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UFC 101-Declaration-Previews and Predictions Part 6

155 lbs-Lightweight Championship: BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian
This is a match up that fight fans have been salivating over for years. While this was already a match up of two of the most well rounded fighters in the UFC, it has become more interesting due to the trash talk that has been going back and forth between these two as well as the fact that Florian has been training with the last man to defeat Penn, in George St. Pierre.

BJ Penn is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. He has also held the UFC Welterweight Championship as well as being the first non-Brazilian to win the black belt division of the World Jiu-Jitsu Champion after only 3 years of training. He is known throughout MMA as being one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world. Besides being a black belt in BJJ, he is also known for his phenomenal boxing and his superior takedown defense. He has a professional record of 13-5 with wins over Din Thomas, Din Thomas, Matt Serra, Takanori Gomi, Matt Hughes, Duane "Bang" Ludwig, Renzo Gracie, Rodrigo Gracie, Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson and Sean Sherk. He has losses to Jens Pulver, Matt Hughes, Lyoto Machida and Georges St Pierre(twice). 5 of his wins have come by KO and 5 by submission with 3 coming via decision. 2 of his losses have been by KO and he has never been submitted. He also has one draw to Caol Uno. In Penn's last fight, he was completely dismantled by GSP. He appealed the fight to no avail due to the fact that one of GSP's corner men greased him during the fight. He will be looking to rebound from his last defeat and return to the Lightweight division for the first time in 15 months.

Kenny Florian was the runner-up for the Middleweight Ultimate Fighter 1 Championship in which he was dominated by Diego Sanchez. He has a career record of 11-3. He is known for being the type of fighter who stops fights! 10 of his 11 victories have come via stoppage, 7 by submission and 3 by KO with only 1 going to a decision. In his 3 losses, he has been KO'd once and lost 2 decisions. He has wins over Kit Cope, Sam Stout, Din Thomas, Joe Lauzon, Roger Huerta and Joe Stevenson. His losses have come to Drew Fickett, Diego Sanchez and Sean Sherk. He is currently on a 6 fight winning streak and will look to improve upon that by defeating Penn to capture the Lightweight Championship tonight at UFC 101. Florian is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai fighter who is incredibly well rounded and will no doubt be looking for the stoppage in this one. This will undeniably be his toughest fight and one he has wanted for quite some time.

Prediction: Penn is a master on the ground as well as on the feet. However, Florian does not appear to be far behind. Florian has made tremendous strides to improve each and every time he steps into the octagon. His progress in the sport is impressive and I'm sure this fight will show that once again. I believe this fight will come down to cardio and that has always been a concern of BJ Penn's. We have seen him gas several times in his UFC career. If Florian can withstand the early barrage from Penn and take this fight into the championship rounds he will come out on top. If not it will be a short night for Florian. However, I am once again going with the upset. I pick Kenny Florian by decision.

I know that this is the 2nd fight in a row in which I have picked the underdogs. These are both incredibly difficult fights to predict and I went with where I feel the greatest weaknesses are which in this case are Silva's lack of size and Penn's lack of cardio. I'm off to watch the fights. Here's hoping for an incredible night of fights!

UFC 101-Declaration: Predictions and Previews Part 5

205 lbs: Forrest Griffin vs Anderson Silva
In my opinion, this fight has the potential to be the fight of the year. We are seeing the current Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva step up in weight once again, to face fan favorite and former Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin. Many fans believe that Anderson Silva is a huge favorite to win but he has seemed to lose some steam in his last two fights. Forrest Griffin on the other hand, is coming off of a TKO loss in his first title defense against Rashad Evans. We will see who has the heart of a champion in this fight.

