Hawkius Maximus

People underestimate Florian, and I'm not sure why. He's only lost once since TUF, to Sean Sherk who pretty much just hugged him. Besides that, he's won SEVEN fights in UFC, all by finishing. He hasn't went to a decision aside from the Sherk fight. People may just remember the Diego fight still, but there was a huge weight difference there that Florian had to deal with, not to mention he'd only had three "pro" fights before then. I'll give my predictions for the top three fights: I keep going back and forth between GSP and Fitch...but I think I'll settle on Fitch. GSP should win this fight, but I think that might be what comes back to haunt him. That and the fact that he KNOWS if he gets past Fitch, he has that super fight with Penn slated. I think it might mess with his head a little and the most dangerous thing is a challenger who has absolutely nothing to lose. Fitch has no starpower to lose, no status, he's just a guy that no one still really knows who's going to come in there swinging. If GSP's mentally and physically not at 100%, Fitch will beat him. Florian over Huerta. I think Huerta has a shot, but at the same time, Florian's record doesn't lie. Florian's a dangerous guy, who can win by any method. He can KO you, he can submit you, and if he has to, his elbows are *perfect* for a massive cut. I think standing, their about even. Florian's probably the better striker, but Huerta probably has more power and their speed could be a wash. On the ground, I'd give Florian a huge advantage. If he can get position on you, you most likely won't get free. I will predict a decision, so I'll give Huerta that, that he'll survive and take Florian to Florian's first decision victory. Herring over Brock. I think the odds are way too stacked against Brock. Herring has beaten top wrestlers before (Kerr and Erickson come to mind) and he's an incredibly tough opponent. Brock will get the fight down to the ground, but from there I don't know. I don't think Brock will be able to finish Herring, and I don't think Brock has the submission skills to submit Herring. Herring won't go for a submission unless he feels he HAS to, so if Herring starts going for legbars and armbars, it's a testament to how good Brock is. I think the most likely scenarios are a decision for Brock, or a KO for Herring. Herring will not be able to stop Brock's takedown, but standing is where Herring will do damage. Brock can't just keep shooting all the time, at some point if the fight gets stood up he'll HAVE to strike with Herring, and that's where it's dangerous. If Brock really wants to just win, he should take Herring down and hold him down...but he's not getting that huge contract to just win, and I think Brock knows this. He's going to come out 100 MPH at Herring, win or lose. If he loses and is done with UFC, then he can get a big deal from a Japanese company (...If one still exists) based on what he's done. And honest question. Why the hell is Rob Emerson on the main card when Cheick Kongo is on the undercard? Weren't they grooming Kongo not too long ago?

Sometimes, I just want to beat the piss out of Dana White. He may be right, who knows, but you don't say that in public *RIGHT NOW*. I honestly hate how he feels he has to CHAMPION~! his fighters. Their big boys. Let them fight their own battles that they've created themselves. Defending Sherk or Rampage shouldn't be your job. How the President of UFC can be so fucking stupid astounds me, really.

I just watched a stream of the countdown show. That was fucking amazing. It's amazing how these countdowns have done a 180 in terms of less "OMG BIG FIGHT BESTFIGHTERSOMGWHOO" and more on the stories of the fighters. GSP/Fitch didn't really do much for me, but some of the candid shots of Fitch were excellent. Florian and Huerta are buys though. That part was magnificent. Even the two minutes on Brock/Herring got me more excited for it. What with Herring comparing them to King Kong and Godzilla while using his hands and sound effects to simulate them colliding.

I don't see the problem with that character. He's a joke enemy for...whats his name. So they can call each other ugly. I've started watching Naruto...I'm up to episode three. Is there any major filler arcs or anything I should know about? After going through Bleach, I want to avoid filler arcs if I can. A filler episode or two isn't bad, but a filler arc is.

They should put UFC 90 on free TV too. No matter what exposure Silva got from that last fight, Cote aint drawing against him. That's not saying Cote's a bad fight, it's just he has no name power as it is right now. Okami probably wouldn't have done any better (Cote atleast speaks English) The rest of the card doesn't look that great either, which is odd, considering how stacked 89 is. Which again, is odd since the show is only a week later or so. They seriously can't move say...Vera/Jardine to shore up this card a little? Would that change anything? Scheduling two shows within a week of each other is a dumb move in the first place. To make the one on PPV a weaker card is even dumber.

