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By Anthony De Franco  November 11, 2009, at 7:33 pm  The UFC always makes incredible videos to promote their events. This one is focused on the first fight between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin, and features an awesome song called “Time For War” by the incomparable LL Cool J.
UFC 105 Undercard Predictions coming later tonight/early Thursday.
UFC 105 Main card predictions coming Thursday Afternoon/Evening.
By Anthony De Franco October 21, 2009, at 1:40 pm Yea, I know that a couple of days ago I said that it would be Josh Koscheck taking on Mike Pierce. However, this is a much better fight and deserves to main event Virginia’s card. Here’s the announcement from MMA Weekly:
Undefeated lightweight contender Gray Maynard and Ultimate Fighter season five winner Nate Diaz have agreed to square off in the expected main event of the unannounced Jan. 11 UFC Fight Night 20 in Northern Virginia.
Sources close to the bout confirmed the signing to MMAWeekly.com Tuesday afternoon. According to GracieFighter.com, the web site operated by Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, Diaz has signed a bout agreement for the fight.
Looking to exact a measure of revenge, Maynard (8-0) has been on a tear through the UFC’s lightweight ranks since emerging from season five of TUF. He didn’t make it to the finals, however, submitting to a Diaz guillotine choke in the semifinal round. Following a no contest with Rob Emerson on that season’s finale, he has reeled off six straight wins. His victims include fellow contenders Roger Huerta, Jim Miller, and Frankie Edgar.
After defeating Manny Gamburyan in the season five finale, Diaz (11-4) racked up four straight victories before dropping back-to-back bouts to Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson. He got back on track in August when he submitted Melvin Guillard in the main event of UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma.
Well, there isn’t much to say about this fight except that Diaz is being thrown to the wolves here. While Nate is not a bad fighter, Gray Maynard is going to be a lightweight champion some day. Diaz just submitted a wrestler from his guard against Marvin Guillard, but Maynard is the best in the game at adapting the wrestling art to MMA. He won’t get caught in an armbar. Trust me.
By Anthony De Franco October 20, 2009, at 10:51 pm I love the way that most Jet fans are reacting to their team this week. After winning their first three games, every single one of them started thinking Super Bowl. Mark Sanchez was the greatest rookie quarterback of all time, and Rex Ryan was the most brilliant man to ever coach a game of football. This was the season that every Jet fan was waiting for since Joe Willie trotted out of Super Bowl III as the most popular athlete in the world for that one day in 1969.
Now, after three straight losses everyone has jumped off the bandwagon as if it was on fire. They have basically denounced their teams, and started talking about how they wished they were fans of a real football team. They are all doing everything short calling Mark Sanchez a bust.
The reality of the situation is that the 3-0 start clouded the judgment of a fan base whose team has serious holes. The team simply needs improvement in many areas, and they are nowhere ready to win now. In fact, they are probably still a few years away from serious competition, but no one wants hear that.
Why did everyone think that Mark Sanchez wasn’t going to go through his share of growing pains? I’m not suggesting that anyone could have predicted the five interception debacle that was last Sunday afternoon, but did anyone really think that he was going to be perfect the entire season? Looking like Vince Chase from Entourage only gets you so far.
Why did anyone in the world think that Rex Ryan was going to be a perfect head coach in his first season? For all the good he did with the defense in weeks one and two, he hasn’t really done a whole lot since. Kerry Collins spent the second half of the Titans game doing his best impression of Joe Montana, The Saints moved the ball well, Ted Ginn made Darelle Revis look terrible, and this week, the coup de grace, his defense lost to Havard grad Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Why did anyone think that this team would remain in perfect health? After all, this is a club that has one of the league’s thinnest rosters. Now that Kris Jenkins is out for the year with a torn ACL, Sione Pouha is going to be anchoring the most important position in the Jets 3-4 defense. When Lito Sheppard was out, opposing wide receivers were left quivering in fear of Dwight Lowery. Jerricho Cotchery missed time and the Jets had to call Danny Woodhead up to the active roster AND change his position from running back to wide receiver. Every single NFL team is going to deal with injuries, but the ones that are prepared are the ones that contend for championship. Quality depth is just as important as having good starters. The Jets simply don’t have it.
Instead of the Super Bowl team that Gang Green fans thought they had, the Jets are simply another mediocre football team. Sanchez is still a work in progress. Ryan, while an excellent defensive coordinator, is still a first year head coach. Most importantly, the Jets roster is just not set for a push deep into the playoffs.
Rather than leaping off the cliff, Jets fans simply need to see the big picture. Work in progress means that there is potential there. Sanchez will be the franchise QB of the New York Jets. Rex Ryan can be a winning coach with some experience. One more good draft can be enough to get the depth they need.
Just don’t expect the world from this team so quickly, and you won’t be disappointed.
By Anthony De Franco September 3, 2009, at 10:18 pm Well, it looks like Dana White isn’t going to wait for Strikeforce to schedule Fedor’s first fight to have B.J. Penn defend his lightweight title. According to MMA Weekly, Diego Sanchez will get his shot against the Hawaiian on December 12th on Pay-Per-View.
After weeks of speculation, the fight is settled and so is the date.
UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn will fight Diego Sanchez in the co-main event of UFC 107, which also features a battle between The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 coaches Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans.
“B.J. is fighting Dec. 12,” UFC president Dana White stated Thursday afternoon in a video blog on BJPenn.com.
White already confirmed the bout a week ago at the UFC 102 pre-fight press conference. At the time, he said there was a chance it would headline an as of yet unannounced third November event that would be neither a pay-per-view nor a Spike TV event, leading to speculation about the oft-rumored network television deal.
Whatever the reason, a third November event has yet to materialize.
White has frequently stated, “Once we get the right offer, we will be on network television.” Apparently the right offer hasn’t yet arrived, or at least not in time for November.
There have long been rumors that whenever Fedor stepped foot into a Strikeforce ring, White and the UFC would counterprogram a huge draw like Penn or Anderson Silva on free TV. Since Silva doesn’t seem to want fight anyone right now, It was assumed that Penn and Sanchez would be the fight headlining that card. Now, You have to wonder what White still has left in the cupboard to counterprogram with. All the champions and big draws are booked through the end of the year.
As for the fight, I still am not a big beleiver in Sanchez. He has a very good ground game as long as he is on top, and showed decent elbows from the bottom in his instant classic bout against Clay Guida, but make no mistake; Penn is not Clay Guida. I wonder if Sanchez will be able to get Penn down, and if he does, Penn will completely neutralize his submission game and maybe even sweep him. B.J. is sharper on the feet as well, and will likely dominate this fight.
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