UFC 82 will be an event to remember, or a borefest of decisions, it’s hard to say what’s going to happen in many of the bouts on the card. Many fans are claiming some huge lopsided victories while many others are seeing decisions galore litter the event’s results as we head into Saturday night. Hopefully, we won’t see another Strikeforce at the Dome card. Here’s our picks for UFC 82.

Main Event: Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson
At Stake: UFC Middleweight Title

People are starting to call this a pick’em fight, and I’d have to agree. This is one of the toughest fights to mull over due to the stylistic matchup between the two, but also due to the historical dominance of both fighters.

Silva has simply crushed everything in his path. He made Rich Franklin into a rag doll, and simply used his Muay Thai skillset to strike with him, close the distance, clinch, and then set up massive head shots with his knees. That gameplan will have to change if he wants to defeat Dan Henderson.

Henderson’s strength in this fight will be his wrestling. Greco-Roman control will be the key to getting Silva to the floor where Henderson should be able to crush him, but there are problems. First and foremost, Henderson doesn’t exactly wrestle when he needs to. He likes to brawl and showed it at times against “Rampage” Jackson. Secondly, his wrestling isn’t as good as many make it out to be. Sure, he’s an Olympian, but he was sloppy in many of his PRIDE bouts when it came to controlling his opponent. He can’t let that happen against a surgeon like Silva. Nonetheless, he has two big powerful hands to fall back on if he’s in trouble. The potential for a knockout win from either fighter is very high.

I’ve battled with who to pick in this fight for days, and honestly, it doesn’t matter. They are very even in regards to how their skills compete with one another. A BJJ Black Belt with surgical Muay Thai striking against an Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler with heavy hands is a classic matchup that should provide a spectacular main event. Who will win?

I’m going to have to go with Anderson Silva. I was a supporter of the whole idea behind Henderson winning this fight. He has better wrestling; therefore he can get the takedown and pound on Silva. I understand that point. My only problem is that I can only see Henderson ending this fight in the standup, and Silva has reach, awesome power for having such big reach, and he is a surgeon on his feet with his strikes. He can wear down Henderson with punches, and then move in for the kill. People know Henderson can ward off the clinch, but can he do it while he’s wobbly… most fighters can’t. To sum it up, I’m taking Silva because I think he has more tools to end this fight.

Leland’s Prediction: Anderson Silva via TKO/KO, Round 2

The person who wins this fight is the person who can impose their will on their opponent. This is as close to a pick ‘em fight as there has been in recent events, but I like Henderson’s chances against Silva. Henderson has the advantage because of this reason: he can keep Silva guessing. Silva knows that Henderson can take him down, and I assure you, Dan will be using his feints a lot. Imagine dropping his head down and faking a takedown, but instead, he throws that huge overhand right. The thing that scares me about Henderson is that he tends to get into brawls. He abandons his wrestling and will choose to stand and trade instead. I don’t think he’ll make that mistake against Silva. I think Henderson will be able to impose his will and dominate Silva inside the clinch with his Greco-roman ability, and he’ll earn a stoppage via strikes late in the fight.

Joe's Prediction: Dan Henderson via TKO/KO, Round 3

Cheick Kongo vs. Heath Herring

This is another tough fight on the event’s card to predict. Herring has a career that spans a decade, and in that time, he’s managed to win 16 of his bouts by submission. Many fans don’t associate Herring with a submission game, but I think that’s exactly what he’ll be looking to do in this matchup.

Kongo will likely try to use his bread and butter, Muay Thai, to defeat Herring along the cage. It’s been working for him in his two most recent wins, but it hasn’t led him to a finishing win that we would come to expect from such a large and powerful fighter.

Both fighters have weaknesses and strengths, but I think Herring has the distinct advantage in this matchup. His ground skills will undoubtedly come into play, and even though he isn’t the best grappler on the planet, Kongo’s ground game looked non-existent even in the short stint that he was on the ground against Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic. It won’t be an easy task, and Kongo may very well prove that he’s trained hard for this fight, but I’ll go with Heath.

Leland’s Prediction: Heath Herring via submission, Round 2

In my eyes, this is Herring’s fight to lose. Herring doesn’t have great wrestling, but Kongo has a very weak takedown defense. It shouldn’t be a problem for Herring to get Kongo to the mat. From there, I think you’ll see a scramble where Herring catches Kongo in a choke, most likely the anaconda choke.

Joe's Prediction: Heath Herring via submission, Round 2   

The UFC has been hitting the news wire frequently as of late with fighters beginning to reveal their potential matchups for their upcoming fights. Some of them are quite interesting due to the influx of newer talent that the UFC seems to be bringing along. The future is always a concern, and it looks like the UFC is giving some guys a chance to make a splash in their careers. Let's take a look.

Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett - UFC 82

This matchup is a bit deceptive. Most people see this fight as a one-sided affair with Koscheck's outstanding wrestling pedigree dominating an unknown Dustin Hazelett. The problem here is that most fans don't see Hazelett fight since he has been featured mainly on undercards.

