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« | Home | »

Your event thoughts — UFC 114 MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (5/29/2010)

By Zach Arnold | May 29, 2010

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Dark matches

Spike TV preliminary matches

Main card

The odds for the main event are a pick ’em — -115 for both Rampage and Rashad.

Make your predictions and be willing to stand by them even if they don’t pan out after Saturday night.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 48 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

48 Responses to “Your event thoughts — UFC 114 MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (5/29/2010)”

  1. david m says:

    There is literally not a single fight on this show I’m interested in besides the main event. This is one of the cards when if Dana had any sense, he would have made the main event 5 rounds, even though it is not a title fight.

    • Steve says:

      There are definitely some fights I want to see.

      I am very interested in Sanchez-Hathaway. Hathaway is the only British fighter on the UFC roster who has truly exceptional wrestling, and if he can get past Diego, he has big things in his future. I also want to see Saddollah-Kim (I am a huge fan of the Stun Gun) and Duffee-Russow (to discover if Duffee is an uberprospect or just a scary looking mofo).

      That said, I agree with copmment below that says this is a one-fight card. While I am looking forward to the fights I mentioned, Rampage-Rashad is the only one on the card worth paying for. The rest would make for a great UFN lineup.

  2. Jonathan Snowden says:

    This is the definition of the one fight card. Wow.

    • Mr. Roadblock says:

      It sure is.

      Even before Griffin dropped out I thought this was a lousy card, but that really hurt. At least w/ Griffin/Nog you had a fight that gave you a #1 contender plus established a #2 in line.

  3. Oh Yeah says:

    Sadollah/DHK should be good (prelims).

    Other than the main event though, the fights are one-sided – in terms of my interest in the participants.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    Griffin off this card hurt it, but it’s hardly a 1 fight card.

    I’m excited for Jackson/Evans, Sanchez/Hathaway, Sadollah/Kim. And Duffee/Russow is a solid fight to see where Duffee is at as well.

  5. Duffee/Russow is an interesting prospect/prospect matchup….but I don’t want to pay money to see it. Makes the average boxing undercard look respectable.

    • Steve says:

      Agreed.

      Chubby boring grinder versus the athletic specimen. Russow will be the first of many stylistic hurdles that Duffee will need to clear to justify his current hype.

  6. Tradition Rules says:

    I’ll enjoy this card for the pur fact that its a UFC show and there is *ALMOST* always a few suprises,be it an upset ot a suprisingly good fight.

    I’ll be heading out somewhere local to watch the fight with friends like I usually do, so maybe thats why I’m more accepting of this fight card.

    I’m looking forward toseeing “little Nog” showcase his striking skills again. 🙂

  7. david m says:

    strikeforce’s most recent offering on showtime was a much better card than this is.

  8. david m says:

    Not kidding at all. Rogers-Overeem was compelling, as were Silva-Arlovski, Jacare’s fight, and Vitor Ribiero’s fight. I legitimately don’t care about any of these fights. Duffee and Nog win by squash, I don’t care to see Bisping fight at all, and I don’t know anything about the dude Diego is fighting although he has a good record. That is not to say I won’t watch this show at a bar, but when hardcore fans are struggling to find a 2nd fight that interests them, it is not a good thing.

    • Duffee ain’t winning by squash. I don’t even know if he wins. Still – thinking about some watching some dude lay on him for 15 minutes as if it were a fetish film doesn’t get my pulse racing to hit “order”.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Main Event: Rashad/Quinton beats out Overeem/Rogers in terms of rankings, style, and heat.

      There is no fight on the UFC card that is remotely as bad on paper as Gracie/Randleman.

      Silva/Arlovski had an advantage over Bisping/Miller.

      But Duffee/Russow and Sanchez/Hathaway are superior to Cavalcante and Jacare fights.

      And that’s not even talking about the prelims…. Strikeforce had none. The UFC has some solid ones.

      I’m not saying this UFC is awesome on paper. And UFC 115 is downright a SpikeTV card being pushed as a PPV. But this is easily beyond anything Strikeforce has put on this year.

      • The Gaijin says:

        I thought the Jacare fight was perfectly fine on paper and in execution. I guess the rub is that this was a Jacare showcase fight (i.e. not planning on a Joey V win), whereas this is a toss-up to either put Sanchez back on the map or elevate Hathaway.

        As an aside – you’re awfully down on him eh? I still think he’s looking like he’s got the stuff to be an elite mma fighter. We’re talking a guy coming from a discipline where most top guys have weak wrestling (his looks pretty darned solid) and horrible striking (he’s improving in leaps and bounds)…he’s evolving and definitely not afraid to take on good fighters.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          I don’t buy into his hype. I think he is a front runner who when faced with adversity will crumble everytime. Kind of like another Vitor Belfort.

