By Showdown Joe
The anticipation for tonight’s Ultimate Fight Night and debut of The Ultimate Fighter – Heavyweights is eating me alive. Couple that with the fact that UFC 103 goes down this Saturday in Dallas, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to survive the wait.
Tonight’s Ultimate Fight Night show is going to be incredible. The main event between Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard is completely old school. Its BJJ vs Striking – it takes me back to the old days of Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Maurcie Smith and Marco Ruas. Which style and fighter will win? Will it be Diaz’s submission skills or Guillard’s vicious punching speed?
The co-main event will be a barn burner as Gray Maynard will be looking to send Roger Huerta to Hollywood with a messed up face. It will likely be Huerta’s last fight with the UFC unless he is offered a sweet deal by the UFC at the last minute. Don’t be surprised if the UFC does – they could use the poster boy to help bring their MMA product to Mexico. Huerta would be a golden child for the organization, but it’s a two way street. If Roger believes he is done with fighting…then he’s done; which may not bode well for his mental state tonight, vs Maynard.
Canadian Sam Stout is also on the card and will be taking on Phillipe Nover – I don’t like Nover’s chances in this fight. The same can be said for Tim Credeur vs Nate Quarry and Jake Ellenberger vs Carlos Condit. While anything can happen in an MMA fight, I believe Credeur and Ellenberger are in slightly over the heads.
After the Ultimate Fight Night, season ten of The Ultimate Fighter 10 makes it’s debut. The lineup for this show is incredible. Three former UFC veterans, Four former NFL players and Kevin “Kimbo” Slice Fergurson will join coaches Quintion “Rampage” Jackson and “Sugar” Rashad Evans for what will surely be an amazing season.
On numerous occasions, I’ve been asked who I believe will win the six figure contract. I’ve stayed quiet and waited to air my thoughts on “MMA Connected”, which I did earlier this week. Be sure to catch a replay of the show as it will be airing across the country – check your local listings for the times in your area or you can also check it out on Sportsnet.ca/mma this Friday.
While Jackson and Evans were supposed to duke it out after the show, it appears that fight is not gonna happen (anytime soon). With Rampage signing on to play BA Baracus, he basically stiffed the UFC for their 107 show set specifically for Rampage’s home town of Memphis, Tennessee. It appears to be an extremely strange situation, considering it was Dana White (and other members of the UFC) that rushed to Jackson’s side after his delusional episode of fasting and erratic driving after he lost the Light Heavyweight Title and had a falling out with his former manager.
On the surface, it appeared the organization helped Rampage get back to his feet, kept him busy, gave him another stint on the reality show, had a UFC Primetime series ready for him and booked a main event in his hometown. With Rampage balking at the upcoming fight with Evans in favour of his upcoming acting role, UFC President Dana White is no longer on speaking terms with “Rampage” and recently stated that only UFC majority owner Lorenzo Fertitta is speaking with the former champ ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4C5FxAYFo4&feature=player_embedded ).
So where does this leave Rashad Evans – well, some of the upper tier 205 lbs talent currently looking for opponents are Forrest Griffin, Keith Jardine and Thiago Silva. While Griffin would make for a great match up, the Jardine fight will not happen as both Rashad and Keith are training partners. That brings me to the Brazilian Mercenary, Thiago Silva – I think it would be a great fight, but it’s not at the top of my list.
If I had a say, I would match Evans with another Brazilian – one who was rumoured to be undergoing elbow surgery but has recently stated he is perfectly fine and ready to rumble. I’m talking about “The Spider” Anderson Silva.
If the UFC wants a kick ass main event (or co-main event) for an upcoming show, “Sugar” Rashad Evans vs Anderson “The Spider” Silva would be an incredible fight.
What are your thoughts?
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