I’ve got some bad news:  I’m no longer going to be updating this site.  Thanks to the surprising large amount of you who keep coming back.  In order to fill this void that now exists I would suggest you go check out Bloody Elbow.  That is, by far, the best MMA site that exists to date.  All of the writers and commenters are exceptionally intelligent and go out of their way to help educate newer fans.

MAIN CARD

• BJ Penn def. Sean Sherk via KO in the 3rd round.
• Wanderlei Silva def. Keith Jardine  via KO in the 1st round.
• Goran Reljic def. Wilson Gouveia  via TKO in the 2nd round.
• Lyoto Machida def. Tito Ortiz  via unanimous decision.
• Thiago Silva def. Antonio Mendes via TKO (ref. stoppage) in the 1st round.

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Rousimar Palhares def. Ivan Salaverry via submission in the 1st round.
• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou def. Kazuhiro Nakamura via TKO (could not come out for the 2nd round).
• Rich Clementi def. Terry Etim via unanimous decision.
• Yoshiyuki Yoshidaa def. Jon Koppenhaver via submission in the 1st round.
• Dong Hyun Kim def. Jason Tan via KO in the 3rd round.
• Shane Carwin def. Christian Wellisch via KO in the 1st round.

MAIN CARD

BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk

This is going to be an exciting fight that will not go to a decision.  BJ Penn’s strengths are… well, just about everything.  His only weakness has historically been his cardio. However, he appears to have turned a corner in the past year and has really focused on training.  

Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine

This is going to be a disappointing night for all of the life long Wanderlei Silva fans (myself included).  The old Wanderlei of Pride is gone.  Even if he still possesses the ability to resurrect the killer that everyone fell in love with, his current situation will prevent him from doing so.  He’s coming off of three back-to-back losses and is desperate for a win.  Compounding this is the fact that he is now training with Xtreme Couture. When was the last time you remember an Xtreme Couture fighter come out and fight with the type of reckless abandon that made Silva a champion?

Keith Jardine has all of the tool to beat Silva.  Wanderlei’s problems have been with fighters that have a reach advantage and can stay on the outside.  In his fight with Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei could never get on the inside.  Liddell used his reach perfectly. Unfortunately for Silva, Jardine and Liddell both have a reach of 76″, as opposed to his 74″ reach.  Also, Jardine uses front kicks very effectively to keep his opponents on the outside.  

Finally, Jardine’s size advantage will help him out too.  In Wanderlei’s fight against Liddell, he looked extremely small.  After this fight, Wanderlei should drop down a weight class (which he will supposedly do).

One final prediction - I think this fight will go to the ground.  I have a feeling that Jardine will suprise everyone, including Silva, and take the fight to the ground.  In an interview with the Beatdown radio show, Greg Jackson dropped a few hints that people would be suprised.  He also talked about how underestimated Jardine’s ground game is. I’ve seen a few videos on YouTube of Jardine in grappling tournaments, and, much to my surprise, his grappling game looked pretty impressive.  He also showed a good ground game in his fight against Mike Whitehead at UFC 57.  Fighters from Greg Jackson’s camp are known for their grappling skills and he is no different.  Due to the fighting styles of Jardine’s weight class and the opponents he’s faced, he has just never had to use them.

Prediction - Jardine via TKO in the 2nd round.

Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida

I’m not sure if Tito Ortiz even knows he’s fighting a guy named Lyoto Machida.  I don’t think I’ve heard Tito mention Machida’s name in the run-up to this fight.  In Tito’s mind, he will be facing Dana White in the octagon.  This could be either good or bad.  It could be good in that it may have supplied a lot of motivation for him to train hard and cause him to come out with an intensity we haven’t seen from him in a long time.  Tito has always fight on a lot of emotion and it’s hard to believe that emotion won’t be on display for his last fight in the UFC.

The alternative is that Tito may not have had the type of focused training needed for an opponent such as Machida.  Unlike most other fighters, Tito can’t expect Machida to come forward at him… ever.  Machida’s patience is unlike any other fighter currently in the UFC, regardless of boo’s or cheers.   It get Machida down, which I fully expect him to, Tito’s going to have to get on his bike and chase him down.  In his last fight against Chuck Liddell at UFC 66, he showed a decent ability to cut off the ring.  If he can do this against Machida, then he will have a much better night.

The problem with Machida is that he has never faced an opponent with such an aggressive ground-n-pound.  In preparations for this fight, he trained with Josh Koscheck at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA).  However, I don’t think that it’ll help with Tito’s brand of wrestling too much.  Unless Machida can use his elusiveness to keep the fight standing and frustrate Tito, I don’t see him winning this.

Prediction - Tito Ortiz via unanimous decision.

Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic

Wilson Gouveia narrowly escaped defeat against Jason Lambert at UFC 80 but I think he’ll have a much easier time with Goran Reljic.  Goran trains with Gracie Barra UK and is a brown belt under Roger Gracie.  However, his standup is seriously lacking.  Couple this with the fact that this will be his UFC debit and it doesn’t look like an ideal UFC debut.

Prediction - Gouveia via TKO in the 1st round.

Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes

This is another fight that pits a promising light heavyweight who has collected a few wins in the UFC  against a fighter making his UFC debut.  Statistically speaking, one of these UFC veterans will be upset.  However, I don’t it’ll be Thiago.  My hope is that it will be Wilson Gouveia.

Prediction - Thiago Silva via TKO in the 1st round.

