You think Tim Sylvia is going to out-strike Fedor? Really? Because I see the stand up in that fight going completely the other way. Fedor is far too quick for Tim standing up. He's probably the quickest fighter in the HW division. Remember what Arlovski did to Tim in the first and second fights (before he became completely tentative in the third fight)? He put Sylvia on his ass. I think you are underrating Fedor's stand-up. Maybe he's not the second best striker in all of MMA, but his hands are excellent. This is a guy who, when Cro Cop was considered the most fearsome striker on the planet, got in his face and walked him down en route to winning the stand up in that fight.

I'm not saying that Fedor knocks Timmy out, but I do think his standup is significantly better. Fedor's the best gameplanner in all of MMA, so I don't think he'll keep this fight on the feet, but if he did I still thinks he wins this fight with ease.

Dude, seriously, paragraphs and line breaks. Learn to use them. No one can read your posts if you don't.

Am I the only one in the world who thinks Tim Silvia is a nearly-worthless ball of goop?

I think it's a smart move for Fedor to fight Timmy first. 

He fights a guy who is former UFC champ, who is not well liked.  If Fedor went straight for Captain America, it would be bad publicity for him in the eyes of the casual mma fan in the US.

Fedor really gains nothing by beating up Couture.  If he loses, he was overrated, if he wins, he beat up a fan favorite who is passed his prime.  The Randy fans will continue to believe that if the fight had taken place 5 or 6 years ago, that Couture would own Fedor.

I don't see Fedor as unbeatable.  If you had a guy with Crocop's striking and Randy's wrestling ability....or maybe it'll be a Buster Douglas that dethrones him?  Anything can happen in mma.

Simply because Randy is in contractual limbo with Zuffa. I'm sure Affliction or another promoter would have jumped all over the Randy/Fedor match up if the opportunity had been there.

also, for colonel, whatever dude you get my point.

yeah i agree, doing the tourny like that is a bit crappy. it would be nice to see them fight in top condition. i don't know why people are going so ape-shit over this tournament. it's nice to see some new fights, but it's true none of these guys are the best of the best or anything. the affliction card looks alot better from what i've heard. it also seems that the ufc in london is getting crappier. it was gonna be great but when the fighters started dropping out they added alot of "meh" type fights.

I know Schultz dropped Yarbrough twice in round 1, but Yarbrough ended the round by dominating Schultz. Round 2 was total domination. Theoretically Schultz won round 1, but man...after round 2, I can see why they just gave the decision to Yarbrough. Once Schultz was on his back, he just covered up and ate elbows. I'm kind of surprised Mazzagatti didn't stop the fight because Schultz was covered up and not fighting back in round 2. I'm just happy to see that idiot lose a fight. He fights terribly - he has no punching ability in his left hand and his kicks looked flimsy. He already lost once, so he doesn't even deserve to be on the show.

I'd kind of like to see Schultz fight Gerald (even though they're both on Team Rampage), just to see Gerald drop Schultz on his head 8 or 9 times. Speaking of Gerald, he doesn't really seem to get the point of slams. He never seemed to follow up his slams with GnP, he'd just go for another slam. If he'd slammed Amir and gone straight to his head with forearms and elbows, it might have been a short fight. Instead he gassed himself lifting Amir then ate a knee. If he can sort his strategy out, Gerald might actually be a pretty decent fighter (with a little more experience).

Two days until UFC 84, time for predictions:


Looks like a pretty solid card to me, with 4 fights that I am looking forward to.

BJ Penn vs Sean Sherk  -  I'm hoping to see Penn submit Sherk by round 3, otherwise Sherk wins by decision.

Wanderlei Silva vs Keith Jardine  -  It's time for Wandy to step it up to a new level and I see him winning by 2nd round TKO.

Tito Ortiz vs Lyoto Machida  -  Styles make fights, and in this case I see Tito taking Machida down and grinding out a decision.

Soukoudjou  vs  Nakamura  -  Nakamura's win/loss record isn't anything special, but he's got a lot of big name fights under his belt.  Submission win in round 2.

Sa9jev.  What did Dana White say/do this time to elicit your comment? 

Absolutely loaded UFC card tonight. Top to bottom this is stacked full of meaningful and competitive fights, with a super main event to top it off. Sherk/Penn is a fight I've been anticipating for about a year now (since Sherk's win over Franca at UFC 73), and I'm excited that it's finally coming off. An MMA fan can't ask for much more than this. It's a shame I won't be able to catch it live, so I'll have to check out a replay tomorrow and hopefully avoid spoilers, which is much harder to do now than it was a few years ago.

Anyways, fight picks:

Sokoudjou over Kazuhiro Nakamura. TKO 1. While Sok was outclassed by Machida in his last fight, I think he has all the tools to handle the cagey Nakamura. Sokoudjou didn't react well to somebody who could evade his striking and was quicker than he was, but I don't think Nakamura brings the same skill set as Machida. I see Sokoudjou connecting with something big in the first round and pounding out Nakamura.

Thiago Silva over Antonio Mendes. TKO 1. I wont pretend to know anything about Mendes, but his record is unimpressive and I've heard he should be fairly outclassed. It's too bad Rashad got bumped from this fight, because that would have been yet another marquee match up. Silva early.

Lyoto Machida over Tito Ortiz. DEC 3. I think Machida is going to be too quick on the feet for Ortiz to get a hold of. We haven't seen a great deal of Machida's takedown defense, but reports from his camp have said it's excellent. I think Tito's past his prime, and Machida picks him apart standing up en route to a wide decision, although he'll face some adversity in this fight.

Wanderlei Silva over Keith Jardine. TKO 2. More of a gut feeling call than anything else. This is a very evenly matched fight, and Jardine's length and leg kicks could cause Wandy all sorts of problems. Both of these guys train with top notch camps, and both should be ready for a battle. This should be an awesome fight, but I look for Silva's clinch game to be the difference maker.

BJ Penn over Sean Sherk. SUB 3. An outstanding fight, maybe the best possible match in all of MMA outside of a Randy/Fedor fight. BJ Penn's top control is the best in the game and will win him this fight. You simply can't replicate the kind of pressure Penn is able to impose while training to fight him, and that's what makes him so dangerous. Very few fighters in any weight class have a skill that is so above and beyond everybody else's rendering it almost impossible to fully prepare for. I also believe his wrestling is good enough to stay off his back long enough to punish Sherk on the feet and eventually get him to the ground. Sherk has only ever lost to top-shelf fighters, but BJ is definitely of that calibre. On the flip side, Sherk's style is tailor made to give Penn all kinds of problems. I expect fireworks, and for Penn to ascend to the throne as the #1 155er in MMA.