UFC 123 - Machida/Rampage

[Luke]

With Gabe Ruediger out, Paul Kelly vs. T.J. O'Brien official for UFC 123

http://bit.ly/9i7zak

[Ludo]

Ruediger is a bum anyway.

[SPX]

Ruediger is a bum anyway.

After the absolute ass whipping he received at the hands of Creepy Joe, I really got the feeling he wouldn't be in the UFC much longer. I imagine he'll get one more fight and be on his way to smaller and lesser things.

[Ludo]

More like on his way back to begging BJ Penn to drag him into a sauna again because his diet is shit.

[edman5555]

Gabe isn't ufc level.

[edman5555]

Bump. I'm reading about Edson Mendes. He seems pretty badass. Very good muai thai fighter, started training BJJ when he was a while ago. This article below really talks him up.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/20759/fight-p ... junior.mma


Here is another article.

http://prommanow.com/index.php/2010/09/ ... exclusive/

Some ADCC champ says he thinks he is very good.


I just found this site. It looks pretty cool. It says Barb was also the sub wrestling champ in his home state. I don't know how good that is though.

http://www.mmaranked.com/prospects_figh ... arboza.php

[edman5555]

Bets I am looking at.

Mark Munoz, this is a good bet.

Machida by Dec.

Tyson Griffin

Edson Mendes.

BJ PENN

[edman5555]

Edson Mendes opponent is def not a wrestler. Edson is a badass muai thai fighter.

http://barlifemag.com/2010/06/mma-tuff-mike-lullo/


This is an interview with Mke Lullo.

This is a quote from him:I am not a grappler. I want to stand up with people. I am a striker. My jiu jitsu is good and my grappling is good, but my striking is what I want to do. A lot of guys don’t want to stand and bang so they bring the fight to the ground. I am not trying to do that, I want to knock each of them out.

This dude is going to get killed by Edson. Edson has 28 pro muai thai fights with 25 ko's( this is what I read).

UFC 123 is going to be like ufc 117 for me. BIG BUCKS.

[poopoo333]

Edman, why are you confident in Munoz?

[edman5555]

Because Aaron Simpson does not have very good standup as far as I can tell. Chris Leben destroyed him standing. It was like Brock when he ran across the ring. That bad. Also, Tom Lawlor did a number on Simpson standing. He almost had him knocked out, then Simpson rallied and outwrestled him for the decision. I have only seen 2 fights of his but in those two fights he has been beaten badly standing and won via wrestling.

He won't be outwrestling Munoz very easily. Munoz also has decent hands and a lot of power. This should be a win for Munoz. Munoz has knocked out a couple people and he even caught Okami with a few good punches. I think his standup is better than Aaron Simpsons and this will be a standup fight.

Hopefully after his last outing with Okami he will have learned some lessons. He was doing well against Okami standing and Okami has pretty good standup. (I do remember Munoz getting dropped by him though)

[SPX]

I can see why Munoz is favored, but at the current line it's Simpson or nothing, for me.

Wrestling will probably cancel, if not possibly a small edge to Simpson. And Simpson has not overwhelmed me with his striking ability, but Munoz--while obviously packing some power--is no K-1 kickboxer, either.

I'll probably be playing half a unit on Simpson and see how it goes. I think there are too many variables to be taking either guy at -170.

[edman5555]

Has Simpson tagged anyone standing? What makes you think Simpson is better than Munoz? Munoz was a champ.

[Ludo]

Simpson is a two time all american who had 110 wins at Arizona State. Wrestling's pretty even.

[edman5555]

Even but I don't see an advantage for anyone in wrestling. I do see an advantage for Munoz in the standup.

[SPX]

Has Simpson tagged anyone standing? What makes you think Simpson is better than Munoz? Munoz was a champ.

Munoz was champ of what? Are you referring to wrestling? All I can say on that is that when it comes to wrestling-for-MMA Simpson seems to be just as good. I mean, Munoz was getting outgrappled by Kendall Grove. If Grove can do it, Simpson can definitely do it.

Standing, like I said, Simpson isn't the greatest. He definitely has big time defense problems. But he did well enough on the feet against Ed Herman, and you also have to remember that Tom Lawlor has looked pretty beastly for as long as his cardio will hold up and that Leben has sledgehammers for fists.

Munoz may very well win this one, but I'm definitely not risking almost 2 for 1 on him to find out.

[edman5555]

Yeah Munoz was a D1 champ if i remember correctly. I'm not sure he was outgrappled by Grove..maybe he used bjj techniques. I doubt Grove out(Wrestled) him.

I didn't see the ed herman fight. I don't know much about Ed Herman. Munoz has power and decent technique. Has Simpson knocked anyone out without using ground and pound?

[Svino]

You can see the Munoz / Grove fight here:

http://www.wat.tv/video/kendall-grove-c ... l8y5_.html

Munoz was having a pretty hard time taking Grove down, and Grove had some dangerous sub attempts on him when the fight did get to the ground. My read on Munoz as an MMA wrestler is that the only thing he does really well is get back to his feet. He is a hard guy to hold down, but his takedowns, takedown defense, and top control seem to be lacking.

Simpson isn't that dominant an MMA wrestler himself though; I'd have to watch more video of him to refresh my memory.

[edman5555]

It seems like Munoz was really going for broke in that fight. Maybe in a wrestler vs wrestler fight he will be more controlled. His shots have always been telegraphed, I don't seem him really taking down Simpson very much.

Simpson had a difficult time taking down Leben in their fights also. So maybe they both suck at offensive wrestling( for wrestlers).

Either way at negative money maybe SPX is right and I shouldn't bet.

[SPX]

I went ahead and jumped on Simpson for half a unit. I would honestly not be surprised to see either guy win this one, so for me, that means go with the dog.

[SPX]

Went ahead and pulled the trigger on George: 2.5u to win 1.1u.

He manhandled Stevenson and won two clear rounds against Pellegrino.

Lauzon looked excellent against Ruediger, but struggled in the wrestling against even against Stout and got chewed up on the feet. I know the Stout fight was his first after an injury layoff, but I still don't take the Ruediger win to mean that he's a monster now. Just means he looks great against lesser comp.