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UFC 116: Preview
30 Jun 2010
By Jamie Kennedy
Before I became a fan or Mixed Martial Arts, before I had even heard the term and correct name for the Sport, I’d often hear the words “Cage Fighting”; which just sounded horrific. The words conjure up the image of a Gladiatorial area with a rusty cage: a canvass soaked in blood and sweat, a manic crowd lusting for barbarism and two behemoth Warriors in a fight to death. Well UFC 116 isn’t ancient Rome and there’ll be no fights to the death, there will be no rusty cage, no Tigers thrown in to make it a tad more exciting, if there's a stale mate. However there will be two giant Warriors facing off against each other.
Former Pro-Wrestler Brock Lesnar takes on Shane Carwin in the main event in Las Vegas on July 3rd in a match up that’s been a year in the making. It’s one of the most anticipated bouts in Sports history: Two giants, man mountains, with fists the size of bunches of bananas. Brock Lesnar actually looks like a cartoon, the guy is a genetic freak, with the size and power of any man competing in the Worlds Strongest man event but with the speed and agility of a lightweight. Shane Carwin has finished all his fights; in the first round.
It’s a compelling match up in so many different ways: the sheer size of the specimen involved, the devastating power of each of the fighters, the fact this fight determines the outright champion of the heavyweight division; their contrasting personalities. Brock is loquacious and abrasive, not afraid of saying exactly what’s on his mind. Shane is your typical, hard working Family, Man. He has a full time job and a humble attitude and a right hand that could “KO” a Rhino.
This could be the fight of the year, on paper Shane has the more advanced skill set, combining top level wrestling with devastating Boxing to his brutal ground and pound and under-rated BJJ (he has many a submission win on his record, the UFC just likes to leave that out, as it’s not as good a marketing tactic as a huge KO is) Brock has the speed combined with power and the highest Wrestling credentials in the UFC. It’s a tough one to call but I’m not about to sit of the fence, I’m going for a Shane Carwin KO in the first round.
While we’re on the subject of Warriors, a man that is the epitome of the word has joined the Card. Chris “The Crippler” Leben has stepped up on twelve days notice as a replacement for the injured Wanderlei Silva to take on Yoshihirio Akiyama. Leben has actually recently just fought on the 19th of June, where he defeated Aaron Simpson by TKO in the second of their bout on the Ultimate Fighter Finale. Once Wanderlei was injured as Leben was unscathed the UFC asked him to step and without hesitation he grasped the opportunity with both hands.
Akiyama on the other hand wasn’t so grateful and wasn’t exactly gracious when told he would be fighting Leben instead of Wanderlei. See Akiyama has been waiting patiently for the chance to face Wanderlei who is a massive star in Akiyama’s native Japan and a win over him would solidify his place on the contenders list in the middleweight division; his reasoning is that Leben is simply not of the same profile. This may be true however: it’s still a co-main event fight, with Brock Lesnar on the headline in the most watched Mixed Martial Arts Org in the World? You can’t get much more high profile than that. He also complains he doesn’t have the adequate time to prepare for red-headed brawler; well news Flash Yoshihirio, Leben has exactly the same amount of time.
In my opinion Akiyama is just worried about the “Cripplers” left hook and rightly so as I predict that Leben will get the TKO in the 3rd round. I’ll be honest I find the hype surrounding Akiyama quite baffling. He’s a good fighter, granted but he was giving a gift decision against Belcher and was involved in a grease-gate scandal akin to GSP versus BJ Penn 2, although the difference is that Akiyama actually admitted his wrong doing. Leben came out on the “countdown” show and stated that he felt that Akiyama was a fabricated idol. This has managed to create a little extra fuel to the fire and I’m now looking forward to this fight more than I was when Wanderlei and Akiyama were due to square off.
The Card then swings gloriously from all out barnburners, to human chess, technical grapples: Aussie George Sotriopoulos takes on New Jersey’s Kurt Pellegrino. This could be one of the more technical fights that could see the casual fan bored witless off for a smoke or Beer break and us, aficionados glued to the TV grinning in geeky fascination. We all saw what Sotriopoulos did to BJJ Black belt Joe Stevenson and I believe he could do the same to “Batman” but the one thing Pellegrino has in his arsenal is superior wrestling, I keep swaying back and forth with my prediction here but gun to head, I’d say Pellegrino by decision.
Also on the card is a rematch between Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski; the first fight ended unfortunately with a cut resulting from an accidental head butt was deemed to big by the Cage Dr and the fight was rule in favour of Soszynski. I fully expect Bonnar to gain vengeance and out point Soszynski his way to a unanimous decision.
The bout that completes the main event is a rematch between Chris “lights out” Lytle and Matt “the immortal brown”, which is also a rematch. They previously fought outside the UFC with Lytle picking up a submission win by way of Guillotine choke. The crazy thing about Lytle is that he has those submission skills; he just chooses not to use them. He’s as tough as nails and just wants “stand and bang”. Matt Brown is also as tough as nails and is able to take all kinds of punishment, which he will from Lytle. I see this fight being a repeat of their first bout and Lytle picking up a submission win in the second round.
Right at the bottom of the card, hid away, at time when people will still be entering the arena, is a familiar face to fans of the UK scene. Former CFC and UCMMA star Karlos Vemola takes on Jon Madsen, who incidentally beat another UK scene familiar Mustapha Al Turk in Dubai in his last UFC bout. The most intriguing aspect about having Karlos in the organisation is that is sets up a potential grudge match with James Mcsweeney as the pair have been feuding for sometime now; with McSweeney making several different allegations about Vemola. The London Shoot Fighter standout states that Madsen won't get out of the first round with him and judging by the power he's shown in his previous bouts, this appears and distinct possibility.
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