UFC on Fox 6 Recap

The first thing I have to say about this event is that going to see an event live should be on every fight fans bucket list.  I made the voyage to Chicago this past weekend for the fight and forked over a good amount of money to make sure I had some good seats but it was well worth it.  Especially for those who purchase UFC pay per view fights for 60-80 dollars, if there is an event nearby you should try to go.  For most of the prelims the arena was not full, so if the ushers were sleeping on the job you could sit anywhere.  Once the main card starts, the UFC puts on a video to pump up the crowd.  The fighting montage of spectacular highlights of UFC stars playing to the music of Baba O'Riley by the Who may have been the best part of the whole thing. This video brought a tear to my eye it was so amazing and it was immediately followed up by the first fight of the main card.  The energy of the United Center was unlike any other sporting event I have been too.  It was an amazing time and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

That said, time for the fight recap:

The first fight on Facebook featured Dave Mitchell and Simeon Thoresen.  They slugged it out in the first round and had a nifty submission battle in the second.  Mitchell clearly took both rounds and the doctor almost stopped the fight due to Thoresen's beat up face.  Despite having the match locked up, Mitchell rallied the crowd to cheer and convinced Thoresen to continue.  This really made be a Dave Mitchell fan.  He went on to win the third round as well and take an exciting unanimous decision victory to start the day.

Rafael Natal followed up this fight on FX with a dominating victory of his own.  He outwrestled UFC newcoming Sean Spencer for 3 rounds until he finally secured an arm triangle choke in the third to hang on to  a victory.  He was dominant, yet slightly unimpressive.  I would have liked to see Natal be a little more active on the ground, but laying on top of a guy is an effective way to win if the guy on the bottom is not good enough to get you off of him.

Chicago firefighter turned UFC fighter Mike Russow entered his fight with Shawn Jordan a hefty favorite.  In the first round he showed this by dominating Jordan with striking and grappling.  He took the first round easily but Jordan stood tall despite being rocked a few times.  Jordan was a football player at LSU and is an incredible athlete.  He used this to his advantage by being the more conditioned fighter on Saturday night.  The second round was all Jordan, and he finished Russow on the ground by getting his back and pulverizing his face until Herb Dean pulled him off of Russow.

Ryan Bader showed he does not belong on an under card ever again with his impressive victory of the 42 year old Vladimir Matyushenko.  He staggered Vladdy with a left hand before grabbing a front choke and switching into a guillotine.  Once he had the neck, it was over.  Ryan Bader secured the fastest submission in UFC light heavyweight history in impressive fashion to show he is still a force in the division.  He took home an additional $50,000 for a submission of the night bonus.

Pascal Krauss apparently defeated Mike Stumpf by winning all 3 rounds and securing a decision.  The reason I say apparently is because I fell asleep in the arena this fight was so awful.  Literally passed out in my chair from the boredom of Stumpf playing with his hair while Krauss felt the need to hold him against the cage and do nothing the entire fight.  Both guys should be cut from the UFC this fight was so awful.  Congrats on the victory Krauss but you will have to do better than that next time.

Luckily the always entertaining Clay Guida fought next to awake the crowd.  He is insane and really gets the crowd going with his entrance.  He is a ball of energy and he sported a fantastic mustache for his fight on FX.  Guida secure a split decision victory because of his 2 slams and top control, however it did not come without controversy.  Hatsu Hioki definitely was the better striker and he was very active while on his back for 8 minutes.  Guida essentially laid on top of him while inflicting maybe 3 punches and did not pass the guard of Hioki once.  Hioki landed about 20 punches from the bottom and tried 4 or 5 submissions.  Combine this with his dominant standup and you could make a case he won the fight.  He took the loss with class and Guida will happily take the win, but this fight could have gone either way.

To end the FX card, lightweights TJ Grant and Matt Wiman went at it for an exciting round of fighting.  Wiman swung and missed a bunch, as Grant looked really elusive the entire fight.  Grant initiated the clinch to throw dangerous knees and elbows, similar to the way Jim Miller threw elbows against Joe Lauzon at UFC 155.  Grant eventually clipped him with 2 clinch elbows before jumping on him with 3 punches that led to a ref stoppage.  Grant looked phenomenal in 2 straight fights now and likely is on his way to fighting a top 10 lightweight.  This knockout very well could have been knockout of the night had another fighter not begged for it, as you will read later.

The Fox card started with Erik Koch against Ricardo Lamas.  Koch was originally scheduled to fight Jose Aldo for the featherweight championship at UFC 153 before getting injured.  He is an unorthodox striker who can knock you out of submit you.  Rather than complain about Frankie Edgar getting the title shot instead of him, he gladly accepted this fight against Ricardo Lamas in his home town of Chicago.  This proved to be a major mistake.  Lamas has now won back to back fights against guys guaranteed title shots.  Hioki had Aldo scheduled before eventually deciding to fight Lamas fight for extra preparation.  Lamas won the fight and ruined Hioki's title hopes.  Koch lost his title hopes by getting destroyed by devastating ground elbows by Lamas.  Koch was covered in his own blood after Ricardo cut him open with an elbow, only to continue to lay down more elbows.  The fight was stopped in the 2nd round and Lamas made himself a top 5 featherweight, if he wasn't already.  He could either get a title shot next, or take on a top 5 guy like Jung or Mendes in a top contender bout going into the future.

