Monday, May 10, 2010

Who to Watch at Friday's UCC 2

The Urban Conflict Championship returns to the Armory in Jersey City on Friday for another installment of conflict in a (very) urban setting, and with it comes a crop of up-and-comers worth keeping an eye on.  At the top of the list is AMA FC's Sean Santella, a wrestler-turned-polished MMA fighter who's been racking up a slew of wins since losing to Nick Pace back in 2008.  Santella will be facing Josh Rave, who gave Zach Makovsky a decent scrap at the M-1 Global show last month before getting put to sleep with a choke, and if "Shorty Rock" can handle Rave as well, that would put him amongst the Northeast's top bantamweights.  Also someone to look out for on Friday is John Cholish.  This Team Renzo exponent's got a lot of hype following him around, and thus far it seems warranted, but squaring off against Matt Troyer at UCC 1 is a far cry from squaring off against Hitalo Machado, whom he'll be facing at UCC 2.  Can Cholish submit a true submission specialist?  Finally, keep an eye on Carlos Brooks, who'll be taking on Team Link's Alexandre Moreno.  Brooks - like teammates Jimmie Rivera, Nick Pace, Lyman Good and Urijah Hall - is aces in the "overwhelming strikes" department, but Moreno's got 11 fights to Brooks' two, so it will be interesting to see if the TS-MMA rep's sheer meanness is enough to overcome the experience factor.  Keep an eye on these guys, and to facilitate that, MMA Journalist will be there to liveblog the event.

Observations from My Couch: UFC 113 "Karate is Dead"

    • Congrats to Alan Belcher for uncovering the effectiveness of the “spike the face” maneuver.  Who knew dropping someone on their grill would be so devastating?
    • Thus endeth the woefully-short reign of Kimbo “Not Ready for the UFC” Slice.
    • You know what’s weird?  Watching the UFC in 1994 and cheering for Dan Severn, then watching the UFC in 2010 and seeing a fighter impersonate him.  And honestly, Tom Lawlor made for a really good Dan Severn.
    • Why was everyone acting like Marcus Davis’ job was on the line?  He may not be a world-beater, but when stacked up against the UFC’s “away team” welterweights (i.e., those who compete in the overseas UFC events), the dude is practically elite.
    • I’m glad Paul Daley got banned from the UFC, because now he can go to Strikeforce and punch Nick Diaz in the back of the head after the bell and get stabbed to death.
    • Where is your karate now, Lyoto Machida?  Where is your karate now?