UFC 87 Results

Georges St. Pierre def. Jon Fitch via Unanimous Decision
Brock Lesnar def. Heath Herring via Unanimous Decision
Rob Emerson def. Manny Gamburyan via Knockout Rd 1.
Kenny Florian def. Roger Huerta via Unanimous Decision
Demian Maia def. Jason MacDonald via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Rd 3.
Tamdan McCrory def. Luke Cummo via Unanimous Decision
Cheick Kongo def. Dan Evensen via TKO (Strikes) Rd 1.
Jon Jones def. Andre Gusmao via Unanimous Decision
Chris Wilson def. Steve Bruno via Unanimous Decision
Ben Saunders def. Ryan Thomas via Submission (armbar) Rd 2.

FightTicker.com panel picks Brock Lesnar at UFC 87

I was a guest panelist on Fight Ticker.com making predictions. Here's what I had to say about Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring.

It appears that matchmaker Joe Silva is giving Brock Lesnar a taylor made
opponent in Heath Herring who had no answer for the takedowns of Cheik Kongo, a
much improved but still weak wrestler. Brock Lesnar is the UFC’s version
of Kimbo Slice but as a 2000 national champion wrestler he has the potential to
go much further than his EliteXC counterpart in Slice. Lesnar is still a
big question mark with just over two minutes of ring experience in his
career. His striking is abysmal and his submission defense is not where it
needs to be. The learning curve is not friendly in the UFC but Lesnar is
taking the correct steps to master the sport by hiring Rodrigo Comprido as a BJJ
coach.

Heath Herring is a tough durable veteran who is a
survivor and is able to go the distance as evidenced in his last four straight
fights against Kongo, Nogueira, Imes, and O’Brien. Herring’s ability to
sweep, escape, and reverse opponents lead to some back and forth action filled
bouts but I predict that Lesnar is going to have a superb base that will be
difficult for Herring to escape from. Herring’s only way to win will be by
a big knee or kick to Lesnar as lazily shoots in the second or third
round. We have no idea what Lesnar’s cardio will be, but Herring is so
inconsistent that his is just as big of a question mark. My opinion is
that wrestlers have much better stamina and work ethic than strikers and I’ll
take a guess and go with Lesnar. I think Herring will be able to weather
the storm that Lesnar brings early on and will be tough enough to survive the
ground and pound but will lose the decision. My prediction is that Brock
Lesnar wins (29-28) in his first real test.

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FightTicker.com panel picks Kenny Florian at UFC 87

I was on the FightTicker.com panel again making predictions for UFC 87. Here was my prediction for the Roger Huerta vs. Kenny Florian fight.

Prediction – Kenny Florian – rear naked choke – round
three

Kenny Florian has really developed and matured into a
well-rounded fighter since the Ultimate Fighter season one. He began his
career as a one-dimensional BJJ fighter who used his intelligence to embrace and
master all facets of the game under the tutelage of Mark DellaGrotte at
Sityodong and become one of the most feared opponents for anyone in the 155lb
lightweight division. He became the first contestant to earn a title shot
but with only seven fights under his belt he was still a little green to fight a
monster like the Muscle Shark.

Roger Huerta’s strengths in
this fight will be his wrestling and his size and strength advantage but he has
also been on the sidelines and has not fought a fight since Clay Guida almost
beat him way back in December. Huerta has however found himself in trouble
against fighters like Alberto Crane and Clay Guida but he always finds a way out
and is able to capitalize. I think Huerta has looked incredibly sloppy in
some of his fights with Doug Evans and Leonard Garcia being examples.

If Huerta makes a mistake or gets sloppy against a BJJ black belt
in Florian, who has great striking and positioning on the ground, he will get
finished. Florian has a better resume of opponents, better striking,
better jitz, and is great in the scrambles. When he told me that he
finishes fights, I started believing him. My prediction is Kenny Florian
by rear naked choke in the third round, set up with strikes from mount, in a
high-energy fight with plenty of scrambles.

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Fight Ticker.com panel picks St. Pierre at UFC 87

I was on the FightTicker.com panel again making predictions for UFC 87. Here was my prediction for the Jon Fitch vs. Georges St. Pierre fight.

Everyone knows everything there is to know about GSP who has been in the
spotlight his entire UFC career so it’s time to shine the light on Jon Fitch.

Jon Fitch trains under “Crazy” Bob Cook, Javier Mendez, and Dave
Camarillo at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, which is one of the
top MMA camps in the country featuring fighters such as Josh Koscheck, Trevor
Prangley, Josh Thomson, Cung Le, and Rich Crunkilton. He is a former Big Ten
wrestler from Purdue and got his MMA start under famous Pride fighter Tom
Erikson. He recently received his black belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu from Dave
Camarillo in July, which is a hybrid of judo and BJJ developed by Camarillo
himself.

Jon Fitch is one of the least known fighters in the
welterweight division and his first five fights, all wins by the way, were not
ever televised. His is extremely well rounded and his record shows that. Of his
17 wins, 4 are TKOs, 5 are submissions, and 7 are decisions. His win streak
stands at 15 straight fights and dates back over 5 years when he last lost to
Wilson Gouveia in December of 2002, fighting at 205lbs or two weight classes
higher than where he currently fights at.

Fitch holds notable wins over
Shonie Carter, Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, Brock Larson, and Diego Sanchez. He
most recently defeated Team Quest fighter and IFL star Chris Wilson at UFC 82 in
an uninspiring unanimous decision to earn himself a title shot after winning
eight straight fights in the UFC.

Fitch is a very big welterweight but
lacks the explosiveness to beat a fighter like GSP. His toughness is a given and
he will not get finished but will more than likely lose a unanimous decision. He
will probably get outwrestled like his teammate Koscheck did last August with
GSP negating his biggest assets in takedowns and ground and pound. Fitch has
decent striking but lacks any sort of knock out power to defeat GSP. Fitch has
incredible submission defense, which was demonstrated in his fights with
Hironaka and Sanchez and that will keep him alive in this fight as GSP does
enough to pull of the unanimous decision victory and win (30-27) on all three
judges scorecards.

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