firepowr.net

The biggest boxing match of the decade is happening tonight at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Floyd Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton. Both fighters are undefeated. Mayweather, the outspoken, brash and overwhelming confident fighter will try to use his speed and technique to stop the British slugger. This fight will be exciting. Not because of the big attraction, but their contrasting styles of boxing. Mayweather is the favorite, but I see Hatton pulling out the win with his relentless pressure and powerful body shots.

The Ultimate Fighter Finale is tonight. The finalist; Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer will be fighting for the six-figure UFC contract. Ironically, Danzig and Speer were the only team mates on the Hughes team to win also made it to the finals. Headlining the event is the Roger Huerta and Clay Guida fight. Both fighters are known for their fast-paced fights. Clay Guida have been in battles with some top fighters making him the more experienced fighter. Huerta an up and coming fighter who has racked up a string of wins and beating his oppenent convincingly has built a large fan base.

My picks are Danzig and Guida. Danzig’s experience and skill will trump Spears freakish power. Guida will be Huerta’s toughest opponent to date, and it’ll be Huerta’s lack of experience that will put him on the losing end of a decision.

There are dozens of MMA organizations worldwide. There are some that fans don’t even know exist and there are those that stand out such as UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC, K-1, and the newly formed M1. Similarly to the “Dot Com boom” of the 2000/2001 and the Real Estate market it ended abruptly and saw the decline of many businesses and jobs. MMA falls into the category of a fast-rising industry only to be stop dead in its track due to an over glorified and over estimated forecast of its own success.

Regulated business-competition is healthy for any industry, but when an industry starts to exceed its boundaries trouble may arise. Ironically, the abundance of these MMA organizations will cannibalize each other by spreading talented fighters thinly across different organizations. Sure, fighters will benefit by going to the organization that pays them best, but will they be fighting top competition? Look at Randy Couture, the Heavyweight champ of the UFC. And Fedor Emelianenko, the undisputed Heavyweight champ outside of UFC, according to fans and many others. Will we ever see the two meet up in an MMA match? It depends. As long as they are in different organizations the chances are very unlikely even when fan are willing to pay their hard earned money to see it.

I’m not saying there should only be one MMA organization. Instead, the industry should take a step back and take a look at the big picture. They need to take a look at what the fans want and what the fighters want. A perfect balance between the two can only bring success. No one wants to see a champion in one organization beating up-and-coming fighters when there are perfectly 2 or 3 contenders elsewhere in the sport that can bring a challenge. Fans want great match-ups and exciting fights. An organization won’t be successful if they can not produce what the fans want. Fighters want to be compensated for what they contribute to the sport and to be champions. How far can a career fighter go in an organization when their top fighter in their organization is not the best. To be a champion you have to fight and beat the best. And if your organization doesn’t have the best then their fighters have no where to go.

Taking the words from Mike Goldberg (UFC’s color commentator), MMA is on a “meteoric rise”(isn’t that an oxymoron?). But how high before it falls and crashes? When, not if, the MMA bubble bursts the fighters will be the first to feel its impact. MMA organizations will not have the monetary funds to pay their top fighters or even mid-tier fighters and will file bankruptcy. If they are lucky, a larger organization will buy them out, but only keeping a handful of the top fighters (look what happen to PrideFC). In the end, only a few organizations will be left. The growth of the industry will come to a halt as a career in MMA is not as lucrative anymore.

It’s almost like a civil war. It takes a drastic event that sacrifices many innocent lives, in this case the fighters and fans, to have a revolutionary change. Maybe after an MMA bubble burst will we get unified MMA rules and judging, a single governing MMA body, and World Champions that are actually World Champions.

The event is this Saturday. A lot of the people, mostly on Sherdog.com, are posting about how weak the card is. The lack of big-name fighters and a title fight leaves them wanting more. I have to disagree. This fight card is badass!

UFC will be introducing a couple of Japanese veterans brought over from PrideFC; Akihiro Gono and Ryo Chonan. These guys may not be well-known in the US but in Japan they’ve made a name for themselves. Gono’s skill and experience (Over 35 fights) will make it a dangerous fight for any opponent in his division. Chonan was one of Japan’s up and coming prospect. He was the last person to defeat Anderson Silva (excluding DQ fight with Okami). Chonan is fighting Karo Parysian, a Judo practioner, that have been in some wars and beaten top level fighters. If Chonan wins, it’ll quickly put him in title contention.

Marcus “Maximus” Aurelio is also a new addition to UFC. He is a very dangerous fighter in the lightweight division. One of his biggest wins came from choking out Takanori Gomi with an arm triangle.

One of the fights I’m excited about is the Frank Edgar v. Spencer Fisher. Edgar was an unknown that was brought into the UFC to be defeated by up-and-coming and seemingly indestructable Tyson Griffin, but Edgar surprised everyone with his lightning quick hands and solid wrestling and pulled out a huge upset win. Spencer Fisher is a no-nonsense brawler that is looking to hurt you. These two’s fighting style will showcase an awesome stand-up war.

Houston Alexander is a riding on this huge wave of hype-ness. His wins over Jardine and Sakara has put him in the spotlight. With a 2-0 record in UFC and all coming by KO has made him popular with the casual fans. I’m still not sold on the Alexander bandwagon. But if he can pull a win against Thiago Silva then I will definitely consider him to be legit. Thiago Silva, is no joke, whatsoever. He’s well-rounded and he can submit you or out-strike you on your feet. Alexander relies on his freakish strength to win fights and it’s going to be interesting to see how Silva will try to nullify it.

The main event is neither a huge name draw or a title fight, but instead it’s two TUF winners from different seasons. Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans. Both are undefeated in their career. Bisping is coming off a contraversial win and Evans is coming off a draw from the Tito Ortiz fight. The winner of this fight will likely be setup for a title-shot soon. Bisping is well rounded and loves to strike; throwing punches, kicks, and knees from all angles. His ground game is solid. Matt Hamil wasn’t able to control him on the ground and I doubt Evan’s would be able either. Evans is a solid wrestler and uses it skillfully to control his opponent, but in Evans’s last few fights he showed his strong standup skills by KO-ing Salmon with a gut wrenching kick to the head, and putting Lambert to sleep with some vicious pounding. This match-up could be a big slugfest or a technical wrestling match, but in the end only one will walk out still undefeated, unless its some gay-ass draw.