89 > 90 thus far. 89 is pretty stacked, really. Bisping/Leben probably won't have major ramifications (If Bisping wins Icould see him challenging next though) but should be all kinds of fun. Bisping's manic attack against Leben's "Zombie-fu". Lyoto and Silva has massive repercussions. Both are undefeated, and you have the methodical striker in Lyoto vs. the "KO Artist" in Silva. On top of that, their both on pretty big winstreaks. That's an interesting fight. I dunno much about Luis Cane, but I do know he's facing Sokoudjou. No matter what, that'll rule. Akihiro Gono. Nuff said. And Vera/Jardine is very interesting. Jardine badly needs the win after being absolutely humbled by Silva, while Vera can't afford to lose while he's establishing himself.

UFC apparently wants to see a homicide in their ring with that match up. Unless Hardonk's somehow magically evolved a great sprawl, he is going to DIE.

I'm really looking forward to this show, which is actually somewhat rare for me when it comes to UFC. The reason is probably because they have three really intriguing fights on this show that MATTER. GSP/Fitch is for the title, Huerta/Florian gets a title shot (and I'd say both are overdue for title shots anyway), and Brock/Herring is a major fight for both men. Herring's shown the ability that he could *maybe* start rebuilding his career and become a contender again, while Brock *NEEDS* this win given his contract and the hype around him. Credibility with insider fans, going down to Herring won't hurt him...but to casuals who UFC courts? Brock would have to be rebuilt at that point.

Given how Lindland looked in his fight on the first show, compared to Vitor, I'd say Vitor knocks him flat out somewhere around round two. It's VITOR though. Who knows. The main event interests me...Josh has been touted as the "ONE GUY~!" who might be able to stop Fedor for years now, against someone who really *was* a dream fight with Fedor a few years ago in Arlovski. Their both exceptionally well rounded. If Arlovski comes in like he did against Rothwell, I'd actually pick him. If he comes in like he had been coming in, then Josh will catch him. All depends on what type of fight it is. If it's a high speed slugfest, I'd favor Arlovski due to his speed, but if Josh can keep it somewhat relatively slow paced and get the fight down he could win. That should be one fun fight though.

I don't think Netflix and Gamefly are the same company. If they are I'd be surprised. Netflix is genius in that you just pick stuff, it ships, and so on. Gamefly there was stuff I had to toggle like what systems I owned before I could even put things on my list. For whatever reason that annoyed me from the start. Three day shipping is absolutely insane. I just can't get over that. That probably means for 17 bucks a month, I'd have a six day turn over period here. If it's even here tomorrow.

I signed up for Gamefly's special deal due to not having any good video stores near me (Only one around here doesn't rent 360, Wii, or DS games)...5.95 and 400+ Microsoft Points. Sounded like a great deal. I'm already regretting it. Gamefly has yet to give me my 400 Microsoft points (They say four to six WEEKS after you sign up), and despite my first game being shipped on the 30th, I have yet to receive it. Contrast this to Netflix who gets me movies in one business day. Even three things at once. One business day. There's no logical reason why it should have taken longer then two days to get the game. They ship from California. I live in Washington State. It should not take that long unless they don't ship it with high shipping speeds. I had planned on reupping at their INSANE 17 dollar per month for one game price if I liked it...but thus far, all I'm left with is a bad taste in my mouth. As of right now, I feel...swindled almost out of that five ninety five + tax I spent.

GSP is odd for me. I respect the hell out of the guy, but I can't say I'm a fan. He's just so goddamn talented that I feel almost bad for his opponents. He also has a habit of beating people at their own games. Someone like Fedor...He'll just come up with a gameplan to beat the opponent. GSP intentionally aims his gameplan at whatever his opponent will be doing, as if he's going "Hah. I'm better then j00" as he beats them at jiu jitsu, or wrestling, or striking. I REALLY felt bad for Koscheck, despite him being a fantastic heel because GSP just fucking humiliated him in route to that decision. Poor fucker couldn't do anything. ...It comes off...kinda...mean, I guess.