Hazelett (10-3) has had some phenomenal performances as of late in the cage. He submitted Jonathan Goulet at UFN 11 in impressive fashion scoring an armbar victory in just 1:14 into the first round. He's currently on a three-fight win streak, and this is definitely a move in the right direction as his skills improve.

Koscheck will be looking to begin another ascension into the upper ranks, but Hazelett's jiu-jitsu could prove to be troublesome. Nonetheless, Koscheck's top control is good, and he could essentially make another run for the title.

David Heath vs. Tim Boetsch - UFC 81

After Heath's bout was scratched from UFC 81 due to an injured Thomas Drwal, the UFC put the light heavyweight back on the card and paired him up with newcomer Tim Boetsch (6-1).

Boetsch is primarily known for his 2007 IFL semifinal battle with "The Janitor" Vladmir Matyushenko. In his only career loss, Boetsch did show an ability to survive against the technically better Matyushenko. Many consider Vladmir to still be quality UFC material, and with Boetsch taking him the distance and being a fairly green fighter, he could improve dramatically in the coming months. He'll get his chance to make something happen against Heath.

Heath hasn't been exactly impressive in his last two fights. To be fair however, Renato Sobral is a world-class grappler and Lyoto Machida could very well be a dark horse candidate for the title. Boetsch isn't at their skill level, so it should be litmus test for Boetsch, and a gauge to see where Heath is at right now.

Diego Sanchez vs. David Bielkheden - UFC 82

Although I'm still holding out for news after this fight that Marcus Davis may fight Diego, Sanchez does need to fight another battle before that can potentially happen. The UFC seems to think so as well.

Diego will be matched up with David Bielkheden (12-5). This puts an end to the rumors that Diego would fight Roan Carneiro. It also marks another Swede making his debut in the UFC, a market that the UFC seems to be hitting hard now. Per Eklund, fellow Swede, was defeated by Sam Stout in a spirited effort at UFC 80 this last weekend.

Bielkheden holds a win over current UFC fighter Charles McCarthy although it was back in February of 2004. The most notable matchup on his record is taking on Mitsuhiro Ishida at PRIDE Bushido 13 in November of 2006, dropping a decision to the Japanese wrestler.

He should prove to be an able test for Sanchez even though his name isn't known in the casual fanbase. He's a BTT member, and will have good training partners to supplement his skillset training. With a well-rounded grappling game and some power at times, he could be an upset pick.

After a long weekend of uneventful MMA news, a log fell off the wagon that is the UFC. On Friday, Matt Serra was announced as sustaining a herniated disc injury that would keep him from defending his UFC welterweight title against Matt Hughes on December 29th. From an exclusive interview done by MMAWeekly, it was confirmed today that Serra did sustain two lower back herniated discs and will be out for quite some time with an injury of that magnitude.

With nearly every end of the year card comes the anticipation of a great night of great fights. This was definitely the matchup that many fans wanted to see and the UFC needed to repair the lost luster. Initial reports had Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch in the mix, but the spectacular announcement that Georges St. Pierre would take the bout created the rubber match that Hughes would eventually have to fight if he had retaken the belt. Without a doubt, this is also a fight that would line up St. Pierre for a title shot, but without the lengthy layoff that he had been anticipating.

A bit more backstory to the announcement revealed conflicting reports on how the matchup eventually happened. Hughes stated on his website that he requested Pierre because he wanted to avoid a matchup in front of Pierre's fanbase in Canada. Hughes will also have a training advantage in that Pierre has around 4-5 weeks to train, with a week of downtime toward the fight date. Dave Meltzer over at Yahoo! Sports stated that Pierre had initially called the UFC to stick his name into the mix of potential fighters. Fitch was the first to come up, but he had too much weight on at the moment to drop the weight before the bout. Fitch's camp suggested Koscheck, but the UFC skipped on that and decided to put Pierre back in the mix. Whether Pierre or Hughes convinced the UFC to create the matchup, it shortens the time considerable for a rubber match that many people felt would have happened anyway.

Interim Titles?

When the Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes fight was announced on Saturday evening, the "interim" title was tagged onto the event and uproar ensued. Why is this an interim title fight? Is Matt Serra going to be out for that long? Is the injury so bad that it could stop him from fighting? The immediate possibilities coming out of the announcement were everywhere. The truth of the matter is much more beneficial to the fans that most people think.

What is one of the biggest things that we've seen coming from some of the recent main events in the UFC? Close decisions. Case in point, UFC 78 had the TUF Alumni matchup in Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping that needed to be longer in order to decide who clearly won the fight. My intuition makes me believe that Evans would have completely gassed with two more rounds declaring Bisping the winner if he worked any kind of boxing at all. These more lengthy bouts could cause many big name fights to avoid the dreaded draw or controversial decision. By the regulations of most commissions, non-championship bouts are required to not exceed more than 3 rounds. How can you solve that problem? Slap a "Interim Title" tag onto the fight and your problem has been solved. Tell the commission that Serra's back injury is too risky to keep the belt in limbo and create the interim bout. This will allow for the end of the year rubber match between Hughes and Pierre to be a 5 round battle.

