UFC News and Results
Kevin Wallace's UFC 112 Preview: Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia, BJ Penn vs. Frank Edgar, Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie, and More
By Kevin Wallace
Apr 7, 2010 - 7:27 PM

The UFC makes its debut in Abu Dhabi this Saturday with a pretty good card and two of the best pound for pound fighters in the world defending their championships.   Due to the time difference, the event will be available to watch live at 1pm on Saturday as well as its regular 10pm start on pay per view.   There will be no prelims available on Spike due to this and from the looks of it, this will be an outdoor show.   Should be a good environment for some great fights.

UFC Middleweight Championship- Anderson “The Spider” Silva vs Demian Maia-   Anderson is the most dominant UFC champion of all time and has slowly been working his way up to lightheavyweight where he has been just as successful.   With precision striking, fantastic footwork and underrated Jui Jitsu game, Silva really does seem unbeatable but as much as everyone believes this may be a cake walk for Silva, this is a big test for him as Anderson has never faced anyone with Maia’s submission game since arriving in the UFC.   Demian Maia is taking this fight after Vitor Belfort, the originally scheduled opponent was unable to compete due to an injury.   Maia has only tasted defeat once in his career following a loss by KO to Nate Marquardt but unfortunately that was two fights ago and Maia has only fought once since winning a unanimous decision over Dan Miller in a forgettable fight.   I think Maia has all the tools to submit Anderson but I don’t know if he’ll be able to get Anderson to the ground. If he can, there is no doubt that Maia could finish this.   Maia has gone on record to say that he will avoid striking with Anderson at all costs and we know Anderson will come in quick and try to end this in the first with strikes.   Maia was knocked out by Marquardt on the first punch thrown by him in the fight and a lot remains to be seen as to whether Maia can take the big shots or Marquardt just landed a lucky shot.   This should be a lot better then Anderson’s last battle with a submission specialist in Thales Leites but then again McMahon vs Hart from Mania was better then that.  

UFC Lightweight Championship- “The Prodigy” BJ Penn vs “The Answer” Frank Edgar-   BJ is unstoppable at lightweight and easily one of the best fighters in the world, has been for most of his career.   I’m not saying Edgar is going to be destroyed here because Frank is a much better fighter then people give him credit for but BJ should be able to take this whether it stays standing or it goes to the ground.   Both men are quick and never put on a boring show and I don’t think this will be any different than that but I see this going much the same way as Penn’s fights with Ken Flo and Diego, either a late stoppage or the fight going all five rounds.   The rumor is that BJ will be leaving lightweight following this fight.   As of now it’s just a rumor but I wouldn’t doubt this happening whatsoever.

Matt Hughes vs Renzo Gracie- Two true legends of the sport face one another in a fight that pumps me up, although I would preferred for it to happen 5 years ago.   Matt Hughes is winding down his career and seems to be looking for big fights as opposed to another serious run at a title shot and Renzo is definitely one of those big fights he’s looking for.   Renzo is easily the most charismatic Gracie in MMA and one of the few of them to switch to a more MMA style of fighting as opposed to most of the rest of the family who have stuck mainly to Gracie Jui Jitsu in MMA.   Renzo is 43 and hasn’t fought in 3 years, as much as Hughes only seems to fight every 9-12 months now, he still has been facing better competition then Gracie and should be able to take this one.   If you’re a fan of knockouts or fast action this may not be for you as I’m sure there will be a great deal of strategy and feeling out between the two.

Kendal “Da Spyda” Grove vs Mark “The Philippine Wrecking Machine” Munoz-   Both men have been inconsistent in the UFC and this fight sees both coming off impressive finishes in their previous fights.   Kendal has a distinct reach advantage against all of his opponents due to his tall frame and this has helped him greatly in submitting guys from his back but at times it seems like Kendal crumbles when facing a good striker.   Munoz is a good striker and on paper should be able to finish Grove but if he is over aggressive he may find himself trying to land punches while on top as Grove ties him up for a triangle choke or armbar.   This fight could really go either way and should also be entertaining.

