UFC 171 Recap

This kick ended Condit's night, and right knee.

UFC 171 crowned a new champ and also had a devastating leg injury for the 2nd time in just 4 PPV main/co-main events.  Luckily for us, the main event was not stopped ridiculously early by Herb Dean.  Instead, it was one of the best fights in welterweight history between two bangers.  Here is how I saw it go down.

Prelims I couldn't watch....blah blah blah:

• Whiteford decisions Pineda
• Strickland RNC Bubba "cut from UFC" McDaniels
• Scoggins 30-27 Campuzano
• Trevino ugly decision over Forte
• Garcia split decision over Spencer
• Bermudez ass whooping TKO over Hettes
• Andrade split decision over Rocky Pennington
• Gastelum split decision over Rick Story

Pay-per view:

• OSP with a Von Flue choke over Nikita Krylov.  Hey that's kinda cool.
• Hector Lombard decision win over Jake Shields.  Lombard looks outstanding in the first round then coasted as he often does due to his light gas tank.  Many criticize this performance due to this coasting and boring approach he took however I say this is the 2nd most impressive win of his career.  Outside of this fight and his most impressive win over Alexander Shlemenko back in Bellator he has no real big wins.  I need to see more from him but I was impressed with his performance despite the criticism.  That said, he almost got choked out and has so much more work to do if he wants to even think about a title shot.  As for Shields, he will likely be cut.  I think Dana usually is very complimentary to people who take an ass beating when they gut it out and are tough enough to see the end of the fight but instead Dana called Shields boring again and criticized the match.  He hates Shields who is expensive and will likely beat his prospects so Jake will probably be in WSOF before we know it.  I personally would like to see Shields fight prospects like maybe Thatch.  As for Lombard, he should take on Dong Hyun Kim in his next fight.  I think they are both just inside the top 10 so it makes sense.
• Myles Jury whooped Diego Sanchez's ass.  Nothing shocking here other than the fans did not like Jury in his post fight interview with Rogan.  Get over it people, Jury is legit.
• Tyron Woodley looked outstanding against Carlos Condit but unfortunately for both fighters, Condit blew out his knee on a takedown and eventually collapsed after a violent leg kick.  Condit will be out for some time but will likely be the 3rd ranked welterweight despite being 1-3 in his last 4.  He has a TON of work to do in my books when he gets back if he wants another shot at UFC gold.  As for Woodley, I think he should fight Rory MacDonald next.  The winner very well could be the next title contender at 170.
• Johny Hendricks won rounds 1, 2, and 5 very clearly in my book so I don't understand the controversy behind the fight.  Unreal performance from Lawler but he only won the 3rd and 4th rounds which isn't enough.  God only knows how he didn't finish Hendricks in the 3rd round.  It was a great fight and Lawler is still in the picture for another shot at the title in late 2014/ early 2015.

The question is, if I have Woodley facing MacDonald and Lombard facing Kim, who is next for a title shot?  The answer is simpler than most people would think, the winner of Ellenberger vs Saffiedine.  Tarec Saffiedine is the last Strikeforce champ at 170 and has the skills to be a champion in the UFC.  Ellenberger was in line for a title shot before he lost to Kampmann only to get back in line before losing to Rory MacDonald.  However, he has a history of impressing the hell out of us when he wins.  Should he KO Saffiedine, he will make a great case for a title shot.  As for Lawler, I would love to see him face the winner of Erick Silva and Matt Brown.  Brown is on a sick winning streak and needs that signature win if he wants to get that title shot.  He earned at least a top contender fight at this point.  I would also be ok with Lawler/Woodley and Brown (or Silva)/MacDonald.  Those 2 fights should produce a top contender when Hendricks is done with the Ellenberger/Saffiedine winner.  Comment your thoughts on my proposed scenarios!

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UFC 171 Picks

If Jake Shields can do this to Dan Henderson
 he can do worse to Hector Lombard.

UFC 171 did not get off to a good start with the weigh ins when 3 fighters missed weight on their first attempts.  Gastelum and Hendricks thankfully made weight on their 3rd and 2nd tries respectively and Renee Forte never made the weight.  Missing weight is very unprofessional and really gets me going.  Regardless UFC 171 will crown a new welterweight champ and promises to be very exciting.  I do have to say I am also kind of pissed I cannot watch any of the prelims because of UFC Fight Pass and because I do not get FS2 but I will pick on anyway.  Here is how I see it going down:

• Daniel Pineda decision over Robert Whiteford
• Bubba McDaniel decision over Sean Strickland
• Justin Scoggins decision over Will Campuzano
• Renee Forte missed weight but will dispose of my new least favorite UFC fighter Frank Trevino
• Alex Garcia KO of Sean Spencer
• Dennis Bermudez moves into featherweight title contention with a decision win over the slick submission skills of Jimy Hettes
• Jessica Andrade 1st round guillotine choke over Raquel Pennington
• No idea who wins between Kelvin Gatelum and Rick Story.  Screw it I'm going with Story for the upset via KO.

