You will be ok if you have a good surgeon.

The ring doc to Stefan Struve concerning his swollen lip.

Who scored the fight of Okami vs Muonz in favor of Munoz? Pretty obvious that it was Mr. Leg Kicks don’t count cecil peoples.

Jon Jones live on Sportcenter. He claims that the reason to his success was the time spent training and being ready. Which is exactly what everyone else does, it’s more that he is able to apply what he learn and put it into use. It will be interesting if he can keep all the pressure from the fans away and keep “fighting for himself, his family and to go out and have fun”. It’s pretty obvious that he enjoys what he is doing, setting him appart from his competition who is simply in there to a) either beat someone up or b) grind out a win. Oh and what should he answer to a question if he thinks he is grown to slow? You won’t hear a bad word from Jon Jones about his employer.

Rising star of the event? Not the american Jon Jones, but the Brazilian Jon Jones a.k.a. Charles Oliveira, beating his opponent in 41 seconds to go 13-0. Sounds impressive to me.

Preliminary Bouts

DaMarques Johnson vs. Matt Riddle
After some good exchanges by Johnson it was Riddle who took the fight to the ground and controled it with vicious elbows forcing the referee to stop the fight. Elbows of Doom I.
Paul Kelly vs. Jacob Volkmann
A fight going the distance. After an ok start for Paul Kelly, the man with the most angry pre-fight face, he found himself in a position where Jacob Volkmann completly dominated him. Taking him down at will, reversing positions, and moving him around at will applying his very own kind of back control, as he does not use the double hooks after his last fight with Thiago. You say WHAT? Interesting approach. Volkmann sounded really unhappy in his post-fight talk with Mr. Rogan listing up all the times he missed his chance to win, but ultimatly not picking his best chance by taking the back and sinking a choke sounds like the biggest mistake. He fought a perfect fight, with the tools he put into his belt. Coolest move of the fight? Sure hell the flying knee to the head of Paul Kelly, that sure hell did some damage, but was not enough to win an otherwise one-sided fight.
Darren Elkins vs Charles Oliveira
Darren Elkins had his chance with a powerful slam, but did not do any damage with it dropping Oliveira on the ground. This was a place where Oliveira wanted to be and instantly started working in his guard getting a Triangle Choke with an Armbar squeezing a bit leading to a win via tapbout making Charles Oliveira the winner.
Joe Stevenson vs. Takanori Gomi
Whoever said Gomi The Fireballkid is finished has to watch this fight. Pride was always pretty cool and it’s great to see an old dog bite through his opponent like this, even though there were neither Soccer kicks, nor yellow cards.
Jake Ellenberger vs. John Howard
Great fight that was on a very even level both of the figthers rocking each other with Ellenbergers Elbows leaving the bigger impression of Howards orbital bone. Howard would have kept fighting but it was a good thing to stop this fight to prevent further damage. I’d rather see a second version of this fight down the road. Not an instant rematch, but something down the road.Elbows of Doom II.
Mark Munoz vs. Yushin Okami
Solid fight of two pretty even fighters this one went to the judges scorecard giving Okami the win with two of the judges. He was sprawling and dishing out good punches that may not make this fight the fight of the night, yet it was no lay and pray. Just an O.K. fight to watch and one of the weaker fights of the night.
Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
The hype train did not stop. Jon “Bones”, or rather Elbow of Doom, Jones stopped Matyushenko. Early, quick and ruthless, and somehow it looked too easy. On step at a time, this young fighter is climbing the ladder, and unless someone finds a way to control his elbows, he won’t be stopped. Elbows of Doom III.

Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen

The Grudge match of the year, just right after the black on black crime blockbuster where an semi-out-of-shape Rampage squaredanced with Rashad Evans. At least Chael Sonnen wants us to believe him and his tacky remarks of how good he is and how much Anderson Silva sucks. Somehow Anderson does not feel like having a grudge match just again, after his Dancing with Damien Maia in the Octagon. Everyone got angry with Silva and maybe it was not as good marketing as Chuck’s dancing efforts, yet Silva showed some pretty slick moves and we should not judge him just because he missed his target audience.

It’s refreshing to see a fighter not going into this whole talking bullshit before a fight. Sonnen does this for the two of them anyways, and listening to Silva’s remarks during the press call saying that his preperation involved training with Steven Seagal is hilarious, just because he does not play “fair”, which would be firing barrage after barrage towards Sonnen he decides that Sonne is a clown and that his talks are borderline insane. Tell that Demian Maia, who wishes that Sonnen, someone he beat, wins against Silva, someone he lost to. Maybe we should not forget that Anderson was not only dancing with him, he was also trash talking like a pro on the streetball court.