          I’m not sold on Rafael Cavalcante either. He mentally seems off during his fights.

          I do think King Mo has a bright future. He needs to improve, but the strides he has made this early in his career are very good. Give him another 2 years, and he is going to be one of the top guys.

          And Woodley could be a terror, but it’s too early to tell at this point. He needs another step up in competition for the fans to really see what his potential is. I don’t think his opponent on Friday will answer any of those questions.

  9. Mark says:

    I think Miller is upsetting Bisping. And not just because I hate Bisping. Miller has only lost recently to the cream of the crop Middleweights. And Michael Bisping certainly doesn’t fit that definition.

    I’m picking Evans but hoping Jackson in the main event. I’m just not sold on Jackson winning against a guy the caliber of Rashad after such a big lay off, especially since he’s notorious for half-assing it in training camps.

  10. david m says:

    I think Jacare is one of the most talented guys in the world at 185. Great subs, good wrestling, superb athlete, and improving striker. I think he has a better shot against Anderson than almost everyone at that weight.

  11. […] Greg Jackson was unwavering in his confidence about Rashad Evans being able to deliver the goods at UFC 114 this Saturday night in his fight against Rampage […]

  12. […] UFC 114 MGM Grand Garden Arena &#1110n Las Vegas, Nevada (5/29/2010) | FightOpinion.com – Y&#9… […]

  13. I guess I’ll give predictions on the fights:

    -Duffee loses. He is getting a lot of action because he looks like a greek god. Apparently, no one has researched the fact that Duffee was not a wrestler in high school. Has anyone seen him defend the double from anyone? Much less someone the size of Russow? I don’t care how well you punch, if you can’t stop the takedown of a monster wrestler, you ain’t gonna be effective at heavyweight at the top tier. And until you show that aspect of your game, you gotta think he might have been a little protected. Russow with a boring UD.

    Hathaway is young and tall for a welterweight. Won’t matter. Sanchez will take down another Brit who can’t wrestle and will smash him on the mat en route to a decision. Hathaway’s 3-0 UFC record means diddley since he didn’t beat anyone worth the time to type their names out. Sanchez will never be a top contender at welterweight, but this is still a fight he wins. Kinda meaningless fight unless Diego is your boy and you beat up high school kids together or punch rocks for fun together on Friday nights.

    I don’t know what Brilz does to beat Noguiera except throw wild punches and hopes something lands. Might work. Did for one guy. I wouldn’t bet on that. I wouldn’t pay money for the possibility of that to be on my TV.

    The Millers are grossly overrated. Bisping gets hated on but this is the kind of guy he beats – someone who is “Well Rounded” and better at nothing in particular better than Bisping. Probably a KO win or something.

    How many times has Rampage been counted out in his career? Seemingly hundreds. Who has shot in and taken him down with ease? Henderson didn’t. Lindland didn’t. Arona didn’t. Not Eastman nor Griffin. No to Randleman, Sakuraba, or Bustamante. Now Evans, an undersized light heavyweight with a poor gas tank and offbalance low kicks, is going to kick his legs out and take him down at will. Yeah right. Rampage by decision and Evans moves to middleweight.

    • The Gaijin says:

      “Bisping gets hated on but this is the kind of guy he beats – someone who is “Well Rounded” and better at nothing in particular better than Bisping. Probably a KO win or something.”

      Totally with you here…probably ends like the Kang and Day fights where Bisping controls, does damage from the top and just pours it on for the finish.

  14. The Gaijin says:

    Here’s my predictions (you should immediately go bet huge money against them):

    Sanchez – I think he makes a statement here after getting abused and humiliated by Penn. Hathaway looks like a legit prospect, but this seems like a mighty large leap in competition.

    Lil Nog – Brilz is stepping in on short-ish notice and quite frankly I think we’ve seen this fight before when Nog fought Vladdy Mat…and I don’t think Brilz does anything better than Vlad, so the Lil Nog train will keep on chugging towards a LHW shot.

    Duffee – Not sure what to think of this fight. Russow’s faced the better competition and is a solid HW, while Duffee is the new breed and has looked scary but I’m not sure I know enough about him to make a really educated pick…but I’ll go with Duffee just because I’m not sure Russow can get away with grinding out a 15 min win.

    Bisping – I hate Bisping, but he always seems to do well as long as it’s not the elite level guys. I like Miller a lot and he’s right up there, but I think Bisping takes him out.

