The best MMA card in a long time comes next weekend with the much anticipated tilt between Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn at UFC 94. Before we get to that one though, we have the second offering from Affliction this evening. Like the first time, this is a heavyweight friendly card, and it features perhaps the biggest name and most feared fighter in MMA – Fedor Emelianenko. Here’s a quick look at the two biggest fights on the card:
We are, of course, still in the midst of the holiday season. Nothing says holiday more than mostly naked men beating the hell out of each other, so it is a perfect time to have another UFC event. UFC 92 is no normal event. either. Some of the recent events have been decidedly short of interesting high profile matchups, but this event has three different matches that could each qualify as a main event. Here’s a quick look at each, along with my attempt to find the value:
Time for a quick break from football to look at grown men beating the heck out of each other. Tomorrow is the third edition of EliteXC’s network television run on CBS. It’s also the second time on CBS that we get to/have to watch Kimbo Slice fight. He has had three fights so far. In two of them he was ridiculously dominant, and in the third he was mostly dominant but it took him longer to get the win and he showed that he ddn’t have anything approaching stamina. This time around he is fighting one of the all-time legends of MMA – Ken Shamrock. Shamrock was the first heavyweight champion in the UFC, and he’s had some all-time great houses. Unfortunately, the 44 year old Shamrock has seen better days. He’s till one of the scarier men on the planet, but he has lost his last five fights, and seven of his last nine.
Two things are catching my eye as I glance at the sports news today:
The Olympics are now only three days away. I will be writing extensively about how to get some action down on them as they go on. For now, though, the biggest story is obviously the basketball – the Redeem Team. My position on them is this – I think that they are going to win the gold medal, but they are ridiculously undervalued to do so, so I won’t be betting on them. Proof of the difficulties came in full force last night. They played an exhibition game against Australia. The Aussies rested Andrew Bogut, so it should have been an absolute and utter cake walk for the Americans. It wasn’t. They ultimately won by 11, but en route they encountered way more troubles than they should have. The Aussies were close well into the third quarter, and they were able to shake Kobe Bryant and knock him off his game. I’m not saying for a second that this shows that the Americans are going to lose. It doesn’t. What it does show, though, is that international basketball is tough, and anything could happen. This will not be the walk in the park for the Americans that the odds and much of the media suggests it will be.
It struck me today that I hadn’t heard much about Jacoby Ellsbury recently. It wouldn’t be surprising that a typical rookie wasn’t making much news, but Ellsbury emerged in such a high profile way last year, and he started off so well, that the absence of news was remarkable. I took a quick look to see what I had missed. It hasn’t been pretty. His average isn’t terrible, with an average of .262. He’s just fallen off a cliff recently. His strikeouts have jumped, his walks have plummeted. He has no home runs in 28 days, one in 48 days, and he has just five home runs in 35 games. He’s leading the league in stolen bases, but the rest of his game is pretty terrible right now. I don’t really have a point other than to say that breaking into this league isn’t always as easy as it might seem.
As much as we might wish otherwise, Donald Trump won’t go away. The USFL, the WWE, and a few golf courses weren’t enough involvement in the sports world for him. Now he’s involved with MMA. He’s a financial and promotional partner with Affliction, a clothing company that fancies itself a fight promoter. The first major Affliction event, called Banned, takes place tonight in Anaheim. In typical Trump style the Baned card is big and impressive. Fedor Emelianenko is widely seen as the best heavyweight, and perhaps the best pound-for-pound fighter, in the world. The UFC has tried to land him for years, but they have failed. He’s headlining the Affliction card. Here’s a look at the card for tonight, with odds from Bodog.
Fedor Emelianenko (-350) vs. Tim Sylvia (+275) – Fedor was a menace in PRIDE, but he was done there at the end of 2006, and he has done little since. He has fought just twice, and neither match was even remotely a challenge. His first opponent was a seven foot giant without any skills to match his size, and his second was an undersized middleweight. He needs to prove that he is still as good as his legend, and Sylvia is a good opponent to do so. Sylvia is a two time UFC champ. His last fight in February was for the UFC title, but he lost to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He’s not the best fighter out there, but he is a legitimate talent. Sylvia is a good striker, and he is hard to take down. Fedor is much better inside, and the fight is probably over if it gets to the ground, Sylvia could surprise, but Fedor seriously needs this win, so I expect him to be hungry and get the job done. Fedor by a submission.
It seems like there is a UFC card every weekend these days. This weekend is no exception, as UFC 86 comes to us live via pay-per-view from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. This is definitely a card for the avid fans and not the casual ones. Several of the fights have the potential to be very interesting, but none have the wide, exciting appeal of recent main events. The main event here has the look of a bit of a mismatch, and the two fighters like each other too much for it to be truly riveting. There are a few intriguing betting possibilities on the card, though. Here’s a quick look, with odds from 5Dimes.
The time slot on CBS that was once reserved for Mary Tyler Moore will be filled by mixed martial arts. Some people are viewing the prime time debut of EliteXC as the first sign of the apocalypse. I just look at it as another potential betting opportunity. Here’s a quick look at what is on tap for tonight (I know I am on three favorites in three matches, but there’s no avoiding it):
Tonight fans of the Mixed Martial Arts scene are being treated to a free show on Spike TV. The UFC is calling this “The Final Chapter�. In their third and final fight Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz will square off.
In their first bout in November of 2002, Ortiz stopped Shamrock after the third round. A rematch at UFC 61 in July saw Ortiz halt ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ again, but the stoppage by referee Herb Dean was seen as premature by many fans, leading to Tuesday’s third bout, which will be aired live on Spike TV beginning at 8pm.
You are currently browsing the archives for the MMA Handicapping category.