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UFC 86 event preview
By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2008
I have a quick preview of the show right here at MMAOnline.com.
For additional thoughts on certain matches on the UFC 86 card, we turn to Kid Nate of BloodyElbow.com fame to answer some questions we have about this upcoming show.
Make a case for Forrest Griffin actually having a shot on winning this fight and how he could do it.
There are two paths Griffin could choose to go down.
1) The Wanderlei Silva route — Get inside, fire punches to the body and then lock in the thai plum. Griffin is taller than Rampage and could do some damage if he can connect with knees to the head.
2) The Josh Thomson route — Keep the standup on the outside and use leg kicks and body kicks to keep Rampage out of punching range. Fire knees to the face when Rampage shoots in. I don’t think Griffin has the wrestling skills to pull off #2 and since he’s been training with Wanderlei Silva, I think he’ll go for #1. Can he beat Rampage like that? Seems unlikely, but so did beating Shogun on the ground.
Thoughts on Ricardo Almeida vs. Patrick Cote?
Almeida has the same chance Travis Lutter had against Cote — a striker with mediocre takedown defense and appallingly bad submission defense — get the takedown quick and lock on a submission before Cote gets sweaty and slippery.
Is Marcus Aurelio really that big of an underdog in his fight against Tyson Griffin?
I give Aurelio only a slim chance of beating Tyson Griffin. Griffin will have the edge standing and wrestling and even if Aurelio does get the fight to the ground, if Tavares couldn’t beat down or submit Tyson, I don’t see Aurelio doing it. Griffin is just too quick, too powerful and too well-rounded for Marcus. Aurelio could have a future as a gatekeeper in the UFC except his contract guarantees him the kind of money that only fighters on the contention track can command.
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Zach, I’d really love to hear your thoughts on some of these matchups, instead of Jordan’s and Kid Nate’s.
Maybe I’m the only one that see some irony in this, but lately it seems like you and fightlinker.com should trade website names.
#1 Giffin does not have heavy hands. I think the Thai plumb worked for Wandy because he was able to soften Quinton up with his punches. I don’t think Griffin has that ability.
I agreed with Doem. If you watch the 2nd Wand/Rampage fight, it’s a punch that leads to the end of the fight. There’s a great slow motion gif of it somewhere out there on the nerd.
I got a radio show to save material for. Although I don’t think much of what I have to say will be a surprise…
There’s going to be a podcast this week? That’s good news.
Zach, I’m always interested in your opinions, so I wish that you would post some of the things that you say on the radio show in the form of mini-editorials. It doesn’t even have to be a full-fledged transcription of what you said, just a paraphrasing for people who are interested in reading articles but may or may not have time to listen to a whole radio show. This applies to any topic, not just this weekend’s UFC event.
i wish the the podcasts with ufc previews are published a bit earlier than the friday before the event giving more time for everybody to listen to the podcast before the fights; but i have no idea what deadlines you put on yourselves to get these done
We were going to tape something earlier, but it fell through. A show is doubtful, but I’ll elaborate with further personal thoughts about UFC 86 soon on the site (for those who care).