical striking that is Holm's
edge. We see it with Rousey she usually goes straight forward trying
to swarm and crush her foe. Holm didn’t' have many Knockouts as a
boxer but her punches are good and crisp and her footwork is great.
If Rousey tries to swarm her I could see Holm cutting angles and
countering her wild shots. In terms of knees and kicking. Well Rousey
has the one knee to the body win over McMann but Holm's kicks are
great. She already has four career wins thanks to using kicks. Also
unlike most MMA fighters who relay solely on roundhouse kicks Holm
mixes it up. You see her use side kicks and front kicks. Another
key if she can get the kicks going she can keep Rousey on the outside
taking away that clinch. So striking overall advantage Holly Holm.
Its
really a no contest in terms of grappling and ground game. There
are some things Holm has going for her. Like I said her kicks could
keep the fight at range and keep Rousey from clinching up and she
does have great take down defense. But Holm does not have a grappling
background. She has never won a fight via submission. Rousey
you all know this by now Judo world champion, Olympic Bronze Medal
Winner in 2008 and two time team member (04,
08) been training on the mat since she was a little girl. She
has nine career submission wins all thanks to the armbar. Also she
gets the arm in different position. No doubt grappling huge advantage
to Rousey.
Let's
talk about trainers. Rousey its the usual Glendale Fight Club team.
Her boxing/head coach Edmond Tarverdyan. BJJ with Rener Gracie and
judo with many of her old coaches from Judo. GFC
has become a bit of hot spot for fighters lately but really only
Rousey has has huge success out of there. It clear Tarverdyan and
Rousey have a great connection he understands her and gets the most
out of her. Holm a member of Jackson WinkleJohn. Greg Jackson one of
the best MMA coaches ever a great game planner. Mike WinkleJohn was
also her trainer as a boxer they have a great connection as well. You
have two contrasts Holm is in the big camp with a lot of names while
Rousey in the smaller camp that is more built around her. Now
if this goes more than one round Greg Jackson won't be Bryan Caraway
going “She's breaking” to exhausted fighter.
Another
huge factor will be the fact Holm
has never been in a fight this big. First
this is taking place in a big arena. Holm was a world boxing champion
but the truth women's boxing doesn't draw huge crowds. Most of her
fights have taken place in New Mexico where she is from. Rousey
has main e vented many shows she was in the Olympics twice. Plus
add in the amount of press and
attention going into this. For Rousey that is old hat. So advantage
Rousey.
So
who to pick? Let me say this. I think Holm stylistic can be an issue
for Rousey. That said I feel
like she is going to have to be perfect. If there is any little hole
left open I feel Rousey will go through it and beat her. Plus with
someone like Rousey you just can't pick against her until you see
someone real special as well. My pick Ronda Rousey I think this goes
to the ground and Rousey uses that arm bar. That said I have side
prediction this fight goes more than one round.
UFC Strawweight
Championship Joanna Jedrzejczyk © 10-0 MMA 4-0 UFC vs. Valerie
Letourneau 8-3 MMA 3-0 UFC- We
often debate who is the best this or that in MMA. And it very well
could be Jedrzejczyk. The
Polish born former Muay Thai champion has
put on clinches in her two UFC title fights. Now
she looks to make her second defense. We thought it was going to be
against Claudia Gadelha who
had a very close fight with Jedrzejczyk and also just beat Jessica
Aguilar to become number 1 contender. But
than the dominoes fell. Carlos Condit got hurt moving a welterweight
title fight off this card and moving Rousey's fight to it. The plane
had been for both womens title to be defended on the same card. So
they moved Jedrzejczyk to this card and because Gadelha is dealing
with injury and Letourneau is coming off a big win she gets a title
shot.
Jedrzejczyk
last fought in June on a UFC Fight Night card. It was the first time
a UFC title had been defend on Fight Pass. She
just beat the living hell out of Jessica Penne. It was another Muay
Thai clinch by the champion. By
the end Penne was badly bleeding. Finally in the third round the
fight was called off after Jedrzejczyk landed some big punches and
knees. Letourneau last
fought in August on a UFC Fight Night Card. She beat Maryna Moroz
giving her the first loss of her career. Moroz was coming off a
stunning upset over highly ranked Joanne Calderwood.