Top lightweights Anthony "Showtime" Pettis and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone went at it next.  They both walked out to the lamest songs on the card: Cerrone to "Cowboy" by Kid Rock and Pettis to "Show Time" by Tum Tum.  There is something pretty lame about both walking out to their nicknames.  Both fighters also have their names tattooed on their backs which is also slightly weird.  Pettis was able to handle Cowboy with relative ease, throwing unorthodox strikes, including another crazy off the fence knee.  Late in the first round he landed a liver kick which knocked Cerrone down.  Pettis jumped on him and got the finish scoring a knockout of the night bonus.  While I love the liver kick KO, I think that he stole $50k out of Grant's pocket by begging Dana for the bonus.  He said it was his birthday and he would love the bonus as a present, which I found to be lame and pathetic, but hey it worked.  Grant should be more motivated to climb to the top to knock Pettis out and take his money back.

Rampage Jackson pretty much did what everyone expected in his final UFC fight.  He was taken down with ease and gassed almost instantly while throwing a few good combinations here and there.  It was Glover Teixeira that turned heads by doing the unthinkable.  He had a clear wrestling advantage over Rampage, and put him down whenever he wanted to.  However instead of holding him there to squeak out a decision like Bader did to Rampage in Japan, he stood in the pocket with him.  Glover demonstrated his excellent standup game by boxing with one of the best.  Glover took every round and nearly finished Rampage on a couple occasions.  He had Jackson's back in the first round but Rampage escaped that.  A few times in the standup he rocked Rampage but could not finish the experienced fighter.  Rampage put on a good show but ultimately lost to a better fighter who trains harder and wants to be a champion.  Rampage lost the fire and motivation in fighting a while ago and it showed in his final stint with the UFC in Chicago.  Also, I give props to both guys for walking out to a DMX song.

In the main event, powerful John Dodson looked incredible in the early going. He had significantly better striking than a dominant striker in Demetrious Johnson.  JD vs DJ was a really entertaining bout and that is why they both took home a fight of the night bonus.  The first round saw Dodson stuffing DJ's takedowns and catching his strikes.  He landed a couple of good combos and threw Johnson to the ground on a few occasions.  The second round was much of the same.  Dodson rocked DJ twice and knocked him down with a powerful left hand counter.  I thought the fight was over on both occasions, as the left hand really hurt Johnson.  Then came the foul play.  Johnson kneed Dodson in the groin accidentally which caused a stop in the fight in the third round.  Dodson was ok and the fight continued.  Early in the fourth round, Johnson threw a knee to the head of Dodson while he was a grounded opponent.  John McCarthy should have docked Johnson a point for this illegal hit.  It did a lot of damage and caused a swelling over his eye.  Had a point been deducted the fight would have been a tie, or it would have inspired DJ to really go after Dodson to finish the fight which could have led to some serious fireworks.  Instead, DJ used a wicked muay thai clinch to deliver knees to the body and head of Dodson for a large portion of the fourth and fifth rounds.  Dodson definitely gassed and said he will work on that going into the future to take the next step towards becoming champion.  Dodson was also very gracious in defeat, and praised Johnson for his talent rather than complain about illegal shots that DJ got away with.  When asked about how bad his head was hurt by the illegal knee in the post fight press conference, Dodson simply replied, "I'm not going to bitch."  Dodson likely gained a lot of fans after this fight, outside of the ones who already loved him when he won the Ultimate Fighter.  DJ defended his title in an exciting manner and demonstrated his cardio and chin while doing so.  The fight of the night performance proved to people that flyweights can and will be exciting whether they are finishing their opponents or not with the main event on Fox.

Unfortunately I picked a bit too many underdogs on the undercard which made my picks a little off the wall.  I finished 4 for 11 on the night.  My bias agaisnt Guida didn't help me either. Oh well we all have bad days, I'll bounce back with a strong UFC 156. 16/35 overall 45.7%

UFC on Fox 6 Picks

             UFC on Fox 6 is a very special event for many reasons.  For me, this will be the first UFC fight I attend live!  This Saturday night I will be among the capacity crowd of the United Center in Chicago watching the upcoming battles unfold.  The preliminary card features many big names and many finishers, but most of them are submission specialists rather than knockout artists.  FX will televise these fights from 5-8pm on Saturday.  After that, the UFC is doing their 6th broadcast on Fox.  For the second time in a row, the UFC is putting a big name title fight on free TV.  In addition to this title fight, two of the top contenders in the lightweight division will fight each other for their title shot.  Rampage Jackson will make his UFC farewell against a beast on a big winning streak.  Also on Fox, two 145lb fighters will fight for a potential shot at the winner of Jose Aldo vs Frankie Edgar.  This portion of the fights will be aired on Fox from 8-10:30pm.

Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson vs John "The Magician" Dodson:

                This will be the fastest fight in UFC history, and yet it will probably be the longest.  There is a tremendous amount of speed between these two fighters and they will put on an expo on how the little guys can throw quick hands effectively.  If it goes to the ground it will be because of the explosive takedowns of these speedsters.  However most fans do expect this fight to be a long 25 minute decision, which probably will be the case.  TUF winner John Dodson has some crazy power despite being a 125lb fighter, but Johnson has yet to be finished in his MMA career.  His only losses came by way of decision to Brad Pickett due to his crazy supplex slams and bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz who used his wrestling to control Johnson for 5 rounds.  There was a time when Dom was the fastest most elusive fighter in the UFC and his bizarre striking and speed dictated fights.  Johnson overcame this by being faster so Cruz had no choice but take the fight to the ground, where Johnson was slippery but not sneaky enough to escape the champ.  Now, both of these guys have faster and more elusive strikes than Cruz and will have an exciting technical striking matchup.  One of them could get clipped and knocked out but there is a good chance this goes to a decision. Either way it should be exciting and both of these very likable guys will put on a show for the capacity crowd at the United Center.  Despite many people expecting a decision victory for "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, I am leaning Dodson on this fight because of his power. 4^th round TKO victory for Dodson.

