Did Jon Fitch’s performance at UFC 127 drop him in HeavyMMA.com’s latest pound for pound rankings?

1. Anderson Silva
Silva’s playing the waiting game at the moment and won’t have any idea what his future holds until after UFC 129 at the end of April. It might be a few months after that before Silva’s next opponent is even decided, because Georges St. Pierre certainly doesn’t sound too sure about moving up to middleweight any more. Either way, a win by St. Pierre will determine what is next for the reigning middleweight champion.

2. Georges St. Pierre
The Canadian is in the midst of his training camp for UFC 129, putting all of his focus on training for his title defense against Jake Shields. He’ll walk into the cage on that night as a national hero in front of the biggest live crowd in North American mixed martial arts history, but there’s a good chance he loses that fight. Shields is no joke.

3. Jose Aldo
Aldo finally makes the first defense of his UFC featherweight title at UFC 129 against Mark Hominick. Few give Hominick a chance – and for good reason – but the Canadian can probably match Aldo in the striking department. Everything else will probably give him some trouble.

Check out the full rankings.

According to HeavyMMA.com, Jon Fitch believes he defeated B.J. Penn at UFC 127 but after further thought, Penn changed his mind about the outcome.

Jon Fitch has finally seen the fight with B.J. Penn and feels he definitely won.

The judges rendered a majority draw decision following UFC 127’s main event between Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn, a score neither agree with.

“Finally watched the fight back myself. first rnd draw and I won rnd 2 and 3. I will prove myself if I must. But I know I won that fight,” Fitch posted on his official Twitter account on Monday. “Much respect to BJ. He is the legend I thought he was. I think that was the best BJ ANY of us have ever seen.”

Following the fight, Penn told the crowd in Sydney, Australia and millions watching at home that he thought Fitch won the fight.
Moments later, backstage at the Acer Arena, Penn wasn’t so sure.

“The more I’m sitting here thinking about it, I definitely got the better positions and the more dominant positions,” said Penn to UFC.com. “I guess the first thing I was thinking was just the last round, but now, the more I’m sitting here thinking about the first two rounds – I did. I had much better positions than he had.

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Anderson Silva is back on top of HeavyMMA.com’s pound-for-pound rankings for February 2011.

1. Anderson Silva
Jeremy Botter: Can there be any doubt? Silva’s lightning-quick destruction of Vitor Belfort cements his place as the greatest fighter walking the planet today, and perhaps the greatest fighter of all time. A proposed dream match with Georges St. Pierre is nearly a reality, with only Jake Shields standing in the way.

Jeff Cain: With his UFC 126 knockout of Vitor Belfort, Anderson ends the debate over who is the pound for pound best in the world. He’s on a 14 fight win streak, undefeated in the UFC and has cleared out the middleweight division. We are witnessing the greatest fighter of all time in Silva.

Matt Brown: I’ll be the first to admit, I was on the Aldo bandwagon. Take nothing away from the fast-rising prospect, but Anderson Silva is in a class by himself. In my opinion, he’s three or four more wins away from going down as the greatest fighter that has ever lived – in any combat sport.

Check out the rest of the list.

HeavyMMA.com writes that UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre isn’t looking past Jake Shields.

After UFC president Dana White announced at the UFC 126 post-fight press conference, if welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre defeats Jake Shields at UFC 128, that a super bout between he and middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva will happen later this year, people, fans and media alike, have been focused on that epic match up.

St. Pierre isn’t foolish enough to look ahead of what is in front of him, however.

“I don’t even think about it right now. I never thought about it. I always live in the present moment. My biggest problem is Jake Shields, and it would be foolish for me to look past Jake Shields,” said St. Pierre during a special press conference on Tuesday.

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According to HeavyMMA.com, Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz wants to take on Georges St. Pierre or Anderson Silva.

Nick Diaz is scheduled to defend his Strikeforce welterweight crown against Evangelista Santos Jan. 29 in San Jose, Calif., but that didn’t stop him from calling out UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre on a media conference call Thursday promoting “Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg.”

“I want to fight Georges St. Pierre,” said Diaz.
Diaz’ Cesar Gracie teammate Jake Shields takes on St. Pierre at UFC 129 on April 30 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

“I think my partner (Jake Shields) is going to take him out to be honest, coming up,” added the Strikeforce champion.

“I got here and started fighting before most of them, including Georges St. Pierre, in the UFC. I was really mad at first that they were getting fights and recognition when I was here first,” said Diaz when asked how he stacks up against other top ranked welterweights.

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UFC 124 takes place tonight from Montreal and the main event features a contest for the UFC Welterweight contest. Here are my picks for this UFC PPV.

UFC Welterweight Championship Bout – Georges St. Pierre (20-2) vs. Josh Koscheck (17-4): This is a rematch from a bout in 2007 that St. Pierre won by unanimous decision. Koscheck has the skills to beat St. Pierre but lacks the big-fight experience and overall composure that St. Pierre brings to the octagon. Look for GSP to come out wanting to strike and Koscheck looking for takedowns, as each wants to come out showing strength in what is their perceived weakness. Ultimately I think St. Pierre has more skills and will out-class Koscheck an score a fourth round submission by choke.

