Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Predictions for UFC 102: "Senior Citizen Throwdown"

UFC 102 is this Saturday, and the event is headlined by a match-up between 46-year-old wonder Randy Couture and 33-year-old Brazilian senior citizen Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Why is this bout happening? Hell, if the IFL could bring back every "name" fighter from yester-year and squeeze some viewers out of them, why can't the UFC? Anyway, predictions:
  • Brandon Vera against Krzysztof Soszynski? Please, God, let the man with the pronounceable name win. Please.
  • Whether he's juiced up to the gills or not, Chris Leben should have no trouble knocking Jake "I Shoot In For Takedowns Without Protecting My Head" Rosholt unconscious.
  • In the battle between Nate Marquardt and Demian Maia, hopefully the jiu-jitsu master Maia wins. Why? Because we've already seen Anderson Silva destroy Marquardt. If Silva's going to destroy everyone in the UFC, the roster is deep enough for him to go through the list once before wrecking those who want seconds.
  • Keith Jardine is still around? Boy, that guy gets like zero push from his employers. I thought he'd left to join the French Foreign Legion or something.
  • Couture is one battered individual, while Nogueira is crumbling before our very eyes. Expect "The Natural" to clobber "Minotauro", then leave the Octagon abruptly to make the early bird special at the Excalibur buffet.