On a side note, the 145, 135, and 125lb divisions have been under scrutiny for their lack of ability to finish fights, however their success as a division and PPV draws should not be judged by their finishing ability.  Jose Aldo, Dustin Porier, Renan Barao, Dominick Cruz, Demetrious Johnson, Urijah Faber, Michael McDonald, John Dodson, and others are some of the most exciting and talented fighters in the UFC today.  The Korean Zombie and Dustin Porier fight has been viewed as Fight of the Year in 2012 by many MMA writers.  Aldo and Homminick had a 5 round war in Toronto that amazed fans, only to be followed up by a boring fight between much bigger PPV draws GSP and Jake Shields. The Benavidez vs Johnson fight and the Faber vs Barao did not necessarily help the view that the lower weight classes have trouble finishing.  This does not mean that next time out we won’t see fireworks from all of these guys.  Aldo vs Edgar could be one of the most exciting fights the UFC has put on in a while.  With such a dangerous guy like Aldo (who just knocked out Mendes in the first round) fighting such an exciting fighter like Frankie Edgar, the 145lb division is headlining a card with big stars Rashad Evans and Alistair Overeem on it.  UFC on Fox 6 (Johnson vs Dodson) and UFC 156 (Aldo vs Edgar) main events could decide the future of the lighter weight classes’ success going into the future.  They need to put on a show for the fans who will all be hoping for a finish, but a decision does not guarantee a boring fight.  I am a big fan of the old WEC fights with Cerrone, Aldo, Faber, etc. and so I am pulling for the lighter weight guys to gain some respect and these next 2 events will play a big role in their future with the UFC.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs Glover Teixeira:

                Glover has gained some serious hype since joining the UFC but he is definitely in for his toughest test yet.  Rampage is a former dominant champ of the UFC and PRIDE, but seems to have lost his desire to fight at an elite level.  He WAS a dominant wrestler at some point in his career, but Jones and Bader exposed him as a subpar wrestler in MMA.  He said he knows Glover wants to immediately take this fight to the ground which greatly angers him.  He does not like fighters who just control people on the ground with wrestling, and most fans agree with him.  Trouble is that is exactly what should happen on January 26^th in Chicago.  I think Rampage is a great fighter and I will miss him in the octagon.  That said, he will get dominated by a better fighter who wants it more than he does.  Glover has a bright future and Rampage had a brilliant past.  He lost his desire to be great and he will fizzle out of the UFC with a subpar performance against a tough guy in Glover.  Teixeira via decision.

Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone vs Anthony "Showtime" Pettis:

The winner of this fight will take on Ben Henderson…..oh what’s that? Nevermind.  These top 5 lightweights have to take a backseat to Gilbert Melendez when it comes to getting their UFC title shot, but that does not diminish the importance of this fight.  Whoever comes out victorious will be the #3 guy in the lightweight division behind just Gil and Benson.  Gray Maynard, Jim Miller, and Eddie Alvarez are also near the top, so the winner might fight one of them in a top contender bout going into the future.  As for now, you have 2 exciting guys that do not like each other going at it with a ton on the line.  They both are great strikers with sick leg kicks.  They both can hang with some of the best wrestlers in the division.  They both have plenty of solid submission skills, including both being dynamite off their back with armbars and triangle chokes.  There is no limit to what either of these guys can achieve in their fighting careers.  Although they have never fought, they share a common opponent in Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson.  Cerrone is 0-2 against him in the WEC with a razor close decision loss in a Fight of the Year performance, and a 1^st round guillotine choke loss in the rematch.  Pettis beat him to win the WEC Lightweight Championship to be the last WEC champion.  I like both guys and would love to see either of them get a title shot at Henderson, but I think Pettis is on a mission.  I love Cowboy, but he does not have as much to prove and Pettis.  Pettis was given a title shot but the draw between Edgar and Maynard threw the whole division into a loop.  Pettis should come out of this victorious whether it be by submission, KO, or decision.  This is a matchup that could be as fun as the Lauzon vs Miller fight.  Get ready for some exciting fights at 155 because there are few boring fighters in this division!  My prediction: Pettis via submission, guillotine.

Erik Koch vs Ricardo Lamas:

                Unfortunately, I do not know much about these 2 guys because they have been on the under card for most of their fighting careers.  They are going to try and make their main card appearance a lasting impression as they kick off the Fox portion of this event.  Koch was originally scheduled to fight Aldo at UFC 153 but was replaced by Edgar when he sustained an injury.  Aldo then got hurt and rescheduled for UFC 156 against Edgar, not Koch.  Rather than be disgruntled and whine about it, he decided to fight another top 10 guy in Lamas to prove he deserves that title shot.  An unimpressive win gets him nowhere, but a knockout or submission in an exciting fight on national TV could make him a big enough PPV sell to take on the winner of Aldo/Edgar in the next 145lb title fight.  If he loses or is unimpressive in a win then Mendes, Jung, Porier, or even the Hioki/Guida winner could jump him in the title picture.  Koch has only 1 career loss and it was to Chad Mendes.  Lamas has a lot to gain from a win as well.  If he wins then he is looking at another top 5 guy in his next fight.  Both of these guys are young and have bright futures.  Hopefully they know what is on the line and come out swinging to put on a show.  I’m taking Koch via submission. (leglock??)