UFC Heavyweight Bout – Stefan Struve (23-4) vs. Sean McCorkle (10-0): McCorkle has been making waves for his trash talk, but he still is young to the UFC while Struve has experience in the octagon and has good skills to compare to a grappler like McCorkle. I think Struve will handle a fast start from McCorkle and then find a way to finish him via choke in the third round.

UFC Lightweight Bout – Jim Miller (18-2) vs. Charles Oliveira (14-0): Oliveira has had a great start to his UFC career, but I think he runs into a bad matchup with Miller, who is a superior wrestler that will be able to get him to the ground and control him while avoiding Oliveira’s slick submissions. I like Miller to dominate the fight on the ground and score a decision win.

UFC Lightweight Bout – Joe Stevenson (36-11) vs. Mac Danzig (20-8-1): Stevenson has been showing improvement over his last few fights but he needs a win, as he has lost three of his last five bouts. Danzig has lost four of his last five bouts and needs a win to stay in the UFC. His desperation should bring out his best efforts while Stevenson should also be on top of his game. Ultimately, Stevenson is the better wrestler while the two are comparable in striking, so that should be enough to earn him the decision win.

UFC Welterweight Bout – Thiago Alves (22-6) vs. John Howard (14-5): This fight should be a slugfest as both men are at their strongest working their muay thai striking. Alves has better form while Howard has better power but the key to this fight is that Howard is coming off a fight where he dominated by a lesser opponent than Alves while Alves hasn’t struggled with strikers in his career. Alves should be able to work leg kicks and tire Howard before finishing him with a barrage in the third round.

HeavyMMA.com previews UFC 124, including Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck.

For the second time this year, the UFC has set up shop at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Back in May, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua earned an ovation for taking the light heavyweight title from Lyoto Machida in convincing fashion. This weekend, if hometown superstar Georges St-Pierre is able to retain his welterweight belt by beating public enemy #1 Josh Koscheck, they’re going to be putting a new roof on the home of Les Canadiens.

The biggest crowd in UFC history is expected, and they’re going to be in for an incredible night of fights.

Georges St-Pierre (20-2-0) vs. Josh Koscheck (15-4-0)
Four months of The Ultimate Fighter, an episode of UFC Countdown and all kinds of Koscheck trash-talk has everyone acutely aware of the situation here.

Instead of adding my two cents, I’ll just say that this is a tremendous way to end an great year of UFC events, with one of the best fighters in the world defending his coveted championship against his arch rival.

Read the full preview.

Nate Lawson of HeavyMMA.com downloads some news about UFC 124:

UFC 124 is official for December 11 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre will meet his rival Josh Koscheck.

Officials from the promotion announced the news earlier today.

“I love this fight,” UFC President Dana White said in the official press release. “GSP is one of the best pound-for pound fighters in the world and Josh Koscheck is not the same fighter Georges fought last time.

There is no doubt that this is a title fight between the two best 170-pounders in the worl. Koscheck told the people of Montreal he’s going to walk into Georges’ hometown and take the title. This fight is going to blow the roof off the Bell Centre.”

The match up comes as now surprise, since the two welterweights elected to coach opposite one another on the latest season of “The Ultimate Fighter“. However, it is not the first time the two have met.

Prior to his champion status, St. Pierre met Koscheck at UFC 74 in Las Vegas, Nevada over three years ago. The Canadian superstar took home the victory with a unanimous decision after three rounds of action.

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As E. Spencer Kyte of HeavyMMA.com writes, it’s much more difficult for a fighter to finish a bout than you might think.

If you want to see every fight finished, go play Mortal Kombat.

The glorious game of my teen years, Mortal Kombat stood a beaten opponent in front of you, wobbling back and forth, offering visual and auditory encouragement to “Finish Him!”

If you knew the right controller combinations, your merciless martial artist could end the beating in impressive fashion. If you were like me, you tried to do something cool and ended up just punching the guy in the face, a move that should have been accompanied by the sound of Pacman dying to add to your embarrassment.
As much as some fans think of mixed martial arts as the closest we’re ever going to legally come to witnessing Mortal Kombat in real life, the cries of “finish him” that rain down during every fight can’t be satisfied with a button-mashing chain of commands.

Read the entire article here.

UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen takes place Saturday night from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California and this card is stacked from top-to-bottom. The headliner is a contest for the UFC Middleweight Championship between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. Here are my picks for this event.

UFC Middleweight Championship Bout – Anderson Silva (26-4) vs. Chael Sonnen (26-10-1): Sonnen gets the award for most smack talk prior to a fight, but he better make sure he backs it up, or else he is going to look like a complete jackass. Sonnen does have a good style to combat Silva, as he is an aggressive wrestler that knows he needs to get the fight to the ground. At the same time, Sonnen has struggled in defending submissions in the past, losing to lesser opponents like Demian Maia and Jeremy Horn via submission. Silva may get taken to the ground a few times in this fight, but his accurate strikes and jiu-jitsu ability on the ground tell me that sooner or later, he will end this fight. I like Silva to win by submission in the second round.

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