Big updates for UFC 74, which is set to take place on August 25, 2007. PRIDE veteran Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio (14-4-0) is going to make his UFC debut against UFC veteran Clay Guida (21-8-0)in a lightweight clash. Also, on the card, heavyweight Frank Mir (9-3) is looking to make his return to the Octagon against Antoni Hardonk (5-3).
UFC.com's Thomas Gerbasi made the official announcement Tuesday evening for the debut of PRIDE's Marcus Aurelio.
Marcus Aurelio is a Brazilian fighter, int the lightweight division and trains with American Top Team. Aurelio's main arsenal is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Aurelio most notable win was against PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi, whom he defeated via arm triangle in a non title fight. Aurelio lost in a remtach six months later by split decision.
Aurelio signed a four-fight deal with the UFC last month.
Guida on the other hand, made his UFC debut at UFC 64 against Justin James, winning be submission. Guida most recently fell to Din Thomas and Tyson Griffin.
The Mir-Hardonk addition to UFC 74 was confirmed earlier today by UFC.com.
Frank Mir is a former UFC heavyweight champion, who's coming off a recent shoulder injury. Mir's shoulder injury was caused by a brutal motorcycle accident three months after he won his UFC heavyweight title in 2004.
Mir has looked less than impressive in his most recent UFC fights and even admitted that he didn't even both to diet for the fights, coming in visibly heavier than usual.
Mir's most recent fight in the UFC was at UFC 65: Bad Intentions where he lost to Brandon Vera by TKO (strikes).
Antoni Hardonk, Mir's opponent for UFC 74, is a dutch fighter who fights out of Vos Gym. Hardonk is 1-1 in the UFc Octagon, winning his first against Sherman Pendergarst by KO and losing his second to Team Punishment's Justin McCully by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 9.
UFc 74: Respect is shaping up pretty nicely. The event is schedule to take place August 25, 2007 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The updated card is the following:
Champion Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck
Patrick Cote vs. Kendall Grove
Joe Stevenson vs. Kurt Pellegrino
David Heath vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
Alberto Crane vs. Roger Huerta
Antoni Hardonk vs. Frank Mir
Marcus Aurelio vs. Clay Guida
Ryan Jensen vs. Travis Lutter
Not too bad if you ask me. This card has the potential to be LEGENDARY.
The Lianger
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
UFC 74 Updates: Aurelio-Guida, Mir-Hardonk
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Whippin' Up Predictions for UFC72
UFC is invading Belfast, Northern Ireland this weekend (June 16, 2007) as they hold UFC 72: Victory at The Odyssey. UFC 72 is the third event to be held in Europe and the UK, joining UFC 38 in 2002 (Royal Albert Hall in London, England) and UFC 70 in 2007 (MEN Arena in Manchester, England).
Honestly, though, UFC 72 doesn’t look as appealing on paper compared to the more recent UFC showings, but who knows, UFN 10 didn’t look appealing either and it ended up being a solid event. Nonetheless, it’s MMA so, I don’t mind.
The card for Saturday night is as follows:
Main Card Bouts
* Middleweight bout: Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami
* Light Heavyweight bout: Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez
* Lightweight bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida
* Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. Rory Singer
Preliminary Bouts
* Heavyweight bout: Eddie Sanchez vs. Colin Robinson
* Welterweight bout: Dustin Hazelett vs. Stevie Lynch
* Welterweight bout: Marcus Davis vs. Jason Tan
* Middleweight bout: Scott Smith vs. Ed Herman
In an attempt to look into the future, here are some predictions from The Irish Whip!
Masson sees Franklin 2nd round TKO over Okami (w/ brutal strength domination); F.Griffin 3rd round TKO over Ramirez; T. Griffin 1st round submission over Guida; and McDonald 2nd round submission over Singer
Additional Thoughts: I don't really buy into the hype about Okami's "super strength" that everyone is saying about him. Swick and Starnes both mentioned Okami's "incredible strength" in their bouts against Okami at UFC 69 and UFC 64, respectively. But, I mean, Swick and Starnes are not exactly the biggest fighters in the MW division, they look relatively weak (from a physical standpoint). I mean, Swick is moving to WW and Starnes looked overwhelmed by Chris Leben, as far as physical strength goes. I just think people are over crediting Okami's strength. Rich Franklin is a huge middleweight, it's almost hard to believe a man his size would weigh 185, I don't see Okami being stronger than Franklin, physically speaking. Okami has no chance of overpowering Franklin in my eyes. I just don't see it. I've seen numerous videos of Franklin training in the gym, and the guy looks like an animal.
As for the Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez matchup, I think Griffin should be able to take this no problem, as long as he doesn't just "let loose" at the last seconds of the round, which cost him his last fight against Jardine. Hector Ramirez just doesn't look polished at all, he just looks like an everyday street brawler with some credible wrestling skills.
Ben sees Franklin 2nd round TKO over Okami; F. Griffin 1st round TKO over Ramirez; T. Griffin Unanimous decision over Guida; and MacDonald unanimous decision over Singer
Even if the event is all it's cracked up to be, predictions are always fun.
