UFC 172 Recap

Chris Beal's flying knee is an early KO of the Year candidate.

UFC 172 was awesome.  This event is an early contender for card of the year.  It also contained some KO of the Year and Submission of the Year finishes.  There was not a single bad fight on this card and plenty of guillotines to go around.  Here is my recap of what happened and what needs to happen next:

• Chris Beal took home a $50,000 bonus for his flying knee KO of Patrick Williams.  This was one of the best flying knees I have ever seen.  Hopefully this Beal prospect pans out into a future star.  Many options for him heading forward.  Nam Phan seems like a good option in my book if he doesn't get cut first.
• Danny Castillo had a highlight reel KO of his own that would win him a KO of the Night bonus on any other night.  Charlie Brenneman continues to struggle in the UFC despite having good moments in this fight.
• Bethe Correia was able to close the distance with Jessamyn Duke and win a decision in a solid fight.  Duke needs new strategies because she comes into fights with a huge reach advantage and a muay thai base and only landed 1 leg kick.  He Rousey hip tosses looked good though. Correia has plenty of options for fights, maybe Liz Carmouche?
• Takanori Gomi bested Isaac Vallie-Flagg in Saturday's Fight of the Night.  IVF took a beating but kept charging forward.  IVF was originally set to fight Castillo but since he lost and Castillo won I think Gomi vs Castillo makes perfect sense.  That could also produce a Fight of the Night worth remembering.  As for Vallie-Flagg, he can take on Pat Healy in a war of attrition since those are two merciless lightweight grinders.
• Joe Benavidez was put in some trouble by the talented grappler Tim Elliott but was able to endure and eventually since in a full mount guillotine.  He trapped both arms as well as the neck of Elliot forcing Tim to tap with his feet in a highlight reel submission.  Benavidez took home $50,000 for his handiwork.  Benavidez has many options for future fights but I like the idea of him vs John Lineker right now.
• Max Holloway ended the hype of Andre Fili with a guillotine choke of his own.  The choke did not look incredibly tight but Fili was already rocked by a flurry of punches and had no choice but to tap.  Holloway is young and has a bright future but is a long way away from contending for the title.  As for Fili, he could literally face anyone next and it would make sense.  Holloway vs Siler would be an awesome fight to put on right now in my opinion.
• Jim Miller was the 3rd person in a row to win via guillotine.  His came as a technical submission when he literally put Yancy Medeiros to sleep.  Jim Miller is a star and is on the verge of yet another title shot.  If TJ Grant is healthy, they need to fight.  If not, Miller has awesome possibilities such as Donald Cerrone, Khabib Nurmagomedov, or Josh Thomson to choose from.  Make one of those 4 fights happen and I will be a happy camper.  Miller's original opponent Bobby Green needs to fight Edson Barboza.  How awesome would that fight be?
• Luke Rockhold was taken down by Tim Boetsch but was able to scramble into an inverted triangle position.  It was a funky wrestling match that eventually ended in Rockhold submitting Tim with a kimura while still having the inverted triangle.  Inverted triangle-kimura was the official call I believe.  Rockhold wants a second shot at Vitor and it is hard for me not to believe he could win a rematch.  UFC jitters and the crowd of Brazil is enough to make even the best fighter rattled.  Rockhold is for real people.
• Anthony Johnson made a triumphant return to the UFC by humbling Phil Davis.  Phil needs to go back to the drawing board after this one.  Rumble Johnson has plenty of big fights on the horizon.  Lil Nog makes sense for Phil's next opponent while Rumble should take on Glover Teixeira next!  Book those now.
• Jon Jones looked outstanding in every aspect of his fight with Teixeira.  His elbows make Kenny Florian's look pedestrian.  Jones is for real and I have full confidence that he will take out the Mauler in the rematch.  After that he will likely take on Daniel Cormier and I say he wins that fight too.  As I said a moment ago, Teixeira vs Johnson makes a lot of sense to me right now.  The only other option I see for him is to take on Rashad Evans, if he can get healthy enough to fight before the end of the year.