To be honest, this is actually a good decision. Although I hate the interim title tag on this fight, I do agree that this fight needs to be 5 rounds. I also want to make the case that all main event fights should be five rounds, although that would take some dealing with the commissions to make happen. This is a chance to see an epic battle between two great competitors, and nobody should be mad about the title tag on the fight. Enjoy it because the UFC somehow managed to get us 2 extra rounds of action.

The Ever-Changing Welterweight Picture

With Serra possibly out for 3 or more months without training, we could see Serra out for about 6+ months if he can't do much for the first 3 months with the injury. Add in time for training to get his strength and technique back, and then add in the training for a matchup, it could be quite some time before we see the "Interim" champion against the "Real" champion. Who else is in the picture?

Certainly, all the names that were mentioned as replacements must be in the mix. Karo Parisyan is the one name not mentioned due to his recent victory over Ryo Chonan. Parisyan won the fight despite walking into the matchup with a broken hand. Parisyan has been waiting for a title shot since his title shot last November in which he got injured during training. He has since been sitting on the shelf awaiting his next chance at the title and it looks as if he may get it soon enough.

Other fighters in the mix are Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, and apparently Thiago Alves. Fitch has been on a tremendous tear, winning 14 straight fights with his most recent over Diego Sanchez. I think Fitch still needs another top contender fight and with Josh Koscheck on a recent loss to George St. Pierre, Fitch vs. Koscheck seems like a possibility as well. The UFC is rumored to have both fighters on the UFC 82 card, but against separate opponents. Thiago Alves's name came up as a late replacement as well, but he just recently defeated Chris Lytle in UFC 78 in a controversial fight that had many fans scratching their heads as to why the fight was stopped due to a cut that didn't appear to be that bad. Alves has been fairly impressive, but hasn't faced a top 5 contender yet. He will surely be tested in his next fight. The possibility that he may be one of the mystery opponents for UFC 82 is there as well.

Matt Serra should be back!

Let's be honest, if we polled the MMA community on the outcome of the upcoming card, the lopsidedness of the Serra vs. Hughes matchup would be fairly obvious. Many fans attribute Hughes's legendary status, wealth of experience, and overall brute strength as big keys to his success in the cage and to the success of a win over Matt Serra. I'm still not convinced that Serra is an easy matchup for Matt Hughes, and that was mainly the reason why I was a bit bummed to hear the Matt Serra had become injured.

The one reason I was giving Matt Serra a chance, and the one reason many people hate Matt Serra is because he's a fighter who can make the fight last. Many fans hate the fact that he can make fights lengthy, he can make fights stagnant, but he can also avoid being demolished by opponents that seem to have an overwhelming advantage over him. This was one distinct advantage I though Serra had, that he is tough to knockout and he would have made a go at taking the fight to the distance. Again, Hughes doesn't have terrible cardio and he's still a much more powerful fighter in my opinion. So how would have Serra mastered that aspect of Matt Hughes?

Add the fact that Serra's ju-jitsu skills have been known to be great at times, it makes for a lot of possibilities that fans may not be seeing. Case in point, Hughes has been susceptible to flexible ju-jitsu opponents on the ground. BJ Penn and Dennis Hallman are two names that come to mind immediately. Hughes seems to have a weakness for slick ju-jitsu games, and depending on which Matt Serra shows up, he could provide some tough technique to counter. Although I believe Hughes still wins that matchup by power, I think it would have been much closer than people would think. Either way, I think Serra will recover and be back to prove that he can hang with some of the best.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of what you thought about Matt Serra's TUF performance or his lackluster boring fights during his TUF stint, fact of the matter is, Matt Serra always has a chance to win if he can extend the length of a fight. His ju-jitsu and flexibility on the ground pose threats to someone like Matt Hughes who has been susceptible in the past to that type of fighter. Although I think Hughes wins it by pure strength, I think the fans are giving less credit to Serra than he deserves. Give the guy a chance, he did beat St. Pierre is a fight that was considered one of the most lopsided easy wins for Pierre and probably a gold mine fight for the UFC.

Don't complain about the interim title tag, embrace it! After all, it's giving us two extra rounds of fighting for essentially another name for a #1 contender tag. Whoever wins the fight is the #1 contender. If you can put up with casual fans saying Pierre or Hughes is the champion for a few months without really knowing what has been going on, then it's not a big deal. If you are the MMA elitist who MUST outknowledge every fan in your path, welcome to hell. Fact is, the UFC found a loophole to get a longer fight for the end of the year event, and it was a nice find indeed. It allows for the possibility of an epic bout between two great combatants.

Lastly, the UFC's welterweight divisions looks to be fairly healthy coming into the new year. With 3 or 4 up-and-coming fighters beginning to look in on the mix at the top, we have some potential matchups for the title shaping up as well as a plethora of possibilities for contendership bouts and bouts to determine who gets into the top-tier of the welterweight division. It's looking to be very healthy in the Welterweight division of the UFC.