Preliminary Card on FX:

TJ Grant defeats Matt Wiman via submission (armbar)

Ryan Bader defeats Matyushenko via decision

Hatsu Hioki defeats Clay Guida via submission (RNC)
Mike Russow defeats Shawn Jordan via KO
Mike Stumpf defeats Pascal Krauss via submission (RNC)
Sean Spencer defeats Rafael Netal via decision
Preliminary Facebook fight:
Simeon Thoresen defeats David Mitchell via submission (RNC)

Brazil Vs. Bisping

Coming up this Saturday on FX, Michael Bisping will take on Vitor Belfort in Sau Paulo, Brazil.  Belfort is playing the role of spoiler, while trying to put on a show in front of his home crowd.  Bisping is looking to defeat the savvy veteran to gain a shot at fellow Brazilian Anderson Silva.  These are two dangerous fighters looking to put on a good fight on free tv.

With Chael Sonnen moving up to light heavyweight, Bisping has become the most outspoken person in the middleweight division.  In addition to this, he has become a top contender.  Many believe he even bested Sonnen in their top contender bout on Fox last year in January.  Outside of this close decision loss, he has won the last 5 fights he has been in.  Critics of Bisping are quick to point out how he holds people in the clinch too long and grinds out boring decisions; however, I think Bisping has to potential to get a statement KO of Vitor this Saturday.

In his last 7 fights, Belfort has only lost to seemingly unbeatable champs Anderson Silva and Jon Jones.  He had 5 fights in a row end in the 1st round before ALMOST submitting Jones in the first. Last time Belfort fought in Brazil, he took on "Rumble" Johnson in a match that biased officiating definitely influence.  Anthony Johnson took Belfort down with ease but only controlled him without doing too much damage.  Ref Dan Miragliotta stood them up multiple times almost instantly, where Belfort was more dangerous.  Eventually he clipped Rumble and jumped on him to sink in a first round submission with a rear-naked choke to give him the win in front of an insane home crowd.  Belfort will be dangerous like he always is, but will the crowd sway the officiating or even the judges like it did in the Johnson fight? Possibly.

Michael Bisping has his work cut out for him against the self-proclaimed "Old Lion," Vitor Belfort.  Bisping would make a big statement if he goes to Belfort's backyard and beats one of the most elite fighters in the UFC.  I see him grinding Belfort down early and knocking him out in the 4th round.  The crowd will be wild and pulling for Belfort, but Bisping has too many tools to give away this great opportunity.

If he wins, Bisping will finally get that fight he has been begging for.  Anderson Silva is insanely good and undefeated in the octagon.  If these two meet it will probably just result in the Brazilian staying the champ, but Bisping believes he has the tools to beet the Spider.  Chael was very insulting of Brazil as a country before his fight with Anderson at UFC 148, and Bisping will probably offend Brazil as well before either one of these 2 fights.  Americans have grown very weary of Bisping because of his trash talk to Dan Henderson on the Ultimate Fighter and his smug comments towards other middleweights.  Brazil now gets a turn to take a ride on the Bisping hating bandwagon.  Whether he loses to Belfort, loses to Silva, or shockingly takes the UFC middleweight crown, fans in America, the UK, and Brazil will be very entertained by Michael Bisping.  Love him or hate him, Bisping will be front and center in the middleweight division now, and likely into the future.

NHL Breakdown and Preseason Predictions

With the NHL entering a 48 game season, anything is possible.  Divisional games will be incredibly important entering this year, and for that reason I will be providing my take on how it will go down.

Lets start with the Eastern Conference:

Southeast Division:

1. Washington Capitals
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
3. Florida Panthers
4. Carolina Hurricanes
5. Winnipeg Jets

The Southeast is definitely not the best division in the league but this is a very evenly matched division.  We will wait to see if Ovechkin will return to his dominant self, but I see people like Ribeiro and Carlson stepping up for Washington to take the division.  I love Holtby, but am unsure if he can manage to be the guy all season long for them.  Tampa will rely on Stamkos and their powerplay to score most of their goals again, but the main reason I love them this year is newly acquired goalie Anders Lindback.  He was a great backup for Rinne in Nashville, who just spits out All Star caliber goalies like it is their job.  Florida was a surprise last year but Versteeg and Fleishman might not repeat their performances from last year and they will ultimately miss playoffs.  Staal brothers united will be fun but Carolina lacks depth.  Blake Wheeler will step up and be elite for Winnipeg in the future, but with their lack of talent and stupid amount of travel (no west conference games), they will have a tough, long year.