UFC 172: Jones vs Teixeira

Remember when these guys fought at 170?

So last time Jon Jones defended his title I had to admit I was not that excited for his fight.  Turns out I was wrong to underestimate the skills of the Mauler, Alexander Gustafsson.  He put on a fight of the year candidate and came as close to dethroning the champ as anyone.  I do not think Glover has much of a chance in this fight, but I am not going to miss this fight.  Hopefully we have another fight of the year candidate on Saturday.

Not even touching the Fight Pass prelim fight.  This card does suck in the fact that it only has 10 fights.

FS1 Prelims:

• Danny Castillo almost beat Edson Barboza in his last fight.  As scary as Barboza is, he probed last Saturday that his chin is garbage.  Regardless, Castillo should have enough skills to dispose of Charlie Brenneman.  Funny that Brenneman is fighting at lightweight on the same card as Anthony Johnson who fights at 205lbs now.  They fought at welterweight back in 2011 and now fight 50lbs apart which is a crazy thought.
• Bethe Correia is a mean mugging girl in the women's bantamweight division.  Most people are probably expecting the more popular Jessamyn Duke to pick her apart in an exciting standup war but I see things differently.  The more well-rounded Correia is taking home a decision in my books.
• Takanori Gomi was on different ends of split decisions in his last 2 fights.  Isaac Vallie-Flagg won 3 consecutive split decision before dropping a unanimous decision in January.  Naturally I pick the person who deserves the win to lose a split decision in this one.  So I say IVF will fight well and should win, but Gomi will get the split decision.
• Joe Benavidez has only lost to Dominick Cruz (twice) and Demetrious Johnson (twice) in his MMA career.  There is no shame in losing to those 2 guys, especially since 2 of them were split decisions anyway.  However, coming off a that brutal KO loss in the first round of his last fight, it will be interesting to see how he bounces back.  Tim Elliott, on the other hand, is a funky striker with good wrestling.  He is also coming off a loss but is a hell of a good fighter.  Needless to say, I am going with Benavidez here.  His striking is insanely good and powerful.  He will beat anyone who isn't the champ, except maybe John Dodson.  Please UFC, make Dodson fight the winner of this fight.  It will be awesome.

PPV:

• Andre Fili and Max Holloway are on Pay-per view and Dana White still called this one of the best cards of all time.  No.  The flyweight prelims main event should be on PPV instead of this garbage fight.  Regardless, Fili wins via decision.
• Jim Miller vs Yancy Medeiros!  Now we are talking.  Medeiros is a sick prospect that KOed Yves Edwards before that was changed to a no contest due to him smoking weed.  Miller was saved of a loss because of Pat Healy smoking weed.  Anyway, Miller throws those NASTYYY clinch elbows and busts Medeiros up here.  Yancy goes down all bloodied up and Miller chokes that sucker out.  1st round RNC for Mr. Miller.
• Luke Rockhold liver kick KO of Tim Boetsch.  Next!
• Phil Davis outwrestles Anthony Johnson and wins a decision.  Don't forget about this guy at 205!  With Gustafsson getting a title shot and DC vs Dan Henderson scheduled, I would love to see this guy avenge his only loss to Rashad Evans in the near future.  If Rumble Johnson pulls off the upset, that only sets up bigger and better fights for this division, but I'm not banking on a Johnson victory here.
• Jon Jones will likely wrestle Glover Teixeira down early and throw elbows to beat Glover up.  The unknown in this fight is how good is Glover's ground game?  If Glover has a sick ground game we may be in for a surprise.  But I fully expect Jones to beat Glover up on the ground until he feels safe on his feet.  Jones via decision because Glover is a tough customer and will be hard to put away.