Forrest Griffin is best known as being the lovable, laughable, self-proclaimed dork who ended up winning the original Ultimate Fighter. His fight with Stephan Bonnar during the finale of TUF 1 is regarded as the single, most important moment in the history of MMA and the UFC. He is a Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist who trains with Extreme Couture. He has a professional record of 16-5, with wins over Jeff Monson, Chael Sonnen, Stephan Bonnar(twice), Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Quentin "Rampage" Jackson. His only losses have come to Dan "The Beast" Severn, Jeremy Horn, Tito Ortiz, Keith Jardine, and Rashad Evans. Of his 16 wins, 3 have come by KO, 7 by submission and 6 by decision. Out of his 5 losses, 3 have been by KO and 2 by decision. He has never been submitted. When you take a look at his losses, he lost to Dan Severn who is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, in what was his first professional fight. He went on to win his next 8 fights before being defeated by Jeremy Horn via TKO. He won one more fight before joining the cast of The Ultimate Fighter. On the show, he defeated Stephan Bonnar to win the show. He then went on to win fights against Bill Mahood and Elvis Sinosic before being derailed by a controversial split decision loss to Tito Ortiz.(Most fans and mma experts feel Griffin won that fight) He then defeated Stephan Bonnar once again. In his next fight, Griffin was caught and defeated via TKO by Keith Jardine. He would then go on to win his next 3 fights against Hector Ramirez, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Rampage Jackson before losing his title at the hands of Rashad Evans by way of TKO. This will be his first fight since his knockout loss and you better believe Griffin is looking to redeem himself.

Anderson Silva is a very well-rounded fighter. He is the current UFC Middleweight Champion, as well as holding the records for most consecutive UFC wins with 9 and is tied for most consecutive UFC title defenses with 5. He is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Tae Kwon Do and Judo. He is a great all-around fighter but is most well known for his vicious striking. He has a professional record of 24-4 with wins over Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, Roan Carneiro, Carlos Newton, Jeremy Horn, Lee Murray, Jorge Rivera, Chris Leben, Rich Franklin(twice), Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson among others. His losses have come to Luiz Azeredo in his first professional fight, Daiju Takase in a fight he was dominating but got caught in a triangle choke, Ryo Chonan who caught him with a flying heel hook submission and Yushin Okama via DQ due to illegal kick to the head of a downed opponent. Silva is dangerous in all aspects of the fight game. He is widely regarded as one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world. However, his two most recent fights have been very disappointing to say the least. After his last fight, Dana White said that he was "embarrassed" by Silva's performance. Silva will no doubt, be looking to prove the nay-sayers wrong. He has also challenged Roy Jones Jr to a boxing match when his UFC contract is up. There will be added fuel to Silva's fire due to the fact that Jones Jr will be ringside to watch the fight. Silva has stepped up in weight once before to defeat James Irvin via KO but make no mistake about it, Forrest Griffin is no James Irvin.

Prediction: Anderson Silva is the more well rounded fighter and probably the more dangerous fighter. However, I have learned to NEVER doubt the heart of Forrest Griffin. If Silva fights the way he has in his last two fights, Griffin will dominate the fight. If Silva returns to form and attacks like he did against Franklin and Leben it could be a short night for Griffin. In the end, I have to go with the upset and pick Forrest Griffin to win via decision. Griffin is a huge Light Heavyweight and at the weigh-ins yesterday appeared much bigger than Silva who looked as if he had literally just gained fat to take the fight. This could have an immense impact on his cardio and as we have seen time and time again Griffin is a cardio machine. Griffin wins

UFC 101-Declaration: Predictions and Previews Part 4

170 lbs-Amir Sadollah vs Johny Hendricks
This fight marks the long awaited return of Amir Sadollah. After winning The Ultimate Fighter 7: Griffin vs Jackson, he was sidle lined by an infection. Johny Hendricks is a former WEC fighter who will be making his octagon debut.

Amir Sadollah tried out for The Ultimate Fighter without having any professional mma experience. However, the lack of experience did not keep Dana White from choosing him to be on the show. This proved to be a move that Dana White would not regret. Amir made it onto the show by defeating Steve Byrnes by submission. He then went on Gerald Harris(TKO), Matt Brown(submission-triangle choke), and CB Dolloway(submission-arm bar). He then went on to fight CB Dolloway again at the Finale. He once again defeated him via arm bar. Since his stint on the Ultimate Fighter, Amir has not had much luck even stepping foot into the octagon. This will be his first fight since June 21st, 2008. He is a Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Sambo fighter who is currently training at Extreme Couture. We will finally get to see Amir step back into the octagon, as well as how much of a factor the time off will be.

Johny Hendricks is a wrestler with a spotless record of 5-0. 4 of those five wins have come by stoppage(3 KO's, 1 submission). His lone decision win was his most recent fight. Hendricks battled Alex Serdyukov to pick up a unanimous decision victory and win fight of the night honors at WEC 39. As a wrestler, Hendricks was a 4 time All American at Oklahoma State. He was also a three time Big 12 Conference Champion. He is a decorated wrestler and will be a tough test for Sadollah in his return to the octagon.