Terry Etim vs Rafael Dos Anjos-   Etim is one of the best up and comers in the UFC and is quickly growing by leaps and pounds, his reach and lankiness has been effective in submitting 11 of his 14 wins.   Etim has won his last four fights in the UFC and has only lost to Rich Clementi and Gleison Tibau, two men who fight fairly similar to Etim’s opponent, Rafael Dos Anjos.   Dos Anjos is 2-2 in the UFC having won his previous two contests.   Dos Anjos has consistent and strong takedowns and always looking for the submission.   Even in his two defeats he looked great in both contests, putting Jeremy Stephens on his back when needed and almost submitting Tyson Griffin in a difficult to look at variation of a knee bar.   This is a classic fight between two ground game guys and will most likely be contested on the feet.   If this is the opener it should set the tempo for a great night of fights.

In Other Fights:

Rick Story vs Nick Osipczak

Matt Veach vs Paul Kelly

Jon Madsen vs Mustapha Al-Turk

Phil Davis vs Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson

Brad “Bad” Blackburn vs Demarques Jhonson

Paul Taylor vs John Gunderson

Upcoming MMA Cards and Rumoured Matches:

Strikeforce on CBS (April 17^th)

Middleweight Title- Jake Shields vs “Hollywood” Dan Henderson

Lightheavyweight Title- Gegard Mousasi vs “King” Mo Lawal

Lightweight Title- Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez vs Shinya Aoki

Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs Tim Stout

WEC 48 (April 24^th from Sacramento, California)

Jose Aldo vs Urijah “The California Kid” Faber

Benson Henderson vs “The Cowboy” Donald Cerrone

Mike Thomas Brown vs Manny Gamburyan

Anthony Njokuani vs Shane Roller

Brandon “The Viper” Visher vs Tyler Toner

Takeya Mizugaki vs Rani Yahya

Anthony Pettis vs Alex Karalexis

Brad “One Punch” Picket vs Demetrious Johnson

Scott Jorgenson vs Antonio Banuelos

Mackens Semerzier vs Anthony “Cheesesteak” Morrison

Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia vs Chan Sung “The Korean Zombie” Jung

UFC 113 (May 8^th from Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Lightheavyweight Title-“The Dragon” Lyoto Machida vs Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout vs Jeremy Stephens

Jonathan “The Roadrunner” Goulet vs Marcus Davis

Patrick “The Predator” Cote vs Alan “The Talent” Belcher

TJ Grant vs Johny Hendricks

Kimbo Slice vs Matt Mitrione

Paul “SEMTEX” Daley vs Josh Koscheck

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor vs Tim Credeur

Chad Corvin vs Joey “Mexicutioner” Beltran

Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Michael “The Joker” Guymon

Nick Catone vs John Salter

Strikeforce on Showtime (May 15^th from St. Louis)

Heavyweight Title- “The Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem vs Brett Rogers

Fabricio Werdum vs Fedor Emelianenko

Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski vs Antonio “Big Foot” Silva

Lyle “Fancy Pant” Beerbohm vs Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro

Roger Gracie vs Kevin “The Monster” Randleman

Din “Dinyero” Thomas vs Ricardo Myorga

Falaniko “Niko” Vitale vs Murilo “Ninja” Rua

Nick “The Goat” Thompson vs Eduardo Pamplona

UFC 114 (May 29^th from Las Vegas, Nevada)

“Sugar” Rashad Evans vs Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Michael” The Count” Bisping vs Dan Miller

Dan “The Upgrade” Lauzon vs Efrain Escudero

Todd Duffee vs Mike Russow

John Hathaway vs Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez

Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira vs Forrest Griffin

Luiz Arthur “Banha” Cane vs Cyrille “Snake” Diabate

Joe Brammer vs Aaron Riley

Aaron Simpson vs “The Crippler” Chris Leben

Jesse Forbes vs Ryan Jensen

Dong Hyun Kim vs Amir Sadollah

Melvin Guillard vs Thiago Tavares

UFC 115 (June 12^th from Vamcover, British Columbia, Canada)