UFC on Fox 11: Werdum vs Browne

Travis Browne had one of the best come from behind
wins over Alistair Overeem thanks to this kick.

I am a big believer in Travis Browne and I think he has the best skill set to beat Cain Velasquez.  Fabricio Werdum is a stud and will try and get a title shot of his own on Saturday night.  Here are my predictions for a sick card on free TV:

Fight Pass (not free):

• Derrick Lewis uses his experience to KO Jack "The Outlaw" May
• Chas Skelly submission win over Mirsad Bektic
• Dustin Ortiz easy decision win over Ray Borg

FS1 Prelims:

• Jordan Mein makes a much anticipated return to the Octagon in devastating fashion.  Mein 1st round TKO
• Caio Mahalhaes decision over Luke Zachrich
• Estevan Payan decision win over Alex White
• Pat "Bam Bam" Healy will grind Jorge Masvidal to death and win a decision in a very important fight between two of Strikeforce's best lightweights.  This is the first of 3 AWESOME lightweight fights that are practically pick'em fights.
• Thiago Alves fights for the first time in over 2 years and should be able to handle Seth Baczynski on his way to a TKO victory
• Khabib Nurmagomedov and Rafael dos Anjos engage in a sleeper of a top contender fight.  Funny that these 2 fighters are ranked higher than Cerrone and Barboza but this is on prelims while they are on Fox.  It makes sense though, Cerrone is a star and fan favorite and that fight is amazing too.  Anyway, I think Nurmagomedov and his awesome hat will do enough to win a closely contested fight.  Nurmagomedov via decision.

Fox:

• Yoel Romero KO of Brad Ravares.... Get this guy a top rated fighter!  (cough... cough... Tim Kennedy!)
• Donald Cerrone and Edson Barboza could be an epic fight involving tons of leg kicks both ways.  Cerrone has won 2 fights since his loss to Rafael dos Anjos taking home bonus checks in both of those contests.  Barboza has been nothing short of spectacular offensively in the cage, but he leaves himself exposed at times.  I think he may win this with a liver kick similar to Anthony Pettis, but I think Cerrone is able to catch him with a shot and finish the fight similar to Jamie Varner and (almost!!) Danny Castillo.  Cerrone via TKO in what should be Fight of the Night.
• Miesha Tate and Liz Carmouche are stars for the women's division but this fight belongs on prelims instead of Khabib vs Rafael's potential top contender fight.  This is not a co-main event on Fox.  Tate has 1 win in her last 4 fights and Carmouche has 3 wins in her last 7.  I normally am a big fan of WMMA but this is not as big of a deal as Nurmagomedov and dos Anjos.  That said, it still should be an entertaining and important fight.  I see Tate taking down Liz and ground and pounding her out for a TKO win.  Tate will likely get another big fight after this, maybe Sarah Kaufmann or Sara McMann.
• Travis Browne will KO Werdum and get his title shot.  Werdum is no joke though.  The guy submitted Fedor to end his legendary unbeaten streak and also submitted the legendary Big Nog in his most recent fight.  However, a share opponent of them, Alistair Overeem, beat Werdum and lost to Browne.  Travis Browne has hit another level and will keep this fight standing on his way to a KO victory over Werdum.  Tread lightly Cain Velasquez, Browne is coming for that belt.

2014 NHL Postseason Bracket

Finland spits out top goalies like it's their job.
I think these 2 Fins will meet in the 2014 finals.

I used to have to do 4 installments of hockey predictions (I still might if I get some picks wrong) but now the bracket format allows me to do 1 article to say how I think things will go.  You can still sign up for the bracket challenge here if you think you know your stuff!  Here are my series breakdowns:

East:
The Bruins and Penguins are the only cup contenders in the east in my opinion.  Maybe the Rangers if Lundqvist throws the team on his back as he has done before.  Predictions:

• Bruins over the Red Wings in 5 games
• Habs over Lightning in 5 games
• Penguins beat Blue Jackets in 4 games and the CBJ's stay the NHL's only team without a postseason win
• Rangers in 7 over the Flyers

I then have the Bruins and Penguins winning obviously and have the Bruins on their way to a 3rd Stanley Cup Final birth in 4 years.