Comparing the muscle mass of guys Bas was referencing (Bob Sapp in particular) with the kind that Brock Lesnar has is a bit of a stretch. Brock is naturally huge, and while it's possible he's cycling off steroids, he's nowhere near the kind of body he had in WWE, and he's still a wall of muscle. Bob Sapp was and still is, juiced to the fucking GILLS. When you've got that kind of body, of course you'll gas out. You're not supposed to be THAT big and try to fight. I find it hard to believe that Brock will gas. I said this before the Mir fight, but we didn't get to see then. The man has been in high stress and body intensive activities his entire life. He's not a Mark Coleman or Mark Kerr who got gassed up and lost their cardio as a result. And even if you discredit his Amateur history towards his cardio, the intensity of his training lends credibility to his not gassing. The man trains like that EVERY day. He's a natural athlete in the vein of a BJ Penn or GSP as well. He's not some dude that just trained really, really hard. He's gifted in the body department. If Brock Lesnar loses, I guarantee it'll be a mental mistake again or a lack of training. On paper, in every department, Brock Lesnar SHOULD be better then Heath Herring. His striking power should be greater, his wrestling better, his speed is sure of a lot higher, in theory, he should have all the advantages you could possibly have without having the same time to train. It's going to come down to Brock Lesnar's mental side, and his training. His body won't fail him, I'm 100% sure of that.

Like I said earlier in this thread. If Brock Lesnar stops Heath Herring I will be goddamn surprised. Brock winning a decision is in the realm of possibility, but Heath Herring has only been stopped by strikes once that I know of to at that time the greatest stand up fighter in MMA. If you consider a cut being "stopped", then twice. This is a tough man. I think Brock would have marched right through Coleman in less then three minutes. Coleman's old, and all his strengths Brock does better. But Herring's a different beast. I'd say Herring's a tougher test then Mir was, due to the fact that he can take a punch, or take a serious assbeating, has decent submission defense, decent scrambling abilities, and still comes at you. Brock COULD have finished Mir, but I really don't think he'll get that chance with Herring. I think it's more likely that Brock just beats the piss out of Herring all three rounds, but never can finish him. Herring wins the few stand up battles they have, but Brock comes out no worse for wear. Brock wins a dominant UD for all three rounds.

I'd like to show if Brock's worked on his submission defense at all. That was his glaring weakness that Mir exposed. Depending on how strong his chin is, he doesn't seem to have any other weaknesses. His standup was frantic and not that great technically, but his sheer power gave him a Bob Sapp-like one hit knockdown potential. If he can TAKE punches, then not many are going to want to stand with him. It's demoralizing to be winning a stand up fight, and then one punch just floors you on your ass. The thing is, I could see Brock not training in submission defense much for this fight...It would have been completely non-existant for Coleman, but the odds aren't much higher for Herring. Herring CAN submit people...He just doesn't like to. Herring would have to be I think on the verge of death before he tried a bottom knee bar or arm bar. Brock has all the potential in the world, because he's got legitimate skills, and he's got freakish strength that gave Bob Sapp advantages when he was actually *training*. I don't think there's a fighter who can beat Brock's power, and if he REALLY wanted to, he could probably hold down just about anyone for a UD...it just depends on how he's been training, and where he comes in mentally.