Tito Ortiz vs “The Iceman” Chuck Liddell

Rich “Ace” Franklin vs Randy “The Natural” Couture

Carlos Condit vs Rory MacDonald

Jesse Lennox vs Mike “Quicksand” Pyle

Evan Dunham vs Tyson Griffin

Gilbert Yvel vs Ben Rothwell

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs Pat Barry

Paulo Thiago vs Martin Kampmann

Peter Sobotta vs James Wilks

Mac Danzig vs Matt Wiman

TUF 11 Finale (June 19^th from Las Vegas, Nevada)

James McSweeney vs Travis Browne

“The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine vs Matt Hamill

Aaron Simpson vs “The Crippler” Chris Leben

World Victory Road: Sengoku Raiden Championship 13 (June 20^th from Japan)

Masanori Kanehara vs Marlon Sandro

UFC 116 ( Las Vegas, Nevada)

Heavyweight Title- Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin

Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva vs Yoshiro “Sexyama” Akiyama

Krzysztof Soszynski vs Stephan Bonnar

TUF Season 11

Last week was the first episode of the newest season of TUF and as with the most recent seasons, the fighters had to compete to get in the house.   In the past, the UFC has aired the entire fights throughout two episodes but this year they edited most of the fights and even showed a couple full one’s so that by the end of the episode we had seen everyone who would be on the show, win their fights.   Chuck and Tito as coaches is going to make for some awesome television as Chuck made a couple comments directed at Tito throughout the episode.   This is the first of many and with previews of this season shown after the episode, there will be lots of interesting things happening this season.   Neither coach was able to pick their team for the first episode but will most likely do that this Wednesday.   With all of the fighters officially listed lets take a look at them.

Jamie “The Chosyn 1” Yager (2-1) Yager showed some scary leg kicks in his prelim fighting ending it by knkockout within the first minute.   Very aggressive fighter who’s both victories came by tko.   Has never been to the third round.

Brad Tavares (4-0)   Has finished each fight by either submission or tko.   Never gone passed a second round.   Trains out of Team Tompkins.

Kris McCray (5-0)   Three of his fights have ended in the first minute.   Four of his victories have come by submission and three of those were to a rear naked choke.Has never been to the second round.

James Hammortree (5-1)-   Only defeat was to UFC’s John Salter by submission in the third round.   All fights were ended by tko or ko in the first round.   Won his second fight in 8 seconds and third fight in 5 seconds.

Nick Ring (10-0) Hailing out of Calgary…….Alberta, Canada.   Started his career defeating Bill Mahood, has fought for 8 years.

Kyle Noke (16-4-1)   One of the favourites to win, has gone to a draw with Hector Lombard, decision victory over Brian Ebersole and defeated UFC’s George Sotiropoulous and fellow TUF housemate Kyacey.

Court McGee (6-1) Only loss came at the hands of veteran of over 100 fights, Jeremy Horn by decision.   Has a submission win over TUF 9 finalist Demarques Johnson.

Chris Camozzi (12-3) Has lost to former TUF fighters, Jesse Taylor and Jesse Forbes.

Kyacey “Ice Cold” Uscola (18-15)   Has fought tough names but unfortunately been defeated by them.   Has competed against Kyle Noke, Michael Guymon, Xavier Foupa-Pokam, Chael Sonnen, Gegard Mousasi, Trevor Prangley, Akira Shoji, Brian Foster, Joey Villasenor and Josh Burkman.

Joseph Henle (3-0) Only nine months into his MMA career.   Has two submission victories.

Rich Attonito (7-3)   Well rounded fighter who has been competing since 2004 and fought three times in 2009 winning his last two fights.

Josh Bryant (10-0)   Former lightheavyweight who started his career in 2007 and has won all ten fights since.

Charles Blanchard (7-2) One of his losses was to a submission by “Killa B” Ben Saunders.

Clayton McKinney (4-2) Only defeats came at the hands of former UFC stars Steve Bruno and Danillo Villefort.   Three of his four wins came by TKO.

That’s it for this week everyone, Ill be back early next week with a recap of UFC 112, TUF and a breakdown of the Strikeforce card next weekend.