Prediction: Sadollah has defeated skilled wrestlers in Gerald Harris and CB Dolloway(twice). Although in the Dolloway fights he was in trouble before setting up slick submissions in both fights. Hendricks will look to take this fight to the ground and pound out a victory. Sadollah has the edge on his feet and has a very good ground game as we have seen in his past fights. I predict Sadollah will win via submission.

UFC 101-Declaration Previews and Predictions Part 3

185 lbs-Ricardo Almeida vs Kendall Grove
Ricardo Almeida is a 3rd degree black belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Along with BJJ, he is also an accomplished wrestler and boxer. Along with this feat, he has many other accomplishments in the sport, including being a former Middleweight King of Pancrase. He has a professional record of 10-3, with 4 wins coming by submission and the rest via decision. He has notable wins over Eugene Jackson, Kazuo Misaki, Ryo Chonan, Matt Horwich and Nate Marquardt.

Kendall Grove was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 3:Ortiz vs Shamrock. On the show he had wins over Ross Pointon, Kalib Starnes and Ed Herman. In his next fight, he defeated Chris Price via submission due to strikes. He went on to defeat Alan Belcher by KO in his next fight. Grove then lost two consecutive fights. He was the victim of brutal knockouts at the hands of Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera. He has since then rallied to defeat the late Evan Tanner and Jason Day. His professional record is 10-5 with 2 KO's and 6 submissions. All 5 of his losses have come via stoppage. He has been knocked out by Joe Riggs and Hector Ramirez as well as Cote and Rivera who were mentioned above. His only other loss came by submission to Savant Young. He is a very well-rounded Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai fighter who has trained with Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture. He is currently training in Hawaii with BJ Penn.

Prediction: This is a very difficult fight to call but I would give the edge to Grove. He has good take down defense and a good ground game. Almeida is not much of a striker and most of his wins have come via decision. Grove has only had a fight go to a decision twice and he has won both of those fights. I predict that Grove uses his reach advantage to pick Almeida apart and eventually wins via decision.

Dana White Bashes Strikeforce!

As predicted, Dana White has verbally lashed out at Strikeforce over their recent acquisition of Fedor Emelianenko. Although, White previously claimed that Strikeforce was running their business properly and that he had nothing but respect for them, that has all changed since they recruited Fedor to sign with their promotion. Dana White recently had this to say when asked about the signing:

"They have no money, no fighters. They're a small town show. Cung Le hasn't defended his title since like 1997. Josh Thomson hasn't defended his belt in like two years. Who's their other champion? Alistair Overeem? He hasn't defended the belt in like two years. It's Strike-Farce. It's a little regional show with no one in it...[Fedor Emelianenko will] put them out of business. They have no money and no distribution. You know how many people watch their fights? Their last fight [on Showtime cable], 245,000 people watched that fight. That's nothing...I offered him a great deal. I guarantee you the Strikeforce deal wasn't in the same universe with ours, it wasn't close. They probably didn't even pay him as much as Affliction was."

While many may call White a hypocrite due to his recent comments about Strikeforce, I actually applaud him for this statement. White is doing what he does best. He is promoting his organization while downplaying the competition. In doing so, many of the UFC's faithful followers may not tune in to watch Strikeforce. White is performing his job to the best of his ability and in doing so has laid down the gauntlet against Strikeforce MMA. Is this just a matter of sour grapes, or is he right as he has been in the past? Nobody can answer that question at the moment, but if he does turn out to be right, it will be another case of Dana White's superiority over the rest of the fight game.

Rashard Lewis Tests Positive!

It was announced today that Rashard Lewis tested positive for a raised level of testosterone and will be suspended 10 days by the NBA. Lewis responded with what seemed to be a sincere apology and took responsibility for his actions. He claimed that he simply took a supplement but did not know what was in it. What turned out to be in it was DHEA. DHEA is the prevalent steroid in the human body. It raises testosterone levels very minimally. Lewis had the drug in his system but it seems to be a simple case of ignorance as opposed to deception. His reaction to the suspension appears to be heartfelt and he is handling it very appropriately. He will miss the first 10 games of the regular season.