PRELIMINARY CARD

Rich Clementi vs. Terry Etim 

Hopefully Rich Clementi will get some love when he takes this fight and can change his nickname from “No Love”.  Terry Etim’s fight against Gleison Tibau at UFC 75 show that he could be taken down and controlled by a bigger, stronger opponent.  Meet Rich Clementi - a bigger, stronger opponent.  Etim’s striking has looked impressive but if Clementi can take a shot from Anthony Johnson, I don’t expect Etim to give him any problems.  Clementi’s jiu-jitsu has looked good and I think it’ll win this fight for him.

Prediction - Rich Clementi via submission in the 2nd round.

John Koppenhaver vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida 

This fight is going to be violent.  Both fighters have aggressive styles that can only be described as violent.  According to Sherdog’s Jordan Breen, Yoshida has been able to overcome the huge hurdle of fighting in the cage that has plagued so many other Japanese fighters before him.  I guess we’ll see.

Prediction - Yoshiyuki Yoshida via KO in the 2nd round.

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou 

Prediction - Sokoudjou via KO in the 1st round.

Rousimar Palhares vs. Ivan Salaverry 

Prediction - Palhares via submission in the 1st round.

Dong-Hyun Kim vs. Jason Tan 

Prediction - Kim via KO in the 1st round because Luke Thomas says so.

Shane Carwin vs. Christian Wellisch 

Prediction - Shane Carwin via hype.

Rumors are circulating that UFC 88 will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on September 6.  I first heard about this from a post on the SubFighter Forum last week but was unsure as to its validity.  A poster on that forum pointed out an update on Tim Boetsch’s Myspace:

Now, MMA Mania is reporting that Atlanta is the likely destination for UFC 88.  This would a great location for a UFC event.  I imagine Georgia to have a HUGE market for MMA.  Also, Philip’s Arena would be the perfect location for such an event.  I have been there for concerts and Hawks games many time and find it to be one of the nicer arenas.  

As for who will be fighting at the event, here are a few off the top of my head:

• Forrest Griffin - from Augusta and worked as a police officer in Athens for several years.
• Cole Miller - from Augusta.

Am I missing any?  I seem to remember several other fighters being from Georgia.

Just wanted to remind everyone that Countdown to UFC 84 is on Spike TV tonight at 11:00 p.m.  Here are my predictions for the show:

• All of the fighters will be in the best shape of their lives and 100% prepared for their fights.
• BJ Penn will appear to be fighting for the purity of the sport (i.e., the “good guy”).
• Sean Sherk will be shown working out harder than any athlete in the history of the world.
• Wanderlei Silva will be wearing a snorkel.  No… seriously… he will.
• Keith Jardine will look uncomfortably similar to that guy “Techno Viking”.

I’m not sure if the Spike got a new production crew for the show but the last Countdown looked much better.  Hopefully this one will continue that format.

Kurt Pellegrino went out to Chicago to help Miguel Torres (32-1) prepare for his June 1 title defense against Yoshira Maeda (23-4-2).  According to Pellegrino’s website:

WEC CHAMP Miguel Torres brought me out to his gym in Chicago last week to help him train for his title defense on June 1st. I can tell you all now, he is the best 135lb fighter in the world!! I was brought out there to help him out with something that im very good at, and i have to tell you all that he is the man. He picked up all the moves that i was showing him right away and that is a true sign of a great champ.

Apparently, Pellegrino was brought out to help Torres with his wrestling.  A solid wrestling game, combined with Torres’ slick jiu-jitsu game would make him incredibly dangerous any challenger in the WEC’s 135 lbs division.  

This is one of the most breathtaking videos I have ever seen.  And the best part about it - it’s real.  Great find by 5 Oz. of Pain.  This little nugget of awesomeness occurred last Friday at the Legends of Fighting event.  The two fighters, Tyler Bryan and Shaun Parker, actually connected at the same time and knocked each other out (I really can’t repeat that enough).  The best part about it - the referee, legendary fighter and personality Shonie Carter’s reaction.  The look on his face was priceless.

This is MMA history.  Forget the whole Randy Couture coming back from the nursing home to capture the heavyweight title.  This is truely something special.  Go ahead and watch it again.  I’ve watched it at least 50 times now.  It’s like watching lightening strike or finding a unicorn.

Cung Le has been chosen to be one of the fighters featured in Donruss’ new trading card series:

Newly crowned Strikeforce World Middleweight Champion, Cung Le (22-0), has been selected to appear in the first-ever mixed martial arts trading card series manufactured by Donruss Trading Card Company.

Le will be part of the “Ring Kings” mixed martial arts series.  Donruss, one of the leading companies of the trading card industry, is looking to tap into the increasingly popular MMA memorabilia market.  If recent eBay  sales are any indication, there’s no shortage of demand for these trading cards.  According to the Orlando Sentinel, these were the final sales numbers on April 30:

• Dan “Hendo” Henderson – sold for $79.99 after 10 bids.
• Rich “Ace” Franklin – sold for $72.99 after eight bids.
• Georges “Rush” St. Pierre – sold for $192.40 after 16 bids.

While these were autographed promotional cards, their sales clearly indicates that there is plenty of interest for such trading cards.

Pretty decent fight.

Textbook Gracie fight: takedown, pass guard, mount, submit.  Overall, a good second fight for Roger Gracie.  Roger has been receiving a lot of criticism for taking easy fights but people need to remember, this was only his SECOND MMA fight.  He’s fought a “who’s who” of grappling but MMA is very different.  Hopefully, Roger will take his time and develop as a MMA fighter.