MMA-Analyst.com had an illness this past weekend, a very horrible fever, that sidelined me from writing or responding to emails. I'm finally out of that horrendous ordeal and will be answering all of your emails and comments this week.

Randy Couture came, he saw, he conquered... all at the tender age of 44 years old. He once again proved to this MMA fan, and to many other MMA fans that betting against Randy Couture is not the smart thing to do. Randy Couture stopped Gabriel Gonzaga by TKO in the 3rd round to defend the UFC Heavyweight Title and put to rest the claims that Couture may be getting too old for this sport. With that said, let's take a look at the evening's fight card with some insight on the improvements we saw and the key factors that each fighter will need work on for their upcoming bouts in the future.

Main Events
Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

An overall stellar gameplan by Randy Couture cemented the victory in the 3rd round to defend his UFC Heavyweight title. Couture used a great combination of pace, quick tempo, dirty boxing, and pure strength and clinching skill to get in close on Gonzaga and pound him. Gonzaga came out fast with a two punch combo he landed on Couture, but Couture shot back and landed a heavy punch to Gonzaga, who backed away after the hit. The two fighters traded a few more shots when Couture tried to take Gonzaga down, and Gonzaga showed his balance and fought it off. Couture came back with a left hook, catching Gonzaga and then clinching him from his waist and throwing him to the canvas. Gonzaga was able to get up fairly easily from Couture's takedown early, but then used the clinch to throw Gonzaga down and pound him as he tried to stand back up. Couture landed numerous blows while Gonzaga tried to regain his feet. Gonzaga was able to land a flush elbow in one exchange and back it with a quick right that rattled Couture for a second before he ran Gonzaga into another clinch. Couture was able to then lift Gonzaga in the clinch and slam him. This resulted in Couture's head butting Gonzaga's nose and breaking it. A definite turning point for Gonzaga as he now was unable to breath out his nose and was panting heavily through his mouth. Gonzaga recovered, but was put back into a clinch. Couture landed numerous blows to Gonzaga in the clinch with his dirty boxing. A very effective win in round 1 by Randy Couture.

The second round was no different. Couture continued to throw quick combos and then push the clinch into the fence. Gonzaga was able to land some blows in the quick exchanges they did have, but the smart Couture punched and quickly countered Gonzaga's blows with a shoot to tie up Gonzaga. Around the 3:50 mark, Gonzaga complained that he could not see due to the broken nose flooded his eyes. The fight was stopped for a moment in which it was explained to Gonzaga that he could not stop the fight for that reason. Herb Dean continued to fight in the clinch and Couture continued to keep the clinch and reign punches on Gonzaga. Gonzaga was deducted a point for holding onto the fence about 10 seconds after his stoppage. Holding the fence didn't help Gonzaga fend off the assault that Couture was imposing on his opponent. It was clear that Gonzaga was losing his breath and was gassing out as Couture continued to land blows to Gonzaga's head.

Third round began and a standup battle began. Gonzaga was able to land a stiff head kick that somewhat stunned Couture. Gonzaga tried to capitalize, but Couture put him back into the clinch. Couture was then able to take down Gonzaga. At this point, Gonzaga was so tired and so beaten that it was only a matter of time. Couture reigned blows on Gonzaga's head and Gonzaga could only cover up. Dean called the fight since Gonzaga was not trying to escape the beatdown and barely able to defend the punches.

The Breakdown

Couture was a pure joy to watch. He was able to utilize the clinch to absolutely dominate Gonzaga in the fence. Gonzaga's only strength seemed to show when the clinch was a non-factor and Gonzaga was able to throw a few combos. Couture, as smart as he is, was able to see the fact in past fights that his standup game isn't the best in MMA. He stayed away from trading punches, and closed in on Gonzaga. A very good gameplan and he was able to stick to it. He never gave Gonzaga a chance to use his ju-jitsu either because Couture was mainly throwing Gonzaga down near the fence in order to stay on his feet and use the fence to prop Gonzaga up so he could land shots easier. It was an amazing feat.

Improvements

Gonzaga needs to beef up his power. He was being manhandled in the clinch. He had good balance when Randy tried to take him down, but he wasn't able to power Randy off of him at any moment. Ju-jitsu is a great ground game, but if you have nothing to stop the clinch or at least squirm out of it, you will be tied up for hours when fighting Randy Couture. Gonzaga showed glimmers of a standup game, but his head was concentrating too much on landing punches and not enough on whether or not Randy was going to counter with a takedown. When Randy did counter, Gonzaga had zero defense against it.