Northeast Division:

1. Boston Bruins
2. Buffalo Sabres
3. Toronto Maple Leafs
4. Ottawa Senators
5. Montreal Canadiens

The Bruins will be a team that plays a tough brand of hockey and this suits them well for a short season, as well as playoffs.  Tuukka Rask will be fine replacing Tim Thomas and the Bruins will win the Northeast division again.  Buffalo let me down last year but I believe they have the talent to be a force in the east.  Ryan Miller needs to play elite again while Jason Pominville, Christian Ehrhoff,  Robin Regehr, and newly acquire Steve Ott and Cody Hodgson need to play to up to their potential for Buffalo to have success.  Toronto may or may not have Luongo when the season is over but I cannot help but take them at #3 in the division.  I can only hope Toronto does well under its new coach Randy Carlyle.  I picked Ottawa to finish 30th in the league last year and they surprised me to take the 8th seed and make playoffs.  They had a surprisingly high-powered offense behind Norris winner Erik Karlsson but I am going to assume this was a fluke and Ottawa will be back to mediocrity.  The Habs will finish last again because they have little talent and still have not signed their only good player PK Subban.

Atlantic Division:

1. New York Rangers
2. Pittsburgh Penguins
3. Philadelphia Flyers
4. New Jersey Devils
5. New York Islanders

This division was tough for me to call due to it being stacked with talent.  The Rangers have the best goalie in the east and added Nash to an already filthy lineup.  Needless to say they will be an elite team in 2013.  Pittsburgh lost a Staal but they still have 2 of the 3 best centers in the NHL and plenty of depth at forward, defense, and goalie.  They will be at the top of the division as well.  Philly is always a fun team and they can score at will as well as play the toughness game.  With their veterans like Briere and Hartnell working with youngsters like Schenn, Read, and Couturier they should find the score sheet more than anybody else.  Depending on how Bryzgalov decides to play will determine how far they go this year.  The Devils went to the Stanley Cup finals last year yet they are still near the bottom of this stacked division.  Kovalchuk, Henrique, and Parise was one of the most dominant lines in hockey last year but Parise is gone now.  Elias and Brodeur are still incredible but they are not getting any younger.  I see them falling off a bit and missing playoffs due to the weird short season schedule.  The Islanders are on the way up.  I truly believe they are just a year or 2 away from not only a playoff appearance, but cup contention.  Strome is destroying the CHL along with other prospects such as Griffin Reinhart.  Tavares and company have a bright future as long as Snow doesn't destroy their team but unfortunately I do not see this being their breakout season.  Maybe next year Islander fans (if there are any).

Now on to the Western Conference:

Northwest Division:

1. Vancouver Canucks
2. Minnesota Wild
3. Colorado Avalanche
4. Edmonton Oilers
5. Calgary Flames

As much as I hate to admit it, Vancouver SHOULD have the Presidents Trophy wrapped up already.  This SHOULD be their year.  Vancouver has the tough task of traveling significantly more than any other team in the league.  Luongo has the task of playing under the constant scrutiny of fans no matter where he goes.  This all hindered Vancouver's cup run a few years ago.  This year they will still travel more than anyone else, but over 48 games it will not be as taxing as a full 82 game season would be on the players.  They will still be fresh come playoff time.  Luongo, as of now, is still on the roster and will likely split time with Schneider until they decide who to go with.  Throw in the fact that they have by far the easiest schedule in the league (28 games against the Wild, Avs, Oil, and Flames), and you have a recipe for success.  Vancouver has everything going their way so there is no excuse for them to finish anything other than 1st place.

As for the rest of the Northwest, Minnesota made the most noise in the offseason.  Suter and Parise are both HUGE signings.  Parise, along with Heatley, Setoguchi, and Koivu, will provide a large amount of offense for the team.  Although I believe Suter is one of the top 5 best defensemen in the entire NHL and not simply a product of Shea Weber, he will have to carry this Wild team on his back all season long.  Other than Suter there are no defensemen on this team that should be anything other than depth players on an NHL team.  Given the weak schedule the Wild have, they should be able to sneak in the playoffs as a low seed.  Colorado has enough talent to be a good team, and an incredible youngster and now captain in Gabriel Landeskog.  This team, like the Islanders will be a team of the future but are not quite there yet.  Edmonton is in the same group as Colorado and the Islanders.  Expect Eberle, Hall, Yakupov, Gagner, and RNH to dominate for years to come but not this year.  As for Calgary, as much as I would love for them to finish 9th and get a low draft pick as usual, they do not bring anything to the table to make me consider them relevant and they should end up in the bottom of the pack in the west.

Pacific Division:

1. San Jose Sharks
2. Dallas Stars
3. Los Angeles Kings
4. Phoenix Coyotes
5. Anaheim Ducks

San Jose is one of my favorite teams so I may be a little biased here, but there is no reason they should not reign supreme on top of the Pacific Division as they usually do.  They are healthy, they have young and veteran players, and they are coming into this season as underdogs.  Everyone will be talking about LA and sleeping on this stacked Sharks team.  Niemi should have a bounce back year thanks to an incredible defense in front of him.  Brad Stuart was one of the quietest, yet biggest, moves of the offseason.  The achilles heel of the Sharks' season last year was their penalty killing.  They brought in Brad Stuart, Adam Burish, and veteran coach Larry Robinson to address this issue and it will be solved.  Dallas comes in as #2 as my sleeper pick. They have been a game or two away from playoffs the past 2 seasons.  Kari Lehtonen is a stud between the pipes.  Benn, Eriksson, and Ryder proved to be one of the most effective lines in the league last year.  Adding veterans Ray Whitney, Derek Roy and Jaromir Jagr to help Brendan Morrow lead this team will go a long way.  Their defense is a little sketchy but I think this is a quietly solid roster that could make noise in 2013.  The Stanley Cup winning LA Kings do not have the hangover of the short offseason to worry about, but a knee injury to Anze Kopitar to worry about instead.  Their best player went down to a knee injury but this team has amazing defense, mixing young studs with savvy veterans, to compliment their MVP goalie Jon Quick.  The offense ran dry from time to time last year but LA should muster enough goals to sneak into playoffs again as a dangerous 6-8 seed team again.  Phoinix held on to Doan but lost Whitney to free agency.  Smith is a monster in net but they just do not have enough scoring to be a top level team.  The only reason they MIGHT sneak into playoffs is because of Smith and his great defense consisting of Michalek, Yandle, and the soon to be All Star Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  Anaheim still has the big 4 goal scorers in Perry, Getzlaf, Ryan, and Teemu Selanne but unfortunately for them they have nobody else worthwhile on their roster.  Hiller is good but not great.  I hope the Finnish Flash gets traded to a playoff team before he retires, but he seems to be happy in Anaheim for now.

Central Division:

1. St. Louis Blues
2. Chicago Blackhawks
3. Nashville Predators
4. Detroit Red Wings
5. Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blues were a big surprise last year finishing 2nd in the west and really putting on a defensive clinic the NHL was not ready for.  They had 2 shutdown goalies in Halak and Elliot and a good defensive team coached by the defensive genius Ken Hitchcock.  Pieterangelo and Shattenkirk are two of the most promising defensemen in the league.  The Blues offense is capable of putting the puck in the net, but they have a roster full of defensively minded guys and that is how they find success.  With Hitchcock and captain David Backes at the helm of the ship, the Blues should take the central two years in a row.  Chicago can flat out score goals, but they were similar to the Flyers last year in their inability to keep goals out.  Crawford and Emery struggled mightily in net but I think the Blackhawks can figure that out to finish 2013 with a solid year and ultimately take the west's 4th seed.  Nashville lost Suter but they have so many young defense in their system that they do not need to fret.  Blum, Ellis, Hillen, and Josi round of the young studs joining Weber, Gill, Klein, and Hannan at defense.  With such depth and a world class goalie in Pekka Rinne, Nashville should be solid again.  They have 4 lines they can roll on offense that are all capable of scoring despite the lack of star players.  I am going to skip Detroit for a second to quickly explain that Columbus sucks and will be 30th in the NHL to nobody's surprise, whether Mason or Bobrovsky are in net.

I already know half of the Detroit audience closed this article the moment they saw Detroit ranked 4th in the division according to me.  Before you discount me as not credible and a Detroit hater let me explain myself.  Detroit recently lost the hall of famer Nick Lidstrom to retirement and Brad Stuart in a trade with San Jose.  Obviously losing Lidstrom is detrimental, but Stuart is quietly a solid defenseman and the team's best penalty killer.  I know Kronwall, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg are elite players but outside of that I really do not love the Red Wings' roster.  Cleary, Franzen, Bertuzzi and White are vastly over rated and have seen their best days already. Filppula could emerge as a great player and leader but he can only do so much.  Helm is fast and a huge part of the team but he will never be the offensive player fans want him to be.  Gustav Nyqvist is not expected to make the roster but he could be a great player in the future despite his lack in size.  Bottom line, when I look at the roster I cannot get past the giant hole I see on defense.  Kronwall, White, Colaiacovo, Quincy, Kindle, Smith, and Ericsson is not the ideal defensive lineup by any means.  That means the playoff hopes of Detroit relies on Howard.  He can either prove me wrong and step up as an elite goalie in the league or be exposed as mediocre.  Either way I do not love the Red Wings' chances entering 2013, sorry my Detroit fans.

Here is how I see it playing out

East:

1. New York Rangers
2. Boston Bruins
3. Washington Capitals
4. Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Philadelphia Flyers
6. Tampa Bay Lightning
7. Buffalo Sabres
8. Toronto Maple Leafs
9. New Jersey Devils
10. Florida Panthers
11. Ottawa Senators
12. Carolina Hurricanes
13. New York Islanders
14. Winnipeg Jets
15. Montreal Canadiens

West:

1. Vancouver Canucks
2. San Jose Sharks
3. St. Louis Blues
4. Chicago Blackhawks
5. Dallas Stars
6. Nashville Predators
7. Los Angeles Kings
8. Minnesota Wild
9. Detroit Red Wings
10. Phoenix Coyotes
11. Colorado Avalanche
12. Edmonton Oilers
13. Anaheim Ducks
14. Calgary Flames
15. Columbus Blue Jackets

The Lockout is Over

It may have taken a considerable amount of time but finally civility reigns and hockey is back.

What can we expect from the shortened season?