    Jackson – probably a dumb pick, but if he’s truly motivated I think he can take Evans out in brutal fashion. Tools wise I think he’s a much better fighter than Evans, but we’ve seen time and again how much the mental/motivational aspect comes into play.
    IMO Evans was less than impressive against Thiago Silva and Jackson’s a much better fighter and wrestler than Thiago (and he doesn’t have an f’d up back either)…the only issues for Jackson are ring rust and how focused/motivated he is for this fight.

  15. Nicholai says:

    I see Rashad winning this. Not sure why people are sleeping on Jason Brilz but he does have a decent record and Lil Nog has fought some odd Competition in the past that went to decision’s. I hope the Luiz Cane/Cyrile Diabate fight get’s seen. I expect fireworks in that fight. Decent Card but not really that intrested compared to 116 and 117 coming up.

    • The Gaijin says:

      I don’t think anyone is really sleeping on Brilz, it’s just that he’s (imo) a Janitor clone and probably not as good as Vladdy either…and we’ve already seen how it plays out (or should).

      I do think that Lil Nog’s biggest weakness is his wrestling/scrambling, but that’s only really going to come into play against the top end guys like a Rampage, Evans, Jones, Bader, Shogun (maybe Forrest?). Lil Nog’s boxing has actually gotten much better (and it was good before) and I’m just not sure how Brilz is going to be able to implement an effective gameplan that’s much different from Vlad’s.

  16. David M says:

    I basically agree with Alan’s picks. I am hopeful this fight sends Rashad to 185, so that Jon Jones can start to get a push towards teh belt. I would also like to see Machida move to 185 and Anderson move to 205, for what it’s worth.

    I am taking Rampage because he is bigger, stronger, hits harder, has an iron chin, is impossible to take down, and may be a technically better boxer. Rashad is undersized and a bit chinny but has great speed and explosiveness, but I just don’t see him avoiding Rampage’s bombs for 15 minutes.

  17. Mr. Roadblock says:

    Predictions:

    Rashad by stoppage in Round 3.

    Nog by stoppage Round 1.

    Bisbing decision.

    Duffee/Russow – bordeom.

    Hathaway by decision.

    Sadollah by stoppage.

    Escudero by sub.

    Guillard by decision.

    Cane by stoppage.

  18. rainrider says:

    Duffee x Russow in Main Card???

    I don’t understand that. Russow is known for producing mid-west styled boring fights and this is 2nd fight of Duffee who seems to be a younger version of Brandon Vera who does not have control switch between offense and defense.

    Guillard in Dark Matches???

    I don’t believe this. Guillard is one of the most exciting light weight fighters out there. What the phuck has Joe Silva been watching lately??? He’s not smartest, not the most tactical or technical, but he’s a great fighter with the style to win the audience.

  19. rainrider says:

    Bisping vs Miller

    Trust me, Bisping has a guillotine-proof neck. He won’t get submitted.

    Sanchez vs Hathaway

    Thomos Rios thinks the brit will be taken down and submitted. I’m not sure who got the better wrestling, but, I know for sure Sanchez won’t submit the brit. Griffin vs Dunham in the next UFC is a similarly matched up fight that is going to be as exciting as this one. The winners from these 2 fights should face each other while Maynard is spoiling the title match.

  20. Bob says:

    Not my picks (I’ll decide after the weigh-ins). Stats from mmaplayground:

    39% Rashad Evans (1358) vs. 61% Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (2168)

    Efrain Escudero (2613) 82% vs. 18% Dan “The Upgrade” Lauzon (588)

    Mike Russow (421) 13% vs. 87% Todd Duffee (2728)

    John Hathaway (270) 8% vs. 92% Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez (3027)

    Jesse “Kid Hercules” Forbes (1578) 54% vs. 46% Ryan Jensen (1333)

    Amir Sadollah (1810) 58% vs. 42% Dong-Hyun Kim (1315)

    Joe Brammer (515) 18% vs. 82% Aaron Riley (2375)

    Luiz Arthur “Banha” Cane (2426) 82% vs. 18% Cyrille “Snake” Diabate (535)

    Michael “The Count” Bisping (2146) 70% vs. 30% Dan Miller (931)

    Jason Brilz (57) 2% vs. 98% Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira (2690)

    Melvin Guillard (2203) 93% vs. 7% Waylon Lowe (169)

  21. Fluyid says:

    ?Welterweights: Diego Sanchez vs. John Hathaway

    ?Light Heavyweights: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Jason Brilz

    ?Heavyweights: Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow

    ?Middleweights: Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller

    ?Light Heavyweights (#1 contender’s match): Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans

    I fully expect that I’ll miss more than I get.