Couture's clinch is world renowned, and he looked very powerful. I will say his standup game still needs to improve a bit, but he was trading shots with Gonzaga. Overall though, a very well rounded fight by Couture. I didn't see one bit of this fight that I could honestly say Couture could have been better in.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck

Georges St. Pierre showed that his mental toughness was intact this evening. St. Pierre and Koscheck came out at the beginning of this fight to huge cheers for St. Pierre. As the fight began, Koscheck threw a number of combinations that completely missed Pierre and left Koscheck open to a takedown early in the fight. From the takedown, Pierre began to work his strikes in on Koscheck, and nearly passing his guard early in the fight. Pierre was able to actually stand in Koscheck's guard and rain punches down on Koscheck, but eating a few strikes from Koscheck in the process. With about 2 minutes left in the first round, Koscheck was able to get off the ground and make an attempt to take down St. Pierre. Pierre held himself in a sprawl while Koscheck lifted one of Pierre's legs off the ground in order to unbalance him for the takedown. Koscheck suddenly exploded into the fence taking Pierre with him in a brutal takedown. Pierre was able to tie up Koscheck for the rest of the round after the takedown. Koscheck was unable to mount any significant attack out of the late round takedown and I gave St. Pierre the round.

St. Pierre came out in the second round looking even quicker than he did in the first round. Koscheck wasn't making Pierre pay for his attempts at punching and kicking Koscheck early on. After a flurry of attempts by Pierre, he was able to easily grab Koscheck's leg and take him down in amazement of the crowd. Pierre had been taking Koscheck down at will so far during the matchup and Koscheck doesn't seem to have an answer. Pierre's fakes and constant mixture of standup and shoots is definitely confusing Koscheck. Pierre attempted a kimura during the ground battle that ensued. Koscheck was able to pull out of it only to have Pierre create another opportunity for a kimura after the first attempt. Pierre switched gears and passed Koscheck's guard into side control and began to strike at Koscheck's head. Pierre was very impressive in his takedown game during this round. Numerous attempts by Koscheck to get off the ground were met by Pierre's tenacity. Koscheck would roll onto his feet only to be met by Pierre's grip. He was ultimately kept down on the ground in every escape attempt by Pierre's perseverance. At the end of the round, Pierre again was able to catch Koscheck in a side mount and try for the kimura. He was unable to finish it, but he dominated Koscheck on the ground in a will crushing way that Koscheck could not have possibly expected.

The third round became a standup battle in which Pierre was able to use his range to keep Koscheck away while he put together some nice combinations that landed. Koscheck grabbed Pierre's leg and went for the takedown, but Pierre reversed it and put Koscheck on his back... again. The fight continued as Pierre tried to land punches while on top of Koscheck. The fight ended with Pierre almost pulling a leg lock, but the bell rang as Koscheck slammed his fist down in complete disgust.

The Breakdown

This fight proved once again that Georges St. Pierre is on top of his game again. The entire pre-fight discussions involving this fight all revolved around Georges St. Pierre's mental toughness and became borderline absurdity when some fans questioned his character. St. Pierre came out and dominated a fighter that was better than him in one area of the MMA game. But did St. Pierre stay away from that? No, he went after Koscheck on the ground and was able to even reverse a few takedown attempts and stifle Koscheck's escapes. He put on a takedown clinic against an accomplished wrestler and it begs the question, does a NCAA Division I championship really guarantee success at the top of the MMA divisional ranks? It certainly helps in some cases, but Georges St. Pierre doesn't have a wrestling championship. He trains his ass off, and it showed at UFC 74

Improvements

Koscheck has the most obvious flaws in his game out of the two fighters. Koscheck should take one thing away from this battle. He should really think about learning a ju-jitsu game and using it. The idea that he will own the world on the ground is over for him. He went against someone who basically threw him down at will, and he was unable to counter whatsoever during the entire fight. If Koscheck had an intermediate level ju-jitsu game, he would have been able to at least fend off some attacks and possibly catch Pierre with a submission hold. It wouldn't be guaranteed if he could submit him, but it would definitely make St. Pierre think about standing it up. But.. then the rub hits again.. Koscheck's standup was easily dwarfed by Pierre's standup regiment. Yes, very true. Pierre has a vast skillset he can use. He tied combos together effortlessly, and he mixes it up. Koscheck threw rehearsed combos that were easily predictable after the first round. Koscheck needs to add some standup skills to his game along with some additional ground skills if he really wants to be in the top 5 of the welterweight division. Even with an added standup factor, he could potentially sit in the top 3. Sherdog has him listed in the top 5, but after this performance, I beg to make an argument that some of the guys below him may overtake those spots.

Main Card Fights
Joe Stevenson vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Stevenson wasn't completely dominant in my eyes, but you could make a case that he was. Pellegrino was only able to use his ju-jitsu to fend off Stevenson from otherwise pounding him out early to squeak this fight to a decision in which Stevenson won unanimously. Stevenson, like many previous fights, had numerous guillotine choke attempts. Pellegrino came out punching, but in the later rounds was mainly stuck on his back while Stevenson pounded him. Stevenson was able to suplex Pellegrino in the first round and immediately take his back again. Pellegrino had one instance where he was able to take Stevenson down, but it didn't result in really any damage done. Stevenson and Pellegrino traded punches for much of the second round. Pellegrino was going for quantity instead of quality while Stevenson looked for a good punch. Stevenson was able to control a few takedowns while Pellegrino looked to be gassing late in the second round. The most decisive round was the third round domination by Stevenson. Pellegrino was clearly gassing and Stevenson pushed the pace and took down Pellegrino against the fence. Stevenson was able to stay standing and jab at Pellegrino while he was down nudged in the fence. He scored many blows and Pellegrino was doing little to defend against them. Stevenson won via unanimous decision, a very good fight by Joe Daddy.

