The UFC is about to put up one of the most well booked shows topped with an unparalleled main event for the year 2010 to this point and the foreseeable future. That is of course making an assessment of booking, hype, narrative, and quality of the match-up on paper before the fight. There is no telling how it will look after the fact. In short, no booking this year has been as impressive as this one, a rematch between the clear-cut top two fighters in the most exciting, stacked, and popular division in MMA following a controversial decision in inaugural fight. This is the MMA loyalists dream fight, highlighting fighters who are epitomes of class and professionalism, not to mention world-class technical ability. It comes none-too-late to boot as the last two major MMA cards have left a bit of a sour flavor in a lot of mouths between brawls in the cage, to clowning champions. While anything can happen in this sport, this card is safe while remaining of the utmost interest, highlighting fighters that typically rarely steal headlines but always leave it in the cage. Well that is with the one glaring exception.
The under card proper will feature at least three fights that should catch most well versed fan’s attention. Marcus Davis is going to try to get his career back on track against perennial low-level gatekeeper Jonathan Goulet. Goulet is not a man to take lightly as he has been in the cage with some top fighters. That said, there is a reason the fight was booked and it was to give the Irish Hand Grenade the opportunity to turn his fortune around. Marcus Davis I one of the few fighters I have ever met, albeit briefly, and since that meeting I must count myself among Davis fans. I wish him nothing but the best in this fight and am optimistic that this one will go the way of the Hand Grenade. TJ Grant and Johny Hendricks will meet in a dark horse for fight of the night. Hendricks is clearly no one’s favorite at Zuffa. After beating Amir he has been given under card fights with zero hype, while Amir was handed a loud-mouth, moderately profiled fight on a silver platter and will next get his shot to make waves on Spike TV. Regardless I am a fan of both of these fighters and think this could be a real entertaining scrap. Finally, Tom Lawlor will get another chance to entertain the fans as he takes on journeyman Joe Doerksen. Both men could be fighting for their contracts, given UFC’s recent roster cuts so this one deserves an eye, if for nothing else but Lawlor’s weigh-in antics.
As the UFC turns the big lights on, two overachieving middleweights will square off in what looks to be a turning point for both men. Belcher has been an up-and-down fighter for years but has the chance to rack up his third quality win in four fights, with a competitive loss to boot. Cote finally returns from his freakish loss to Anderson Silva and this is a great fight to find out just where he belongs in the division. Both fighters will be jockeying for position in a highly competitive division. Speaking of where a fighter belongs, Kimbo Slice will get another chance to silence a few more critics by proving he belongs in the UFC, let alone on the main card. Slice will fight the only fighter that was able to steal any of his spotlight on TUF 10, Matt Mitrione. The fight likely doesn’t quite deserve its placement of the time on the count-down show but we all know the drill by now. Kimbo is in sink or swim mode as a single poor performance will reify all his doubters criticisms. None the less a lot of eyes will eyes will be on Mitrione and Slice, rendering this a big opportunity for both men to make their mark. The televised fight that is flying under the radar but should be another contender for Fight of the Night honors is Sam Stout v Jeremy Stephens, a fight that would have received some countdown time in a completely just world. Both fighters are always known to bring it all and leave it in the cage. I don’t expect this fight to see a ton of ground time; both fighters should be looking to take off the other’s head. Stephens and Stout are coming off wins and both could use a visible win like this, the winner can likely suspect a legitimate slide up the ranks.
No fight on the card provides the winner a better opportunity to move upward than the co-main event between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley. The winner has been more or less guaranteed a title shot, while the loser gets to eat a lot of crow and start over. Joe Silva either brilliantly put these two swaggering alpha males on a collision course with one another at just the right time, or he stumbled into one damn near perfect storm. Machida and Shogun have all kinds of hype around their title fight but despite the controversial history, neither man I one to let out a ton of trash talk. Kos and Daley are going to bring all the jaw the card needs and one of them is going to come out a very appealing contender for GSP’s belt. The fight itself is a tough one to call. The result could go either way, as both guys seem to get better just about every time we see them. I tend to like a fighter with a more well rounded game but Kos had problems last time he fought an athletic striker. One way or the other this fight ads a little sensationalism to a card that needs to put MMA and the UFC back on the right track.
There might not be a potential main event in MMA today that is more well equipped to put the sport where it needs to be right now than Machida vs Shogun II. There are no gimmicks here, no fake hype. These two guys have a history with one other that is fundamentally built on competition in its highest form. There is not another division in the sport that has two guys so evenly matched at the top. Regardless of how the first fight went down, controversy or not, the outcome of this one is still anyone’s guess. I suspect both fighters will bring something new to the table. Shogun will likely look to mix a takedown or two into each round, depending on how things are going for him in the stand up and Machida might be a bit more aggressive, changing up his rhythm so as to prevent Shogun from timing his strikes like he did in the first fight. Even if Machida doesn’t need it he will have to come prepared to do something about the leg-kicks that Rua brought to the first fight and that could be to Shogun’s advantage if he can keep Machida worried about them. This one shouldn’t go the distance. For two men of this caliber to spend 50 minutes in the cage with one another in less than a year and someone not be able to put the fight away would be amazing. Plus, neither guy wants this one to go to the judges after the last fight and the fallout thereof. I said from the announcement of the result that a rematch would benefit Machida, whom likely can figure out how to beat any man in the world with enough time. However Shogun has looked like the killer from Pride we all wanted to see in the UFC and that might be a bit more beast than man. This is not a fight to miss, so crack a cold beer (or soda), get your best bad-for-you-sports-food ready, invite your friends and enjoy MMA competition at its absolute finest
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