If
we are talking about striking there is no doubt that
Jedrzejczyk gets the advantage. She was a world champion in Muay Thai
there was talk of her being a member of the Polish Olympic Boxing
team. Now it should noted
they each have four career wins via knockout. But
the little of Letourneau that I have seen she doesn't appear nearly
the same level of striking that Jedrzejczyk does. Maybe
against most MMA fighters her striking would be enough but not
someone with such a heavy striking background.
The
ground game doesn't really come up much for either fighter. Both each
have a single submission win. But it was years ago Letourneau it was
in her fourth career fight and that was back in 2009. Jedrzejczyk
it came her in second career MMA fight that was back in 2012. I am
giving the edge to Jedrzejczyk because she has shown really good
takedown defense. We see it she sprawls and lands some good
elbows to the head.
If
there is one edge I can give to Letourneau its her team. She
fights out of American Top Team. That
is one of the top team in MMA it has a lot of good female fighters.
Meanwhile Jedrzejczyk trains out of her gym in Poland. Yes
she has been successful but you do wonder how good is the total
coaching she is getting. Now this is a tough pick. So far Jedrzejczyk
has looked great. I haven't seen much of Letourneau so it's hard to
know if she is cable of
hanging with the champion. But
I have to pick Jedrzejczyk just based on her striking. I
think we see a similar fight to what we have seen in the last two
fight. Jedrzejczyk hits a lot of high volume strikes wears out her
opponent and TKO's her.
Antonio Silva
19-7 1 NC MMA 3-4 1 NC UFC vs. Mark Hunt 10-10 1 NC MMA 5-4 1NC UFC-
December 7th
2013 at a UFC Fight Night in Brisbone Australia these two fought for
the first time. Given the
background of both men you hoped it could be an exciting fight what
we got was one of the greatest fights
of all time. As that fight
played out over five rounds they just kept hitting strikes that you
are thinking sooner or later had to result in a knockout. But some
how they kept fighting. The fight was scored a draw. It was so
amazing people wanted a rematch. And it appeared we were going to get
but than it came that Silva had elevated testosterone. Turns out he
was getting unapproved TRT treatments as a result he was suspended
Hunt moved onto other fights and Silva was suspended. But now after
both men have had some ups and some downs we are getting the rematch.
Hunt last fought in May at a UFC Fight Night card he lost a very one
sided decision to Stipe Miocic. To show how one sided it was Hunt
only landed 48 strike while Mocico laned a UFC record of 361. That
puts him at two losses in a row. His lone win was over Roy Nelson.
While Hunt made a real comeback in his UFC Career you are starting to
worry how much he's got left. Silva last fought in August at UFC 191.
He was hurt early in his fight wit Soa Palelei but in the second
round he came back and got the KO win. It was his first win since
2013.
Striking you gotta give the edge to Mark Hunt. Of course he was a K-1
champion. The man has tremendous knockout power in his hands and his
tree trunk like legs deliver devastating leg kicks. He's the only guy
to ever knockout Roy Nelson. Now Bigfoot Silva does have 14 career
wins via knockout but he's also lost 6 times via knockout. This guy
does not like to get hit. I know he lasted in the first vs. Hunt but
I don't know if he can do it again. Hell in his last fight it feel
like Palelei tiring out had more to do with his win. He got rocked
early and you wonder if vs. someone else if he could lasted. The
striking advantage goes to Hunt hands down.
When it comes to ground game the edge goes to Bigfoot. While he does
only have 3 wins via submission he's a BJJ black belt. He's never
lost Ia submission as well. Hunt has improved on the ground game a
lot of the years. But he has six submission losses. Miocicio managed
to control him on the ground he never got back up. Hunt has also
never won a fight via submission. I don't this fight spend much time
on the ground but if it does advantage Silva.
