Weekend Fun

Its been a long week for everyone I'm sure. I am working like 40 hours a week for the first time in my life....and let me tell you, its every bit as advertised. A few of us sportsbloggers are UFC fans and as usual, I'll give a preview of this weekend's main sporting event.

UFC 73: STACKED-This UFC event is one of the most....uh, stacked, I've seen in quite some time. The fights are as follows; [bold indicates title match]

• Jorge Gurgel vs. Diego Saraiva
  
• Chris Lytle vs. Jason Gilliam
  
• Mark Bocek vs. Frank Edgar
  
• Stephan Bonnar vs. Mike Nickels
  
• Nate Marquardt vs. Anderson Silva (middleweight)
  
• Hermes Franca vs. Sean Sherk (lightweight)
  
• Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
  
• Kenny Florian vs. Alvin Robinson
  
• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Heath Herring
  

The fight most people are looking forward to is Ortiz-Evans. This particular fight can and will define the future of Tito Ortiz. He will either slip into the memories of UFC fans or become an immediate force to be reckoned with in the light heavyweight division with the likes of Rampage, Chuck Liddell, Dan Hernderson, and the future arrival of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Evans is the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 and brings some serious athleticism to the table, along with some great wrestling from his days at Michigan State. And everyone is familiar with Tito's mean ground game. There is a little bit of bad blood between these fighters, most notably from a scuffle at UFC 69 and some priceless quotes.
Here are a few of them.....

"Rashad Evans!!! He will be my Nappy Headed Ho. On 7-7-07…Let The Punishment Begin!!!"

"I think [Ortiz] is not from Mexico. I think [he] might be from Puerto Rico or Cuba or somewhere where some people with some African descent were there. “I think he’s frontin’ about being Mexican. That’s what I think."

Love him or hate him, Tito draws an audience. And you can argue all you want, but he helped the sport grow to where it is today. Evans' athleticism will cause many problems for Ortiz, but Ortiz possesses no game when on his back and might be in trouble if put there by Evans. However, my guess is Ortiz comes back with a vengeance after getting TKO'd by Liddell in December. I predict Ortiz by stoppage in the 2nd via ground and pound. The lightweight match between Sherk and Franca should be damn good. Sherk has some ferocious takedowns and ground game, but Franca could limit that with some good sprawling and some dangerous knees as Sherk goes for takedowns. Should be a good fight, and I predict Sherk by decision. The 2nd title match of the night features Muay Thai warrior Anderson Silva against wrestler Nate Marquardt. In this five round match, look for Silva to throw some deadly strikes from distance and keep this fight standing. And not to mention the vicious knees that Silva has. It's not a matter of if, but when, Marquardt takes this fight to the ground. And when that happens, look for a fundamentally sound ground fighter to punish Silva with head shots or a possible submission over the course of five rounds. In other words, this is an upset alert. For predictions and pre-match analysis on the rest of the matches, see here [ufcjunkie.com] So enjoy the fights this weekend along with some great drinking, eating, or whatever it is you do. Have a good weekend everyone.