DREAM finished a little bit ago, so here's some thoughts. So if you haven't seen, obviously, don't read. Overall, the best show out of all the MMA events this weekend, top to bottom. Nothing really bad, and the hot crowd kept anything that might have been good. There were some really good fights, some mismatches, and a surprise or two but overall good. HD Net appears to finally be getting things down. They flew Kenny Rice and Bas to the show, which was a drastic improvement. Bas didn't fall asleep this time. That being said, the fact that they still don't show the videos is annoying, and Kenny Rice is fucking awful. Seriously awful. The constant cheerleading for anyone American is annoying too. DREAM has fighters from all over the world, you can't be so goddamn obviously biased. I'll try to go over the fights in the order they happened. Daisuke Nakamura may be my favorite fighter in MMA right now. Dude rocks the UWF-I style tights and kick pads, and has not failed to deliver in his DREAM fights. Last time, he had a good fight, and this time he SCHOOLED Andy Ologun with a flying armbar. It was beautiful. Shinya Aoki outclassed Caol Uno, but Uno held his own well. Aoki couldn't finish him despite multitude of submission attempts. Easy decision win for Aoki though. Tatsuya Kawajiri and Eddie Alvarez was GODDAMN awesome. Two really good fighters just throwing caution to the wind and throwing down. At one point, they were both on their knees throwing punches. However, that came back to bite Eddie in the ass. He KO'd Kawajiri spectacularly, but was unable to continue in the tournament. Eddie's a star now though. The Japanese loved the fight, and responded to how upset he was at not being able to fight. Joachim Hansen and Kultar Gill wasn't really anything too great...Hansen completely outclassed him in route to winning by submission. Other then being a pretty big for his weight, Black Mamba hasn't shown me anythingthat suggests he's a top guy. Joseph Benavidez looked goooood in route to smashing Junya Kudo (Or KOTA or whatever he likes being called). Credit goes to Kudo for taking the fight in like one day's notice, but he got pwned including a MUSO~!. Benavidez was good enough that it made me want to see what would have happened against Kid. But that didn't happen. I missed most of Motoki Miyazawa and Kuniyoshi Hironaka due to the stream I was watching on cutting out, but it didn't appear to be much...I do know that Hironaka beat him until he medically couldn't continue. That's always good. Hideo Tokoro and Takeshi Yamazaki was a fun fight, but one that was pretty one sided. Tokoro could have won the fight atleast a dozen times if his punches had any power. As it was, he'd rock Yamazaki but be unable to finish him. Yamazaki was game, but he didn't have any of the tools needed to win this fight. Yoshihiro Akiyama and Katsuyori Shibata was fucking awesome. Not so much for the fight, but how much Akiyama was fucking HATED, and Shibata BELOVED. Shibata didn't look bad standing, and actually nailed Akiyama a few times. However, he made a horrible mistake and got close. Akiyama slammed him and finished him from there. If this was a K-1 fight, Shibata would have been fine. But it's not, and the dumb fucker doesn't seem to be improving his ground game AT ALL. You'd think after being beaten on the ground in pretty much every fight that you'd WORK ON IT. Alistair Overeem has always baffled me. He's a gigantic man with legitimately all the tools in the world, except for mental toughness and stamina. It's hard to say if he's overcome those issues, but in his last three fights he's looked utterly dominate. Granted, he hasn't faced stellar competition (Hunt & Buentello aren't BAD though), but he's mowed through them with ease. I seriously don't think Mark Hunt trains for fighting, and really after losing easily now in both K-1 and MMA back to back, I have no idea where that man goes. The finals with Hansen filling in for a VERY badly injured Alvarez sucked...because I didn't get to see the finish. My stream died again before the finish. From what I could tell from the fight, is Aoki used his usual gameplan. Take the fight down, and go for anything that presents itself. Hansen was just able to do what no one else seems to, and broke free of Aoki's iron vise like grip to make him pay. The finish was replayed enough that I caught the gist. He just caught Aoki with a punch, and then rained down punches for the finish. Went to sleep, and finishing this up today... One thing that has to be said, is that in UFC only title matches matter. There's no clear goal to a title shot in UFC. They claim #1 contendership fights, but more often then not it doesn't happen that way. On this DREAM show, there were three fights that mattered. The two semi finals that both had a sense of urgency, and the finals. The show felt important. Which helps it's overall likability with me.

Take that shit back Curry. Never encourage Mauro.

Arlovski looked amazing. It's like he remembered who he "was" as that cliched saying is. He looked like the monster he was during his UFC Heavyweight title run. Poor Ben Rothwell...He fought his best, but goddamn. If they can't get Couture/Fedor, then they'll probably do Barnett/Fedor. Not only has that been the fight people have wanted for years, but both got spectacular wins. If Affliction wasn't paying out of the ass, they'd have come out of this event looking like a million bucks.

Fedor and Couture met. Both said they want to face each other with Fedor calling him out. They hyped it up for LATER THIS YEAR~! if Couture gets out of his contract.

If it wasn't for Anderson Silva, I'd proclaim Fedor the greatest fighter on earth. As it is, he's simply the greatest heavyweight on earth.

MotionPlus isn't going to piss off Nintendo's aim, the casual base. If anything, it'll just make them happier. I had a large group of family over for the 4th, none of which were anything that I would consider "core gamers" and to say that the Wii was a hit would be a huge disservice to how much play that thing got. Of all games, GOLF from Wii Sports was played the most. People just flocked to it for some reason. The idea of enhancing the motion controls will only make games more realistic towards the players movements, and theoretically enhance the enjoyment of the game for many people. It's a genius move to bundle that with a new Wii Sports built around using it to it's capabilities. I could very well see a new Wii Sports with ENHANCED~! motion capabilities being one of the big sellers. Say what you will about Nintendo, but they know how to market their stuff. Most games like Wii Sports will use this add-on, making it a must own, and people won't complain about the extra twenty dollars because they will be getting a "richer" experience with the Wii, while Nintendo can claim it's not MANDATORY therefore leaving it up to the individual Wii owner's discretion towards buying it or not.