• Salary cap scrambles: First things first, teams need to get their rosters ready to go and do it fast.  The salary cap usually moves in an upward direction, but the lockout has caused a salary cap dip going into this year.  It was expected to be 67 million going into this year but will end up being only 64.3 million.  As of now, only 8 teams exceed the cap according to CapGeek but many teams are dangerously close.  There will have to be some sacrifices by these teams to get below the cap and get there fast.  The lack of time gives teams little leverage when it comes to negotiations, so good luck to Vancouver getting any value from Luongo this week.  Also, this low cap will result in a very boring trade deadline due to financial restrictions.  But when the deadline is not even halfway through the season's completion who really cares about that anyway?
• No more obnoxious contracts: To teams like the Islanders this is a relief, for they will not make the mistake of signing a terrible goalie with injury problems forever.  For con artists like New Jersey and Minnesota who really bend the rules and sign players to 13-15 year contracts this signals the end.  The rules are simple:
• Contracts to resign a player have an 8 year cap
• Contracts to sign a free agent have a 7 year cap
• Mysterious playoff teams:  Sometimes in sports even the worst teams in the league can go on a hot streak while the best the league has to offer goes on a skid.  Last year's Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings are testament to that.  They went cold and seemed to forget how to score goals.  The GM Dean Lombardi was forced to fire the team's coach and make a blockbuster trade for Jeff Carter to jump start the offense and get a team with high hopes to the playoffs.  From there everyone knows the West Conference's 8th seed dominated their way to a Stanley Cup.  If last year was a shortened season the LA Kings would not have squeaked into the postseason to go on that incredible Stanley Cup run.  A 48 game schedule allows for someone like Detroit to miss the playoffs for the first time in 21 years or maybe, just maybe, allow a team like Toronto to sneak in for the first time since 03-04.
• Injuries could derail a season: When 82 games are played, players will miss games.  Almost every player misses at least a small handful of the 82 scheduled games for injury, sickness, fatigue, or personal reasons.  When a key player misses time the team usually suffers in their absence.  This will be magnified in the shortened year.  If someone as important as Pekka Rinne or Steven Stamkos goes down with an injury, their teams will not just suffer, they will be hopeless.  Anze Kopitar and Claude Giroux are two important players that have sustained injuries playing in Europe and this could play a big role in the success or failure of the Kings and Flyers.
• Excitement:  Last but not least, fans should expect an exciting season.  It was painful for players and fans alike to wait this long for hockey.  Expect the players to come out hard and ready to go come opening night.  Games will have more on the line due to the short year.  Rivalries will be buzzing due to the lack of East vs West matchups.  Divisional teams will play each other 7 times and the other 10 teams in the conference will do a home and home.  By the end of the year there will be new rivalries, and stronger rivalries because of this scheduling.

Updated Fighter Rankings (1-2-13)

The time from January 12th until February 2nd will be a busy time for MMA fans and fighters alike.  Here is how I have the divisions stacking up heading into a busy January full of fun!

Pound for pound rankings:

1. Anderson Silva
2. Jon Jones
3. Jose Aldo
4. Georges St. Pierre
5. Dominick Cruz
6. Benson Henderson
7. Renan Barao
8. Cain Velasquez
9. Demetrious Johnson
10. Dan Henderson

Heavyweight:

1. Cain Velasquez
2. Junior dos Santos
3. Daniel Cormier
4. Fabricio Werdum
5. Alistair Overeem
6. Frank Mir
7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8. Josh Barnett
9. Antonio Silva
10. Travis Browne

Light Heavywight:

1. Jon Jones
2. Dan Henderson
3. Lyoto Machida
4. Alexander Gustafsson
5. Rashad Evans
6. Phil Davis
7. Shogun Rua
8. Glover Teixeira
9. Gegard Mousasi
10. Ryan Bader

Middleweight:

1. Anderson Silva
2. Chris Wiedman
3. Michael Bisping
4. Yushin Okami
5. Vitor Belfort
6. Tim Boetsch
7. Luke Rockhold
8. Costa Philippou
9. Alan Belcher
10. Mark Munoz

Welterwight:

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Johny Hendricks
3. Nick Diaz
4. Carlos Condit
5. Rory Macdonald
6. Jon Fitch
7. Nate Marquadt
8. Demian Maia
9. Dong Hyun Kim
10. Martin Kampmann

Lightweight:

1. Benson Henderson
2. Gray Maynard
3. Gilbert Melendez
4. Anthony Pettis
5. Jim Miller
6. Donald Cerrone
7. Eddie Alvarez
8. Shinya Aoki
9. Nate Diaz
10. Jamie Varner

Featherweight:

1. Jose Aldo
2. Frankie Edgar
3. Erik Koch
4. Chad Mendes
5. Chan Sung Jung
6. Dustin Poirier
7. Hatsu Hioki
8. Clay Guida
9. Denis Siver
10. Ricardo Lamas

Bantamweight:

1. Dominick Cruz
2. Renan Barao
3. Michael McDonald
4. Urijah Faber
5. Eddie Wineland
6. Scott Jorgensen
7. Brian Bowles
8. Brad Pickett
9. Rafael Assuncao
10. Mike Easton

Flyweight:

1. Demetrious Johnson
2. John Dodson
3. Ian McCall
4. Joe Benavidez
5. John Moraga

UFC 155 Thoughts

UFC 155 will be remembered for primarily 3 things: Cain Velasquez regaining his heavyweight title, Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller being awesome at everything they do, and middleweights letting us down with lackluster performances.

This is a night that started on Facebook.  The only submission of the night was recorded in the first fight and it was a beauty.  John Moraga submitted Chris Cariaso with a sick arm in guillotine choke to get the night started.  The Facebook card heated up with youngster Max Holloway battling Leonard Garcia to a controversial split decision victory.  All 3 rounds were close so I find it hard to argue against the decision although I believe Garcia got unlucky with this loss.  Then heavyweight Todd Duffee capped off the Facebook portion of UFC 155 with a vicious TKO of Phil De Fries.  So far so good through 3 fights, I was very entertained.

