Saturday MMA Review: 10/31/09
Posted by Anthony Stalter (10/31/2009 @ 7:00 am)
Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:
- Lyoto Machida retained his light-heavyweight title in a very controversial decision over Mauricio Rua at UFC 104. Luckily, there will be an immediate rematch between the two Brazilian standouts.
- DREAM’s first “White Cage” event featured another lopsided win for Alistair Overeem, another head kick knockout by Marius Zaromskis, and another back-from-the-dead victory for Kazushi Sakuraba.
- A month-long flu has forced Brock Lesnar to pull out of his title defense against Shane Carwin at UFC 106. Coincidentally, Carwin himself had been battling swine flu, but that wasn’t going to make him puss out of the fight.
- Rashad Evans became the first coach in Ultimate Fighter history to win seven fights in the round-of-16, as the imbalanced Matt “Meathead” Mitrione scored an upset over well-traveled veteran Scott Junk on Wednesday’s episode of TUF 10. Rampage responded by savagely assaulting a door.
- We took a look at some of the nastiest leg-kicks in MMA history.
- Fedor Emelianenko looked disturbingly passionate in the first leaked image from EA’s new MMA video game, and mighty dapper in his Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory.
- Sexy UFC ring girl Natasha Wicks (aka “the blonde one”) modeled some Halloween costumes for all her drooling fans. Speaking of which, if you happen to be going out as an MMA fighter this Halloween, e-mail a picture of yourself to feedback@cagepotato.com by tomorrow night, and you can win a $100 gift card from MMA Warehouse.
Posted in: Mixed Martial Arts
Tags: Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar, Brock Lesnar flu, Fedor Emelianenko, Lyoto Machida, Matt "Meathead" Mitrione, Mauricio Rua, MMA, MMA News, MMA rumors, nastiest MMA leg kicks, Natasha Wicks, Rashad Evans, Shane Carwin, TUF 10, UFC, UFC 104, UFC rumors
UFC 104 Picks & Predictions
Posted by Drew Ellis (10/24/2009 @ 11:27 am)

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to pay per-view today with UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun, which features five fights on the main card. Here is a breakdown of each fight and who I expect to win.
Light Heavyweight Championship – Lyoto Machida (15-0) vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (18-3): Machida has quickly emerged as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world due to his style of fighting. Machida has brought a true karate style to the octagon and made it look like a dominant way of fighting. His last two fights have been impressive victories over Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans to win the UFC title. Machida likes to counter-strike, which works well in this fight as Rua likes to push the pace and be the aggressive fighter. Rua has gotten better with each fight inside the cage, but today’s fight doesn’t bode well for him. Machida has quicker strikes and should be able to pick Rua apart to score a TKO victory in the third round over a gassed Rua.
Heavyweight Bout – Cain Velasquez (6-0) vs. Ben Rothwell (30-6) – The co-headliner features two heavyweight contenders. Velasquez is being groomed to be a threat to Brock Lesnar’s heavyweight title. The Mexican born fighter has used his wrestling background to dominate his opponents and use ground-and-pound striking to quickly end fights. His last fight, a decision win over Cheick Kongo, Velasquez was able to get Kongo to the ground and dictate the pacing of the fight. Velasquez was hit with some big punches in the fight and was tested for the first time, but passed the test. Rothwell was a former IFL heavyweight champion and has faced some tough opponents, but doesn’t have a real marquee win in his lengthy career. Rothwell can win with a big punch, but Velasquez is likely to get this fight to the ground, where he will control Rothwell and earn a decision or TKO victory.
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Saturday MMA Review: 10/24/09
Posted by Anthony Stalter (10/24/2009 @ 9:20 am)
Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:
- Hulking heavyweight Alistair Overeem destroyed a completely outmatched opponent last weekend and plans on destroying an equally outmatched opponent this weekend.
- The two most emotionally-abused castmembers on “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” faced off Wednesday night, and coach Rashad Evans kept his historic winning streak alive.
- We demonstrated the difference between a ridiculously unnecessary sucker punch and a completely understandable one.
- The upstart Bellator MMA league is returning next April — with a massive television deal.
- We took a look at five MMA fights that happened too early.
- The UFC booked high-profile rematches between Nate Diaz and Gray Maynard, and Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves.
- We’re sad to report that UFC light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida drinks his own pee. Nevertheless, he’ll be kicking Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s ass tonight at UFC 104 in Los Angeles. Check out our analysis of the card here, and swing by CagePotato.com at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT for our thrilling liveblog of the pay-per-view broadcast.
Posted in: Mixed Martial Arts
Tags: Alistair Overeem, Bellator MMA league, Lyoto Machida, Lyoto Machida drinks pee, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, MMA, MMA rumors, The Ultimate Fighter: Heaveyweights, Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch, UFC, UFC 104, UFC 104 news, UFC 104 rumors, UFC rumors