The Breakdown

Better cardio and impressive takedowns and escapes by Stevenson dominated this fight. Pellegrino didn't look too bad in the beginning of the fight. He was throwing punches and landing a few, but Stevenson was bobbing and weaving like he was a pure boxer. Pellegrino wasted some energy throwing a lot of punches, and was vulnerable to the takedown early. Stevenson was able to get some big hits on Pellegrino while on top of him, and had numerous guillotine attempts early.  By the second round, Pellegrino started to gas and get frustrated at having Stevenson escape all of his takedowns. Stevenson locked it down in the third round with a good takedown and ground n' pound against the fence to finish the fight off and secure a victory of himself. Impressive cardio and escapes by Joe "Daddy" Stevenson.

Improvements

Stevenson looked good, with great ju-jitsu he utilized to control Pellegrino on the ground, and some impressive defense in his standup game. He picked his shots and conserved energy early when standing. He also had a number of good reversals and escapes that Pellegrino definitely grew frustrated with. If Stevenson wants to get into the upper echelon of the division, his standup could use some explosiveness. His takedown defense isn't the greatest even though Pellegrino is a very accomplished wrestler. Stevenson didn't seem to be using the sprawl when he could have, and definitely could have used it more to control Pellegrino and possibly get him into submission attempts.

Pellegrino needs to add more cardio to his game, the most obvious flaw in his fight. He also needs to tighten up his standup and learn to throw quality punches instead of wasting energy throwing a lot of punches for low percentage hits. He seemed to be sticking his fists out there to stop Stevenson from shooting, but it didn't work at all during this fight. Pellegrino did have some flashes of greatness in his wrestling game, but he allowed Stevenson to escape numerous times. Pellegrino could work on his body control techniques a bit more to stop Stevenson from doing so, or it could possibly all revolve around his bad cardio.

Roger Huerta vs. Alberto Crane

This fight was a disappointment for me. I was hoping we would see a quality contender against Huerta, and in most respects, it was for the first round. However, I did not expect Crane to gas so quickly and literally fall apart dead in the last round. The highlights of this fight are few as Huerta laid a ground n' pound smack down on Crane from the get go as Crane scrambled to pull off an upset submission throughout the fight. It was evident early that Crane wanted to take it to the ground while Huerta wanted to keep it up. Crane eventually took Huerta down, but Huerta impressed the fans with escape after escape after escape. Eventually, Crane grew tired and his strength was very low compared to Huerta's power. Crane had a few attempts in the second round that would have garnered a victory if he had any strength at all, but Huerta just held on and escaped each time. Huerta threw huge bombs down on Crane when he escaped and was able to ground and pound Crane. Crane had a huge mouse under his left eye for most of the match, but the real story was Crane's cardio. About a third of the way through the second round, Crane was nearly asleep. He was barely able to stand and was trying to take the fight to the ground with very weak takedown attempts. At times, he was able to get Huerta down, but any attempt to submit Huerta was met with an easy escape transitioning to a ground n' pound on Crane's face. Crane lost via TKO in the third round due basically to the fact he was so tired he couldn't defend himself.

The Breakdown

Huerta's escapes transitioned into ground n' pound tactics that literally smeared Crane all over the mat. Huerta looked stronger, had more cardio, and was downright hateful in his striking on the ground. There isn't much of a breakdown other than I can't believe Crane lasted till the 3rd round.

Improvements

Obviously, if we see Crane in the UFC again, he needs to improve his cardio vastly. He also needs some type of standup game, anything to help him takedown opponents better and transition easily into submission holds. When he did take Huerta down, he was expending a lot of energy trying to defeat Huerta's sprawl. It'd be much easier for him had Huerta needed to look for a stray punch to the face. Those are two huge hurdles he will need to jump to even compete. He has a great ground game as we saw he transitioned too many different attempts, but he didn't have the strength to pull them into a complete submission.

Huerta looked better in this fight. It was a true ground test for him, and he was able to pass with flying colors. He showed his skills in escaping various ju-jitsu submission attempts and was able to easily transition to his own game. I will say that he wasn't tested that intensely since Crane basically became limp after the midpoint of the 2nd round. I look to see Huerta fight someone like a Guida who is a cardio machine to really test his energy and power.

To be continued tomorrow...

