UFC 129 Review & Fight Predictions

First of all we'd like to say, this is a great fight card!  Good job Joe Silva!!  It's a stacked card and is going to be an exciting event.

Let's breakdown some of the fights;
*some fights are not included because they're boring.

Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger -

For some reason, a lot of people don't know who these fighters are.  This is a mistake, because these two fighters are legit!  Sean Pierson is coming off of a win with Matt Riddle at UFC 124 via decision.  He's known for training with GSP and the other top athletes at Tristar in Toronto.  Now Jake Ellenberger is our favorite in this fight.  Ellenberger is a hard working 25 year old with an impressive 23-5 record.  Training out of Reign MMA, "The Juggernaut" [OUR PREDICTION] will come out with a win via a decision.

Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald -

Now Rory MacDonald is a talented fighter with 10 straight wins before losing to Carlos Condit at UFC 115.  However.......I don't think he has what it takes to beat a mean Nate Diaz.  The Diaz brothers are known for being bad-asses.  Take their no-nonsense attitudes aside, these guys are smart and natural mma athletes.  Nate Diaz will take it to Rory and we foresee it ending in a TKO in the first or second round.

Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida -

This fight is near and dear to my heart.  Randy is an legend in the sport of MMA and has said he will most likely be retiring after this fight.  Now, I was at the UFC when he lost the 2nd time to Chuck Liddell when he said he was retiring.  We're glad he came back....but now, I do think it is time for him to retire probably and this will be an incredible fight!  Couture is as I just said, a legend.  His fights have always been exciting and he's been incredibly impressive his entire career.  Do we think he'll beat "The Dragon", no.  Now I was a karate guy, so I'm biased and want to see Machida win.  But I do see Lyoto Machida's evasive footwork and counterstriking will grant him a win in the first or second round by referee stoppage.  Probably the second round.....Randy will want to feel it out the first round.  So we predict Machida by Ref Stoppage!

Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick -

So Hominick is another incredibly talented striker that not a ton of people know about.  I think it's maybe because he was a star in the WEC and didn't get the publicity he deserved.  Mark Hominick is an awesome striker and can beat most 145 pounders in the octagon.  Look at his record because he has wins over some impressive opponents.  With all of that said, can he beat Jose Aldo?  Well, I think this will be a hard fight for Aldo, but I do think Jose Aldo will come out on top.  Our prediction - Jose Aldo wins by either TKO in the 2nd round after multiple nasty tree stump like kicks in the legz.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields -

You know this, we all know this....that GSP is one of the best pound for pound mixed martial arts fighters in the world.  Let's face it, GSP could beat the crap out of ironman if he wanted to.  But Jake Shields is no joke.  I personally have followed Jake's career for a very long time because we went to the same college [Cuesta College] at the same time, but I didn't know him.  He also went to SLO Kickboxing at the same time, but I didn't know him there either.  So because of those things in common, I do favor Jake Shields.  So will this be an upset?  Will Shields pull it off?  We're going against the grain and claiming that Jake Shields will upset and win the belt by a wacky, crazy submission!

That's all folks! 

Here's the full fight card:

Pay-Per-View Bouts - 9 p.m. ET
Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Jake Shields for UFC welterweight title
Jose Aldo (c) vs. Mark Hominick for UFC featherweight title
Jason Brilz vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida
Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson

Preliminary Bouts on Spike TV - 8 p.m. ET
Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald
Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger

Preliminary Bouts on Facebook - 6 p.m. ET
Yves Jabouin vs. Pablo Garza
Claude Patrick vs. Daniel Roberts
Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia
Jason MacDonald vs. Ryan Jensen
John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson

Dana White + someone throwing a beer = A good freakin story to tell about UFC 115

Following UFC 115's first main-card bout between welterweights Carlos Condit and Canada's Rory MacDonald – in which the Canuck was finished in the final seconds of a fight he was winning through two rounds – Shields and Cesar Gracie teammate Nate Diaz were pelted with a beer that was thrown from the crowd.

The primary target of the projectile was apparently none other than White, and the UFC exec said that along with the help of the GM Place crowd, the offending beverage-tosser was quickly addressed.

"When MacDonald lost, some dude threw a beer at me," White said. "That's never happened in 10 years. We threw his ass out quick. He hit me, Nate Diaz and Jake Shields.

"You know what I love about our fans? I jumped up and said, 'Who the [expletive] threw that?' The whole place went, 'He did!' You go to a football game, everybody would just sit there, and you don't know who threw it. The whole [expletive] place went, 'He threw it.'"


(first reported by mmajunkie.....info nabbed also from middle easy)

Tweeto Ortiz is out, Franklin will fight Chuck Liddell!

Well, it's official......Tweeto Ortiz is a bitch!  He's officially out of his bout with Chuck Liddell. 

Former Middleweight Champ, Rich Franklin will fight Chuck Liddell at UFC 115.

Las Vegas, NV – “Fans and media have been asking me for weeks what is happening on The Ultimate Fighter Season 11, saying things like ‘is Tito off the show, is Chuck fighting Rich.’ Today, I’m officially announcing that Chuck Liddell will fight Rich Franklin at UFC 115. I wish I could tell you why, but everyone’s just going to have to watch The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 on Spike TV. What I can say is that these are two UFC legends, and they give everything they have in every second of a fight. Both of these guys are looking to get back to the top of the light heavyweight division. Liddell and Franklin at 205 pounds is going to be a war, and I can’t wait to do our first UFC event ever in Vancouver,” said UFC President Dana White.

Former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit faces hometown fighter Rory MacDonald in the final fight for the televised portion of the pay-per-view.

Heavyweights Ben Rothwell and Gilbert Yvel will battle on the undercard, as well as former "Ultimate Fighter" winner Mac Danzig against Matt Wiman. "Ultimate Fighter Season 9" winner James Wilks takes on Peter Sobotta, as well as Canadian Claude Patrick against Ricardo Funch. The final fight announced on Monday pits Xtreme Couture fighter Mike Pyle against Jesse Lennox in a welterweight contest.

UFC 115 will take place at General Motors Place in Vancouver on Saturday, June 12.

(some text and info gathered from mmaweekly)