Here we go, a week away from UFC 101! I am going fight by fight with a break down of the card, top to bottom. Chime in with you thoughts and opinions, there is no wrong or right, there is just the fights.
-The main event pits B.J. "The Prodigy" Penn against number one contender Kenny "KFlo" Florian, in what looks to be another tough fight for Penn after a one sided loss to Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94. Florian is comming off of a very impressive win over Joe "Daddy" Stevenson and a total streak of 7 wins in a row. I think Florian has improved in leaps and bounds in his last three fights for sure, but we are talking 155lbs. And in my mind there is no one at 155 more dangerous than Penn. Penn lost his last fight with GSP, who is one of the top fighters in the world and it was a mental loss as well as a physical one for Penn. How he comes back after that loss is going to be key. This fight will be another great championship match, both are complete fighters, who are great standing and on the ground. But I am going with Penn, by submission.
-Anderson "The Spider" Silva moving up a weight class to take on Forrest Griffin at 205lbs. is going to be explosive. Silva is riding a nine match winning streak, but is getting a lot of flack for his last two fights. At UFC 90 Silva beat Patrick Cote after an injury in round three to Cote's knee stopped the bout. Before that Silva had never been out of the second round in a UFC match. UFC 97 saw another fight in which Silva played cat and mouse with Thales Leites for 5 rounds and get the unanimous decision. For some reason those two fights made people forget that Silva not only beat, but destroyed top tier fighters in Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson prior. In nine fights he has lost 1 round out of 18! He takes on Forrest Griffin, who may be one if the toughest guy in the UFC. After winning the belt from "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 86 in very close fight, Griffin then lost to Rashad Evans at UFC 92. The problem I see is that Griffin likes to get hit and against on of the most precise strikers in the game today that just doesn't bode well. I think it will be a war, it may have fight of the night all over it, but I will go with Silva by TKO. The only way Griffin can with the fight is if he takes Silva down and wrestles with him. Hendo had the right game plan against Silva, he just didn't stick to it.
-Kendall "Da Spyder" Grove will take on Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida at 185lbs both fighters coming off wins. Lots of questions surround both fighters, Almeida was talking about moving down to 170 after a win over Matt Horwich and Grove won has one two in a row after beating the late Evan Tanner and an impressive KO over Jason Day. Both men sport losses to Patrick Cote on their records, Grove has a never say die fight style and has knockout power in either hand. Almeida has never won by KO, like to go to the ground and work his BJJ. Grove is ok on the ground and usually has no problem getting back to his feet. I am picking Grove here, at 6'6 he has a huge reach advantage and should be able to get up and stay out of trouble on the ground.
-Josh "The Dentist" Neer faces off with Kurt "Batman" Pellegrino in a very interesting contest at 155lbs. These two fighters are strong on the ground, Neer is the more well rounded fighter, but Pellegrino is dangerous on the ground. This fight comes down to conditioning and I am taking Neer by decision.
-The battle of unbeatens! Amir Sadollah returns to the octagon after over a year out with an injury, will take on Johny Hendricks who is making his UFC debut at 170 lbs. If you don't know who Hendricks is, you will after this fight. A former 3 time NCAA national champion wrestler who had a streak of 56 wins before a loss in the finals in his senior year to keep him from the four peat. Sadollah's last fight was in the Ultimate Fighter finale where he submitted CB Dolloway to win his contract. Hedricks standup is catching up to his wrestling and he will throw bombs. Sadollah is a very well rounded fighter and has really dangerous submissions. I think this could be a very suprising fight no and Hendricks is going to open some eyes. Hendricks wins it by... TKO.
Look out for the UFC 101 review next Sunday, I will break down each fight and give some opinions and look foward to hearing your thoughts was well.