How will this match play out? Anderson will probably win, Chael admitted it with saying that Anderson is the better fighter, he just has the bigger balls to take punishment. Silva has stopped wrestlers before and even though Sonnen might be strong, Anderson was right when he said that he fought guys like Hendo and beat them. Anderson is a counter striker, with pin-point accuracy and if Sonnen really choses to engage will finally have someone who is willing to run into his shots. So even if Sonnen engages, it will only help Silva as his last opponents have decided to stay away from him, or were simply out classed and did not have the guts to risk it all. If Sonnen has no intention to engage it will be the same old song: Silva is not stupid and will not run into his opponents giving them an advantage. He probably cares more about his health than about how entertained his fans are, pretty smart as he has never been a draw even when he had his outstanding performances. Fight odds so far are -400/+325. As long as Anderson Silva is healthy, does not hurt himself while playing paintball and stays away from the cover of a video game, he should win this fight.
Wishful predicition: Anderson Silva via Moonwalk-Knockout in the fourth round.

Roy Nelson vs Junior Dos Santos

One of the fights that looks great on paper as it determines shoot 2 at the heavyweight title after Cain Velasquez gets his. Why sounds good on paper? Well, Roy is a great fighter and who does not love a guy with a belly like that, yet he has lost to solid fighters before. He has more far more than a punchers chance, but Dos Santos hands are really good and might hurt Roy more than he wants. I am stoked for this fight, even though the hype train has been very slow. It’s such a stacked card and should be one of the best of this year.
How will it play out? Roy Nelso has very think bone structure, in other words he’s that fat guy from the truckstop you saw lifitng that sixpack, yet he knows to fight damn well. He has some serious JiuJitsu skill and has some decent striking and wrestling. Junior Dos Santos is known for his strong boxing, owning a BJJ black belt under the Nogeira brothers, which if we believe Chael Sonnen is nothing more than a toy from a happy meal, and is known for not taking fights through the distance. Those two guys are simply good fighters and no freaks of nature. Nelson should be better on the ground, Dos Santos in the standup. Giving the dominance of Dos Santos in his last fights he has to be the slight favorite, ok, if you believe in betting odds not so slight with +250 while Dos Santos is put at -340, but it would be far too early to count Nelson out just because he is fat.
Wishful predicition: Roy Nelson Submits Junior Dos Santos via Butt Splash in 2nd round.

Matt Hughes vs Ricardo Almeida

Another grudge match. Are there fights without grudge anymore? It’s gotta be that grudge training center… anyways, Matt Hughes used to be one of the best around, sadly he is getting older just like the rest of us, which makes him human and volnuarable. Hughes just won against Almeidas teacher Renzo Gracie and will probably look forward to avenge that loss. Almeida is the slight favorite going into the fight and to be honest, it’s one of the fights that has great potential, but is just something that lacks the spectacular some of the other fights on this card promise. Neverthelss it’s hopefully going to be a fun fight.
How will it play out? Probably a slugfest, seeing no real advantage for any of this fighters it will probably end up at the judges scorecard.
Wishful prediction: Almeida by decision. Even though this might not be wishful, it’s probably going to the judges scorecards.

Jon Fitch vs Thiago Alves

Looking forward to another fight? Look no further and you can Jon Fitch, someone who people might call as boring as Jake Shields, compete against Thiago Alves. Being far away from someone who hates wrestlers and wrestling matches I am a bit scared that such a fearful striker as Thiago Alves might end up on the ground simply for the sake of removing the risk of getting knocked the fuck out. The first fight those guys had a few years ago went to Fitch and it’s pretty obvious that Alves does not want this to happen again. It remains a question if being a great standup figther will be enough and if he worked on his wrestling just enough to finally be able to defeat one of the good wrestlers in his weight class. Jon Fitch is a great wrestler MMA-fighter, someone who puts in effort and work and who is not scared of going to the judges, something that demands more bravery than going to the dentist. Something that Thiago is far from being afraid of as he had no problem going for a minor brain surgery. Yep we are all inclined to ask ourselves if there is such a thing as a minor brain surgery, and I am pretty sure that most of us would not be able to take this as lightly as Thiago did. A fight like this should be a piece of cake compared to that. The bookers agree to this and have this as the most even fight of the night giving bother fighters roughly -125.
How will this play out? If the bookies are right and this is about even we will either see a fight ending on the ground for three rounds, or someone getting knocked out. Thiago has more than a punchers chance to beat Fitch and if he improved his wrestling just enough he might be able to walk away with a win, even though Fitch is pretty hard to finish.
Wishful prediction: Third round K.O. by Alves after getting humped for most of the first two rounds.