The rest of the prelims were solid as well. Myles Jury built off his TUF appearance and stayed undefeated by outclassing his opponent for 3 rounds.  Jamie Varner followed Jury up with an exciting battle with Melvin Guillard and won a puzzling split decision.  I thought the fight was a pretty tough one to score, but one judge scored it a 30-27 win for Guillard while the other 2 judges scored it 30-27 in favor of Varner.  I personally had it 29-28 Varner but regardless of who won and how, it was an exciting fight that puts Jamie right back into the mix at 155 lbs.  Erik Perez won the next fight via 1st round TKO making him a HUGE prospect and threat to the bantamweight division.  The FX prelims ended with Eddie Wineland outboxing Brad Pickett in an exciting match.  Pickett stayed tough in the pocket the entire fight but could not muster enough to win the fight and Wineland won via split decision.

After the prelims, my predictions came in at 4-3 which I was ok with since I felt Leonard got robbed.  My predictions got a little dicey with the main card, since my 3 middleweights let me down in disappointing performances.

The PPV card started with Chris Leben laying an egg against Derek Brunson.  Leben was outwrestled and did little to get out from under him.  When striking, Leben did not resemble the dangerous striker that held his own against Brian Stann and knocked out Wanderlei Silva.  Joe Rogan put it very nicely saying it looked like he was trying to punch Brunson while standing in quicksand.  Dana White eluded to some personal problems Leben was facing in the post fight interview, but he said he was not happy with the fight as it was a snoozer.

Next, Alan Belcher looked to win his rematch against Okami.  He was easily wrestled to the ground and could not get the powerful Okami off of him.  When standing, Belcher was afraid to get taken down so could not throw leg kicks like he normally does.  And although Belcher landed some combinations, Yushin would implement the clinch and throw Alan against the cage whenever he did so.  Okami was able to outlast Belcher to take a unanimous decision victory.

Tim Boetsch, like Belcher, was a top contender in the middleweight division coming into his UFC 155 fight against Chris Weidman.  Weidman had to cancel and Costa Philippou jumped in at the chance to fight a top 5 middleweight.  Costa came in and implemented his game plan on his way to a TKO victory over Boetsch.  It was clear something was wrong with Tim.  Joe Rogan said multiple times it seemed like he had a broken hand or wrist or something because Tim would not throw punches with any frequency after the first round.  Boetsch was getting outworked and went for a few takedowns before eventually being outdone.  Costa finished him in the third to make a big statement in the middleweight division, despite it being a lackluster performance on the excitement aspect of fighting.

The co-main event of Jim Miller versus Joe Lauzon was the definition of a perfect match up of fighters and it did not let us down one bit.  I thought this would easily be Fight of the Night, which it was.  Lauzon has developed a reputation for taking home Submission of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses every fight.  He kept it going against Miller.  In the first round of this epic fight, Miller got loose and never stopped putting a beating on Lauzon.  He landed kicks and punches at will and really never let up on the pressure.  Late in the round he got in a clinch and threw absolutely devastating elbows which hacked Joe's face open.  The second round started out as much of the same, and then Jim went in for a takedown.  He got it and held the top position for a while although he did little from it.  Lauzon's face bled into a puddle on the canvas but he did not let up.  Lauzon eventually got a successful sweep after an awkward stoppage by ref Yves Lavigne and stole the round.  The third round started with Miller kicking Joe's feet from under him.  They exchanged until they were absolutely exhausted.  Lauzon in the final 20 seconds went for a flying scissor heel hook that was very close to being the one of the greatest submissions ever.  Miller narrowly escaped only to be put in a guillotine choke.  He held his own for the waning seconds of the fight to hang on to a decision victory.  This fight was incredible start to finish and saved this card from being a disaster.

The main event had a tough act to follow but it did a pretty solid job in doing so.  Many people thought Cain was unbeatable until he fought Cigano for the first time and was knocked stupid in the first round and lost his belt.  Cain came back to destroy Bigfoot Silva and received his rematch with the champ Junior dos Santos.  Now the shoe is on the other foot.  Many thought JDS to be the same unbeatable force Cain once was.  Well it turns out he is human too.  Cain Velasquez came out of the gate like a mad man.  He came out fast, had good head movement, and pushed the pace.  He did what he could not do in the first fight, secure a takedown.  His wrestling looked spectacular in the entire fight.  Late in the first round was when it all changed though.  Untouchable Junior threw a jab that Cain simply ate as he cocked back his right hand for a massive punch to the jaw of JDS.  This rocked him and got him really beat up in the first round.  After this he looked beat up and tired.  Junior could not stop the takedowns of Cain and could not muster enough energy to throw the vicious combinations we became so used to seeing from him.  Cain mauled him for 5 rounds but could not finish Junior.  I give credit to JDS for surviving the duration of the fight, be he needs to do some serious work if he plans to win the rubber match between them.  This was a great fight and I was happy to see Cain on top again.

The middleweights let me down so I started out 0-3 in my PPV predictions.  However, predicting a FOTN decision win by Miller and an upset by Cain Velasquez helped my predictions seem more legit. (Most people had Alan and Tim winning so I don't feel dumb for picking them).

Overall I finished UFC 155 with a disappointing 6-6 split.  I am now at 12/23 overall at 52% but I am new to the game, have a small sample size, and planning on improving that ASAP.