Truth is this is not an easy pick. Both guys have had issues. I don't
know if this fight will come any where near the level of the first
fight. Both men have a lot of miles on the body. But I am going with
Hunt. I just don't trust Bigfoot's chin. I think this time Hunt lands
the big punch he was looking for and gets the knockout win.
Uriah Hall 12-5
MMA 5-3 UFC vs. Robert Whittaker 14-4 MMA 5-2 UFC- Which
Uriah Hall shows up?
Do we get the force of nature, human highlight reel we saw on TUF and
against Mousasi or do we get the unsure guy that can't pull the
trigger we saw against Howard and Natal? For
Robert Whittaker this is a big chance. Originally he was supposed to
face Michael Bisping but now he faces a guy coming off a huge win.
All that momentum Hall just built he can steal. And oh yeah Whittaker
is from New Zeland so he's got a home court fight here.
Hall
just fought in September at
UFC Fight Night Japan. He scored the biggest win of his career. He
knocked out former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard
Mousasi. That puts him at two wins in a row. As I have and will talk
about there is always an issue with mental state. Early on Mousai was
looking good he got Hall down. But this time Hall didn't break. He
recovered and in the second
round spinning jump kick followed up with a flying knee and
the knockout win. Whittaker last fought in May he knocked out Brad
Tarves in 44 seconds. That wins puts him at 3 in a row and two
knockouts in a row. Since
moving up to middleweight he seems to be finding his grove.
People
rave about Hall's striking. His only loss via knockout came to Chris
Weidman the current UFC champion in there early career. Of
course Hall has 9 of his career wins via knockout. But he's not just
throwing a good one or two or round house kick. He's spinning and
jumping and hitting guys with techniques that
seem more out of a movie fight than a real fight. But
do not sleep on Whittaker's power he's got 7 career wins via
knockout. Both men only have
lost once via knockout. Gotta give the edge to Hall just the power
and that ability to pull of spectacular moves. Plus
Hall will have a huge reach advantage. Gonna
give the edge in grappling to Whittaker. He's got 5 career submission
wins. Hall's only got the
one. But it doesn’t seem like the ground game will be much of a
factor in the fight.
The
big X-Factor in this fight is Hall's mental state. When
this guy is on you think he
could beat 100 men. When he's off you wonder why picked a career. And
the scary thing is he's off nights really are against guys he should
have beat easy. In a strange way this feels like a trap fight. But
I'm going to pick Hall. This guy is so good I think he did turn a
corner last time out.
Stefan Struve
26-7 MMA 10-5 MMA vs. Jared Rosholt 13-2 MMA 5-1 UFC- Struve
making a fairly quick turn around he just fought in August at UFC
190. On the plus side he scored first win since 2012 against one of
the biggest names by getting a decision over Big Nog. On
the down side he didn't look good in that fight. And Big Nog is that
classic legend that held on way to long. Why
is only 27 he's got a lot of hard miles on his body. Rosholt last
fought in August in a UFC Fight Night. Again
on the plus side he's on a two fight winning streak. On the down side
he's not facing even really mid level contenders. The
UFC is starting to make some cuts and both guys need a win to keep
there name on roster.
Striking
I am giving the edge to Struve. He's the tallest guy on the roster
he's got a huge 84.5 inch reach. He's got a Muay Thai background. Now
he's not a perfect striker. He's never developed a great jab we have
seen guys get in on him. He's won only 7 times via knockout and been
knocked out 6 times. But
Rosholt he only has 4 career
knockouts. Why I don't see
Struve at this stage turning into the great striker. I
think he will be able to do just enough.
Grappling
again the edge goes to Struve. Why is only ranked as brown belt in
BJJ he does have 16 career wins via submission. And
he's only been submitted once. Rosholt
has three career submission wins and he's never lost via submission.
But at the end of the day I am more likely to see Struve getting a
submission than Rosholt. Well I've given the edge to Struve in two
different catergores. So yeah he's my pick. I think the boat has long
sailed on Struve becoming a contender I do think he's good enough to
still beat Rosholt.