West:

California has a legit chance of taking home the Cup this year, having all 3 teams in the playoffs.  The Blues looked destined to win until they suffered injuries and made a terrible trade.  I do not like Ryan Miller, this is no secret to people who know me.  However, even if Miller were better than Halak (he's not), it would still be a dumb trade by the Blues.  The phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is true and the Blues were golden with their team prior to moving Halak for Miller.  Chicago won the Cup last year and in 08 so clearly they are contenders as well.  Here is what I have:

• Wild over the Avs in 6
• Hawks route the Blues in 5
• Ducks in 6 over the Stars
• Sharks and Kings win every game on home ice like last year, only the Sharks have home ice this year.  Sharks in 7

From there I have the Sharks routing the Ducks in 5 and the Wild shocking the world with a win over the Blackhawks in 6 games.  The Wild and Sharks made many trades with each other which makes Burns, Havlat, and Sheppard of the Sharks taking on Coyle, Mitchell, and the Wild an interesting round.  Pominville is the secret weapon of the Wild and Ryan Suter playing every minute in the postseason makes them sneakily formidable.  Sharks should win that series in 5 though.

I have the Sharks beating the Bruins in 6 games on their way to the Stanley Cup.  Although I am VERY biased towards San Jose, they have one hell of a team this year.  I am always optimistic that they will win the Cup, but this is the best team they have assembled in franchise history.  And more important than anything, they are 100% healthy!!!  That is huge this time of year.  Thornton, Marleau, Couture, and others are world class players and Pavelski, Burns, and Vlasic have hit a whole other level this year with their production.  The youngsters Nieto and Hertl are amazing and Niemi is a solid backstop.  If Niemi stumbles, Alex Stalock is more than capable of carrying this team.  I think it is the year using logic, not simply emotion.

Lastly, if I have enough of these wrong I will do more installments of this to do predictions for a series I did not expect to take place.  Leave a comment to tell me I am right or wrong and join in that bracket challenge!!!

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Updated Fighter Rankings 4/1/14

Tyron Woodley is the biggest mover in this month's rankings.

So a lot of things happened in March including a new welterweight champ being crowned.  Here is where I have my people ranked:

Men's Pound for Pound:

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

Heavyweight:

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

Light Heavywight:

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

Dropping out: Ryan Jimmo (20)

Middleweight:

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

Welterwight:

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

Dropping out: Steve Carl (16)

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 (15)
16. Joe Lauzon (16)
17. Rustam Khabilov (19)
18. Bobby Green (20)
19. Abel Trujillo (NR)
20. Michael Johnson (NR)

Dropping out: Melvin Guillard (17), Norman Parke (18)

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. Dennis Bermudez (14)
10. Shinya Aoki (9)
11. Dennis Siver (10)
12. Paticio Freire (11)
13. Clay Guida (12)
14. Jeremy Stephens (13)
15. Pat Curran (16)
16. Daniel Straus (15)
17. Darren Elkins (17)
18. Nik Lentz (18)
19. Tatsuya Kawajiri (19)
20. Hatsu Hioki (20)

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. Eduardo Dantas (13)
9. Marlon Moraes (10)
10. Bibiano Fernandes (9)
11. Takeya Mizugaki (11)
12. Yuri Alcantara (12)
13. Joe Warren (14)
14. Erik Perez (15)
15. Alex Caceres (16) 
16. Mike Easton (17)
17. George Roop (18)
18. Sergio Pettis (19)
19. Tyson Nam (20)
20. Francisco Rivera (NR)

Changing weight class: Brad Pickett (8)

Flyweight:

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

Dropping out: Phil Harris (17)

Women's Pound for Pound:

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