The countdown show for this was really good. I may have been the only person who watched it. They put over Irvin's quest to break into the next level hard. They talked about how he's training with Muay Thai coach who is trying to pattern the style around Irvin's fighting, and how he's brought in a world champion Jiu Jitsu guy to teach him the ground, and how to use it for him specifically. The countdown made it seem like even Irvin knows his shots are astronomically low, but that he's training his ass off so that he can possibly get that one hit in and win the fight. On the other hand, they showed Silva doing more "finesse" type Muay Thai, and he outright started LAUGHING at the idea that Irvin would try to stand with him. They made Reese Andy seem like a huge threat for Brandon Vera, and showed IFL clips so that probably means UFC is/has bought them. If Andy wasn't 35, I'd be very worried for Vera, but who knows. Vera was blunt, saying that for Reese, he'll lock up in the Octagon, and that Vera himself knows that if he loses he might end up out of the UFC. Put a good spin on the fight. Jesse Taylor/CB Dollaway...Eh. Nothing new there.

Sylvia won't KO Fedor. I'm about as close to 100% sure as I can be. Most of Sylvia's more famous KO's have come from overwhelming the opponent, a freak punch (Arlovski 2 is a good example. Arlovski's momentum + Well placed punch = KO) or something out of the blue (Tellingman high kick KO for instance). That being said, Sylvia has been LOCKED with his fighting style since Arlovski 3 back over two years ago. And I don't see him changing up his gameplan to fight the man who was once considered the greatest fighter on earth. Sylvia is going to look to out point Fedor. He's going to try to hide behind his range and score when Fedor cannot. He showed no visible change in style after Couture completely exposed his style. I cannot possibly see him changing it. In Sylvia's mind, I can bet that his thoughts are that if he beats Fedor by ANY MEANS, that'll make him the #1 best heavyweight in the world. That's his thinking. Be it KO, sub, TKO, decision, it doesn't matter. He's going to win, and if it means he's going to have a shitty fight, well that's too bad. The problem is, Fedor is as smart as Randy Couture and far more dangerous standing. On the ground it could be a wash (I'd still say Fedor personally), but standing Fedor is very capable of KO's. I figure this fight will go almost exactly like the opening minute of Couture/Sylvia did. Sylvia will land a few jabs, Fedor will figure out the mental calculations, and then *WHAM* overhand right directly to the chin when Sylvia shoots in for a jab. Unlike the fight with Couture, I don't think Sylvia survives. He'll crumble, and Fedor will pounce. If I had to make a prediction, I'd say Fedor TKO Round 1. On paper, there is *nothing* that Sylvia is better then Fedor at. His size is his only advantage, and on the ground, size is a gigantic disadvantage. Big limbs allow easier submissions. If Sylvia can avoid the ground, he probably does have a chance at out-pointing Fedor, or maybe even KO, who knows. Fedor's had atomic bomb shots dropped on him, and not fallen. I dunno what Sylvia could throw that Fedor can't survive. But the possibility is always there. If the fight hits the ground, be it a takedown from Fedor or him pulling guard like he did with Choi, unless Sylvia is damn smart, he'll get pummelled or submitted. That being said, there is a HUGE X factor here. That being recent activity. Sylvia fought Nogueira earlier this year. You have to go back to December 06 to find anyone who might be in the top ten for Fedor. Fedor could be rusty. If he is, Sylvia will win. That being said, my official prediction is Fedor wins in the first round. Either TKO, or submission.

Gassing then being beaten on until the fight stops = Mauling. Either way, it doesn't matter. Gonzaga's stock has fallen drastically even within the UFC. He was in the prelims, in a fight that if he lost, he was likely going to be released. That's why the KO doesn't much matter in the grand scheme of things.

History since Mirko/Gonzaga hasn't exactly been too kind on that in terms of stature. It was huge at the time, but since then we've seen that: - Mirko is/was slumping incredibly badly. Multiple factors here, and he still probably is. We can't tell because he won't FIGHT. - Gonzaga has failed against other top ten heavyweights. Couture beat him, and Werdum pretty much mauled him. It's questionable if Gonzaga is legit or not. His win over Eilers (...or was it McCully?) looked good, but his opponent wasn't in the same ballpark skill wise. - And finally. If Gonzaga had displayed that high kick before, would Mirko have gotten caught by it? I've always wondered that one, since Mirko obviously tries to block a low/middle kick. Then whack. A what if, if you will. As far as upsets go, Serra/GSP is still the biggest. That came out of nowhere, and stature wise, it's not hurt because Serra hasn't fought anyone but GSP as of late. And even if he did, that win had a weird, comet like feeling. Like it HAPPENED, and it'll NEVER happen again. With Gonzaga, it just made you think the guy was a monster. Hasn't panned out that well.