Pyle of List

UFC 109 - Relentless, once again features two preliminary fights on Spike:
Lightweight: Mac Danzig vs. Justin Buchholz
Lightweight: Melvin (The Young Assassin) Guillard vs. Ronnys Torres

The main card features:

Light Heavyweight: Randy (The Natural) Couture vs. Mark (The Hammer) Coleman
Middleweight: Nate (The Great) Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen
Welterweight: Mike (Quick) Swick vs. Paulo Thiago
Middleweight: Demian (Nocturnal Emissions) Maia vs. Dan Miller
Welterweight: Matt (The Terror) Serra vs. Frank (Twinkle Toes) Trigg

Serra vs. Trigg kicks off the PPV.  Both fighters are coming off loses.  Serra lost a unanimous decision to Matt Hughes and Trigg got beaten like he stole something by Josh Koscheck in the first two minutes of their fight.  This is a classic match-up of a wrestler (Trigg) versus submission specialist (Serra).  If Trigg can emulate the way Matt Hughes controlled Serra on the ground, expect him to win a very boring decision.  But, if Serra can use his BJJ, Trigg has been susceptible being choked out via rear-naked choke.

I like scrappy Italian guys, so I’ll take Serra with submission win.  Also, Twinkle Toes is a fucking ridiculous nickname.

Next, we have a bout between two BJJ blackbelts, Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller.  Maia is looking to bounce back from being KO’d by Nate Marquardt, while Miller also want to get back to winning after suffering a decision loss to Chael Sonnen.  The majority of both fighters wins come from submissions.  I hope this fight will turn into a jiu-jitsu clinic.  I think if this goes to the ground Maia has the advantage and will force Miller to tap.

Maia by submission.  Guerra Emmisions Noturna!

At welterweight we have Mike Swick vs Paulo Thiago.  This will be Thiago’s third fight against American Kickboxing Academy’s trio of welterweight fighters (He KO’d Koscheck, then lost a decision to Jon Fitch).  Swick is the better striker, while Thiago is the better submission fighter.  However, both are well rounded.  Swick let me down when I picked him to beat Dan Hardy (He lost a unanimous decision).

So, because I am vindictive by nature, I’ll take Paulo Thiago for this one.  That’s right Mikey boy.  Suck it!

In a bout that determines who get the next shot at the Middleweight title (After Anderson Silva & Vitor Belfort mix it up) we have Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen.  I consider both men to be complete mixed martial artists.  They can strike, wrestle, and force a tap with the best of them.  I expect this to be a very technical bout.  I give the edge in the striking and submissions to Marquardt, and the edge in wrestling to Sonnen.  Chael is a grinder, having 14 of his 24 wins come by way of decision.  If he can control Marquardt on the ground I expect him to win in 3 rounds.  But Nate has won his last 3 fights by KO in convincing fashion.  And in interviews Sonnen comes of as a bit of a prick.

Therefore, I’m going to take Nate The Great by KO.

In the main event - it’s the UFC senior tour!  46 year old Randy Couture will be facing 45 year old Mark Coleman.  This fight would have been the shit … 12 years ago.  Both men are former champions.  Both men are UFC Hall of Famers.  Both men are decorated wrestlers who employ ground & pound.  As is the case when two high level wrestlers square off, it can turn into a kickboxing match.  Randy clearly has the edge in the striking department.  Coleman has shown he still has a great double leg takedown though.  Couture’s game plan is to keep the fight on the feet, win in the clinch and use his dirty boxing skills.  Coleman wants to take Randy down and try to pound him out.  If he can keep him there is another story.

The best description of what this fight might look like comes from Don Frye, winner of UFC 10 (and owner of a world class ’stache) “It’s going to be like sex with a grizzly bear, you know, a lot of scratching and growling on both sides.”

Having said that, I’m going to take Couture to win by decision.

“I could have knocked him out in the third round but I wanted to do it slowly, so he would remember this night for a long time.”