I did a preview/predictions post awhile back, and Matt has posted a preview/predictions post for his blog, so I'm going to combine the two and give everyone a general preview and our predictions of the UFC 74 card at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. This is shaping up to be a very good card matchup wise. Now, to be fair, I've said this in the past and the card ended up being a snoozer or disappointing all together. This card does have a lot of even matchups though, and I'm hoping we really get some distance out of the two top fights on the card. Let's take a good look at Matt's predictions:

UFC 74 Pre-Fight Jitters

An interesting article by Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports came out with a few choice quotes that I found unbelievably surprising that somebody would actually say these things to a mainstream media reporter. Now, I'm not a huge fan of Kevin Iole's writing. I wasn't a fan of the St. Pierre articles saying he's pissing everyone off. Kevin, it was a bad headline, and bad choice of words for the article. Koscheck is pissing people off more and more as we get closer and closer to this fight. This latest article has all the proof you need to really hate this guy. Let's take a look at some great quotes by Koscheck:

Koscheck was critical of Hughes' decision to stand and trade punches with St. Pierre. He said, "Matt Hughes is slow, he's a farm boy and he's white. He has no speed and no athletic ability. He's a wrestler. Matt Hughes should just have been trying to take him down, take him down, take him down."

Listen asshole, that's racist. I don't care if you want to sit there and defend it against the "drunken, racist UFC idiot fans" as you stated, but that is a generalization. The statement isn't different than saying "Michael Jordan is a city boy, he's black, he's lazy.". That's racist, my friend. You are making a generalization that blacks are lazy in that statement, and in your statement, you are making a generalization that white farm boys have no speed or athletic ability. If you would have left out the damn sentence "He's white.", there would be no problem, but the sentence has no bearing in the quote other than to make the statement a racist one. But did you stop after that? Hell no, you had to show off your intelligence a bit more.

"I'm racist? Yeah, that's a good one," Koscheck said. "First off, I'm more white than I am black. I was raised white. I'm the darkest (skinned) one in my family.

Alright, so basically you are saying you are white, but.. you are making racially charged statements about white fighters. So, you are saying that you also have no speed and no athletic ability, oh wait..that's right, you aren't a white farm boy. Shut up! This is ridiculous. What is racism, my friend? According to Dictionary.com, racism is "The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.". Hmm, you do believe that his race accounts for a difference in his ability. So yes, it's a racist comment. And your defense is that you are more white than black... WOW!

You want to stop being called a racist in the media, act like Randy Couture, a class act. Or just don't add "He's white." in any of your pre-fight smack talk. I'm all for hyping up a fight, Josh, but cut the damn "white" statements out of your pre-fight interviews. It's ridiculous and you sound like a bigot against white people, which in itself is insane. If you wanted to talk about what Matt Hughes did wrong, all you had to say was he didn't take GSP down. We all know what your gameplan is when you fight GSP, but explaining to media reporters that you are different and that Matt Hughes was a white farm boy who didn't take him down is stupid. Thanks for the laughs, Josh Koscheck.

We have finished our first complete fight card analysis and breakdown for UFC 74. With any luck, these posts will help you know a little about each fighter, his styles, and techniques in order for you to better gauge their performance at UFC 74. All the predictions are my own, so you can all hound me later if I do poorly. For the record, I have a 14-2 record since UFC 73 in the MMAplayground Season. If you haven't done so already, MMAPlayground is a fantasy MMA game in which you pick fights, and can also do fantasy wagering against about 6,000 other users. It's very fun. I picked Alvin Robinson over Kenny Florian and paid for it, even though Robinson looked great early and then succumbed to Florian's great ju-jitsu. I pick upsets because there is usually at least one on each fight card. It hasn't been the case so much since UFC 73 though. Here's our current breakdown of the event with links to our articles:

Click on each fighter for a Sherdog Fighter Profile displaying record and each fight
UFC 74 Breakdown Articles
Randy "The Natural" Couture vs. Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga. - Article
Georges "Rush" St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck. - Article
Joe "Daddy" Stevenson vs Kurt Pellegrino - Article
Patrick "The Predator" Cote vs. Kendall "Da Spyda" Grove - Article
Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. David Heath - Article
Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio vs. Clay "The Carpenter" Guida - Article
Alberto Crane vs. Roger "El Matador" Huerta - Article
Antoni Hardonk vs. Frank Mir - Article
Thales Leites vs. Ryan Jensen - Article

Enjoy our articles and hopefully this will bring some intelligent conversations to the MMA communites out there on the Internet through the knowledge we've given you all on some of the up and coming fighters in the UFC, and the veterans of the UFC. If you are a new fan to the UFC, definitely check out the video analysis. It definitely gives great insight into the styles and dynamics of each fighter.

In our upcoming segment, we will be analyzing the fight card for WEC 30. Look forward to that within the next few days.

The second fight in our in-depth look at UFC 74 that we will be previewing is the Welterweight contender bout between Georges "Rush" St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck. This is an interesting fight for a number of reasons. This bout will solidify the #1 contender for the title after Matt Hughes fights Matt Serra at UFC 79. It will also pit the #2 ranked welterweight in the world, according to MMAWeekly, against the #4 ranked welterweight in the world. St. Pierre will enter this bout with a 13-2 record, recently being defeated by the hands of Matt Serra at UFC 69 via TKO in the 1st round. St. Pierre rattled off 6 consecutive wins before his defeat, obtaining the UFC Welterweight Title against Matt Hughes at UFC 65. Koscheck comes into the bout with a 9-1 record, scoring 5 straight victories and putting himself in position for a contender matchup after defeating Diego Sanchez at UFC 69. St. Pierre is looking to redeem himself with a win and gain a shot at regaining the title while Koscheck is looking to prove he is one of the top welterweights in the world. Let's breakdown this matchup and take a closer look at what each fighter's skills and styles are.