Main Card:

• OSP is overrated and I will be pulling for Nikita Krylov but I think Ovince St. Preux gets an unimpressive win over Krylov today.
• Jake Shields is an underdog and isn't fighting GSP or Johny Hendricks.  Not only am I picking Jake Shields but I have some cash money behind this pick.  Hector Lombard is all hype and although his KO of Nate Marquardt impressed me it does not mean he can handle Jake Shields.  I think Jake is the best welterweight in the world and he will either be the UFC champ or cut (if he losses 1 fight) by the end of 2015.  Boring (to lame casual fans) but effective.  Shields via submission!
• I am really torn on whether I think Diego Sanchez or Myles Jury will win this fight.  I have though Jury was an elite lightweight for a while and was leaning towards him ever since this match has been made. However, Diego Sanchez looked in better physical shape than I have ever seen him in my life at the weigh ins yesterday and something tells me Diego isn't done just yet.  He did almost finish (in my opinion) the best lightweight in the world, Gilbert Melendez, in his last fight.  Speaking of his last fight, there is no chance he tops it although this still has Fight of the Night written all over it.  Win or lose Diego will entertain the masses.  Going with Jury to win a 29-28 decision with Diego only winning the 3rd round as he so often does.
• Another fight that I am torn on is the co-main event.  Carlos Condit has recently become one of my favorite fighters in the Octagon and one of my favorite guys outside of the cage as well.  He is a really cool and exciting guy.  However, until he gets his wrestling fixed I don't love his chances of beating a sick wrestler.  I think Tyron Woodley is good but not great right now.  He could be a title contender but I just don't think he has what it takes to ever become champion.  I like him looking to wrestling to win this fight but not just by controlling Condit on the ground.  I think Condit can scramble to his feet when he gets taken down.  It will be the takedowns that makes Woodley capable of standing up with Condit without dying that will win him this fight.  I say Woodley takes home a split decision and fights Rory MacDonald next. (Condit should fight Rory if he wins too)
• Johny Hendricks KO over Robbie Lawler in the 2nd round.  No brainer here in my opinion.  Hendricks is better at everything and I think his chin is one of his best assets.  While Lawler can give it and take it I think he worries about the wrestling too much after Johny gets a few early takedowns and  finally takes a left hand to the chin he can't handle.  Hendricks is too good and I take him over everyone in the division except maybe Shields (yes that includes a potential GSP return).

Updated Fighter Rankings (3/4/14)

Lyoto Machida has climbed his way into the
 P4P mix as well as a middleweight title shot
after dissecting Gegard Mousasi.

Many of February's fights involved a change in weight class which makes rankings a little difficult but here is how I see things:

Men's Pound for Pound:

1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Jon Jones (2)
3. Renan Barao (3)
4. Chris Weidman (4)
5. Demetrious Johnson (6)
6. Cain Velasquez (7)
7. Anderson Silva (8)
8. Johny Hendricks (9)
9. Vitor Belfort (10)
10. Anthony Pettis (11)
11. Dominick Cruz (12)
12. Chad Mendes (13)
13. Junior Dos Santos (14)
14. Lyoto Machida (NR)
15.  Urijah Faber (15)
16. Frankie Edgar (16)
17. Gilbert Melendez (17)
18. Joe Benavidez (18)
19. Michael McDonald (19)
20. Benson Henderson (20)

Retirement?  Georges St. Pierre (5)

Heavyweight:

1. Cain Velasquez (1)
2. Travis Browne (2)
3. Fabricio Werdum (4)
4. Junior Dos Santos (5)
5. Stipe Miocic (6)
6. Mark Hunt (7)
7. Antonio Silva (8)
8. Josh Barnett (9)
9. Stefan Struve (10)
10. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (11)
11. Alistair Overeem (12)
12.  Roy Nelson (13)
13. Gabriel Gonzaga (14)
14. Ben Rothwell (15)
15. Brendan Schaub (16)
16. Cheick Kongo (17)
17. Frank Mir (19)
18. Soa Palelei (20)
19. Matt Mitrione (NR)
20. Shawn Jordan (18)

Changing weight class: Daniel Cormier (3)

Light Heavywight:

1. Jon Jones (1)
2. Daniel Cormier (3-heavyweight)
3. Glover Teixeira (2)
4. Alexander Gustafsson (3)
5. Rashad Evans (4)
6. Phil Davis (5)
7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (7)
8. Ryan Bader (8)
9. Emanuel Newton (9)
10. Shogun Rua (10)
11. Rampage Jackson (11)
12. Dan Henderson (12)
13. Chael Sonnen (13)
14. Attila Vegh (14)
15. Jimi Manuwa (15)
16. Rafael Cavalcante (16)
17. James Te-Huna (17)
18. Thiago Silva (18)
19. Muhammed Lawal (19)
20. Ryan Jimmo (20)

Changing weight class: Gegard Mousasi (6)

Middleweight:

1. Chris Weidman (1)
2. Vitor Belfort (2)
3. Lyoto Machida (5)
4. Ronaldo Souza (4)
5. Anderson Silva (3)
6. Luke Rockhold (6)
7. Tim Kennedy (7)
8. Michael Bisping (8)
9. Alexander Shlemenko (9)
10. Gegard Mousasi (6-light heavyweight)
11. Yoel Romero (10)
12. Mark Munoz (11)
13. Yushin Okami (12)
14. Thales Leites (13)
15. Tim Boetsch (14)
16. Cung Le (15)
17. Alan Belcher (16)
18. Rich Franklin (18)
19. Costa Philippou (19)
20. Clint Hester (20)

Dropping out: Francis Carmont (17)

Welterwight:

1. Johny Hendricks (2)
2. Carlos Condit (3)
3. Matt Brown (4)
4. Robbie Lawler (5)
5. Dong Hyun Kim (6)
6. Rory Macdonald (7)
7. Jake Ellenberger (8)
8. Jake Shields (9)
9. Ben Askren (11)
10. Tyrone Woodley (12)
11. Tarec Saffiedine (13)
12. Demian Maia (10)
13. Martin Kampmann (14)
14. Nick Diaz (15)
15. Hector Lombard (16)
16. Steve Carl (17)
17. Josh Burkman (18)
18. Josh Koscheck (19)
19. Brandon Thatch (20)
20. Stephen Thompson (NR)

Retirement? Georges St. Pierre (1)

Lightweight:

1. Anthony Pettis (1)
2. Gilbert Melendez (2)
3. Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
4. Benson Henderson (4)
5. Josh Thomson (5)
6. TJ Grant (6)
7. Rafael dos Anjos (7)
8. Michael Chandler (8)
9. Eddie Alvarez (9)
10. Donald Cerrone (10)
11. Nate Diaz (11)
12. Jim Miller (12)
13. Gray Maynard (13)
14. Edson Barboza (14)
15. Erik Koch (10-featherweight)
16. Joe Lauzon (15)
17. Melvin Guillard (16)
18. Norman Parke (17)
19. Rustam Khabilov (18)
20. Bobby Green (19)

Dropping out: Abel Trujillo (20)

Featherweight:

1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Chad Mendes (2)
3. Cub Swanson (3)
4. Dustin Poirier (4)
5. Frankie Edgar (5)
6. Ricardo Lamas (6)
7. Conor McGregor (7)
8. Chan Sung Jung (8)
9. Shinya Aoki (9)
10. Dennis Siver (11)
11. Paticio Freire (12)
12. Clay Guida (13)
13. Jeremy Stephens (14)
14. Dennis Bermudez (15)
15. Daniel Straus (16)
16. Pat Curran (17)
17. Darren Elkins (18)
18. Nik Lentz (19)
19. Tatsuya Kawajiri (20)
20. Hatsu Hioki (NR)

Changing weight class: Erik Koch (10)

Bantamweight:

1. Renan Barao (1)
2. Dominick Cruz (2)
3. Urijah Faber (3)
4. Rafael Assuncao (4)
5. Michael McDonald (5)
6. T.J. Dillashaw (6)
7. Eddie Wineland (7)
8. Brad Pickett (8)
9. Bibiano Fernandes (9)
10. Marlon Moraes (10)
11. Takeya Mizugaki (11)
12. Yuri Alcantara (12)
13. Eduardo Dantas (14)
14. Joe Warren (15)
15. Erik Perez (16)
16. Alex Caceres (17) 
17. Mike Easton (18)
18. George Roop (19)
19. Sergio Pettis (20)
20. Tyson Nam (13)

Flyweight:

1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
2. John Dodson (2)
3. Ali Bagautinov (3)
4. Joe Benavidez (4)
5. Ian McCall (5)
6. Jussier Formiga (6)
7. Darrel Montague (7)
8. Zack Makovsky (11)
9. John Moraga (8)
10. John Lineker (9)
11. Tim Elliot (10)
12. Dustin Ortiz (12)
13. Scott Jorgensen (13)
14. Louis Gaudinot(14)
15. Chris Cariaso (15)
16. Alptekin Ozkilic (16)
17. Phil Harris (17)
18. Josh Sampo (18)
19. Danny Martinez (19)
20. Kyoji Horiguchi (20)

Women's Pound for Pound:

1. Ronda Rousey (1)
2. Cristiane Santos (2)
3. Alexis Davis (5)
4. Jessica Aguilar (4)
5. Cat Zingano (6)
6. Marloes Coenen (7)
7. Sara McMann (3)
8. Sarah Kaufman (8)
9. Barb Honchak (10)
10. Miesha Tate (11)
11. Michelle Waterson (12)
12. Jessica Eye (9)
13. Liz Carmouche (13)
14. Jessica Penne (14)
15. Amanda Nunes (15)
16. Carla Esparza (16)
17. Shayna Baszler (17)
18. Jessica Andrade (18)
19.  Zoila Gurgel (19)
20. Tecia Torres (20)