Skills & Styles Breakdown

Georges St. Pierre is a very versatile fighter in every aspect of MMA. He is knowledgable in various forms of martial arts that include Kyokushin, Boxing, Wrestling, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Pierre has shown that he has some excellent ju-jitsu and wrestling skills that prove to be a tough combination for opponents to handle. He has very good technique in his ju-jitsu that has allowed him to control opponents very well, even when he has taken considerable damage during a fight. GSP's striking is his rock though. He has very good hands and an able defense against another striker. Pierre is also known for his fitness when coming into a fight, his conditioning is one of the best in MMA. This fight will depend mostly on Pierre's striking, but also rely heavily on his takedown defense, grappling, and wrestling game. Recently, it has been questioned whether St. Pierre is going to be mentally strong for this bout. It was seen in some of his earlier fights that Pierre almost wanted to quit the fight. It has been said in the MMA community that due to his mental situation in the Matt Serra bout, he wasn't focused enough and failed to defend the title. He will be once again tested at UFC 74 whether his mental strength is strong for the fight.

Koscheck is a collegiate championship wrestler with some striking ability. He has very little ju-jitsu in his background and usually finishes opponents by submission with chokes due to his body control with his wrestling ability. He is a fighter that is able to go the distance and has good conditioning skills. Koscheck's lack of diversity in techniques, especially having very little ju-jitsu background, will be very difficult for him to overcome in this bout. He has used his wrestling to control an opponent and score on the ground, but without knockout power while on top of an opponent. This resulted in a number of decisions.

Video Analysis

Let's take a front row seat to the last 5 fights of each fighter and analyze their strengths and weaknesses coming into this bout at UFC 74:

St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes
In this UFC 65 matchup between the welterweight champion Matt Hughes and the contender Georges St. Pierre, we saw the entire repetoire of skills that St. Pierre had learned in his MMA career. Pierre exhibited an inpenetratable range that Hughes could not shoot into in order to take down his opponent. Pierre showed great striking ability and used his kicks to keep Hughes at a distance for most of the first round. Pierre landed a lot of good punching combos and landed a good amount of shots to Hughes. In the second round, Pierre was quicker, faster, and had more pop in his step. He was able to land a great leg sweep and a head kick to Hughes's face that crumpled him. The shear speed, movement, and range Pierre showed in this bout was too much for Hughes. Hughes grew tired of chasing Pierre around the ring, and having a hard time taking Pierre down. This was one of the more prominent performances by St. Pierre we've seen to date. Absolute domination of legend Matt Hughes.

St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra
Pierre was very hesitant in this fight. He used his range well, but wasn't landing massive blows or using his kicking ability well against Serra. Serra is known as being a very good ju-jitsu fighter with very little striking power or ability. Pierre made a mistake by leaning into Serra's range and getting caught with a huge punch. The only real mistake of the fight. He didn't utilize his own range and use his kicks like he had in the past against so many opponents.

St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn
A fight that shows St. Pierre's conditioning and takedown power, BJ Penn was ultimately winning this fight after the first round. He landed many huge blows to Pierre's face and Pierre was definitely visibly damaged badly by Penn's onslaught. Pierre hung in and was able to takedown and defend against Penn throughout the second round. He was able to ground and pound Penn a few times while in Penn's guard and take the round. Penn eventually gassed and became unbelievably exhausted, a trait that has been assigned to BJ Penn his entire career. Pierre's wrestling saved him in this fight. He was able to shoot a tired BJ Penn and take him down at will. This tied up BJ from scoring any punches or submission attempts and allowed Pierre to win the fight on pure attrition.

Final Analysis
When Georges St. Pierre is on his game, he's nearly an unstoppable force in the MMA world. His combination of striking, wrestling, ju-jitsu, defense, and range is haunting to opponents. His fight against Frank Trigg proved his ju-jitsu game was legitimate and useful in the ring. He has shown in previous fights that his ju-jitsu is also a great way to tie opponents up on the ground. In the first matchup with Matt Hughes, Pierre attempted various submission holds while on his back in order to tie up Hughes from ground and pounding him. Combined with Pierre's wrestling, his ground game is phenomenol. He has trained with the Canadian Olympic wrestling squad, as heard on his All Access special, and it has shown.

Ju-jitsu and wrestling are a part of his game, but his ultimate skill in the ring is his outstanding striking skills. His range alone stifles opponents. By having that large range between himself and his opponent, he is able to set up kicks and strikes without danger of being counterpunched. He showed in his Hughes bout that he can literally strike at will against the best. He landed some huge blows to Hughes, along with a Superman punch at the end of round 1 that nearly ended the fight. This overall combination of great ground and devastating striking makes St. Pierre one of the most complete welterweights in the world.

Breakdown of Josh Koscheck's Last 5 fights