  22. rainrider says:

    I predict that the winner of Sanchez/Hathaway will go to light weight division. Thank you.

  23. edub says:

    I’ve been puttin’ my money where my mouth is for the last 4 months on bodog and I’m up 2500 pluggin away with the 50 dollar bets. For this event i got bets on 6 fights and I really wanted to pull the trigger on 7. My bets are on Jesse Forbes at +130, Aaron Riley at -170, Melvin Guillard at -350(put $75 on it), Sadollah at -120, Bisping at -180, and Rampage at even. I just couldn’t pull the trigger on Hathaway because up until yesterday on Bodog he was he was +350, and he already decisioned a bigger better wrestler in Ricky Story.

    Anyhow her are my picks for the event:
    – Forbes by dec. or late tko. He really impressed me againt Catone, and it looks like he’s done a lot of improvement since fighting on the smalleer circuit.
    -Aaron Riley by dec. Old faithful fighting a middle of the road guy in Brammer.
    -Luiz Cane by TKO in 1. I think he was starstruck againt Lil Nog and he will get back on the horse here.
    -Melvin Guillard by TKO.
    -Efrain Escudero by tko after lauzon gasses.
    -Amir Sadollah by dec.
    -Diego by TKO. This is the fight I most in the middle of the road with. Hathaway has got great wrestling for a Britt. In the back of my mind I just think Diego will take care of business early.
    -Lil Nog by whatever he wants, probably sub.
    – Todd Duffee by Emphatic KO in 2. The hype train continues.
    -Bisping by dec.
    -Rampage by KO

  24. Robert Poole says:

    I’m only going to pick the winner of the main event and say that I think Rampage is going to KO Rashad. Rampage has an infinitely better chin than Evans does and I think he will be pressing the action while Evans hopes and prays with a counter punch.

    I’m just not impressed with Evans. He’s more hype than anything else. He should have lost to Tito (minus that point deduction for the cage grab), the win over Bisping wasn’t all that impressive, he KO’d a completely washed up Liddell who is an easy KO at this point in his career, beat Forrest Griffin who is a gatekeeper at best, got destroyed by Machida and barely held on against Thiago Silva who if he had one more round would have knocked Evans out.

    I’m just not impressed with that string of results and frankly I think Rampage is a tougher opponent than any of those guys at this point than when Evans fought them.

    Rp

  25. EJ says:

    Middleweights: Jesse Forbes vs. Ryan Jensen-Jensen TKO 2’nd

    Lightweights: Aaron Riley vs. Joe Brammer-Riley KO 3’rd

    Light Heavyweights: Luiz Cane vs. Cyrille Diabate-Cane Decision

    Lightweights: Melvin Guillard vs. Waylon Lowe-Guillard KO 2’nd

    Lightweights: Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon-Escudero Sub 2’nd

    Welterweights: Amir Sadollah vs. Dong Hyun Kim-Amir Decision

    Welterweights: Diego Sanchez vs. John Hathaway-Sanchez TKO 1’st

    Light Heavyweights: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Jason Brilz-Nog Sub 1’st

    Heavyweights: Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow-Russow Decision

    Middleweights: Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller-Miller sub 3’rd

    Light Heavyweights (#1 contender’s match): Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans-Evans KO 3’rd

  26. 45 Huddle says:

    Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Todd Duffee, John Hathaway, Dong Hyun Kim, and Efrain Escudero.

    I would say I feel comfortable with all of those predictions except for the Kim/Sadollah fight. It’s really a toss up in my mind and I can see either of them winning.

  27. harbour says:

    The amount of times I’ve really been impressed with Rashad could be whittled down to a small series of gifs. Rampage bringing ring rusty chains into the cage after such a long layoff is definitely hard not to consider, but I feel evans won’t be executing an attacking the legs strategy ala forrest or jardine and i honestly don’t think he’s going to be able to take a ready rampage down very easily.

    Rashad has been getting tagged and hurt quite often recently. My prediction is rampage is going to end this clipping him in an exchange, Rashad will retreat hurt to the cage, rampage will follow and rashad will drop.

    Another interesting fight to me is Amir vs Stun Gun. I don’t see amir quite having the tools to beat kim.

  28. Jeremy (Not that Jeremy) says:

    I’m predicting that I won’t buy this card. I’ll watch the prelims and find some way to check out the main event later if it didn’t suck (but I have very little hope of that).

  29. Zach Arnold says:

    Dan Lauzon is about to get ‘future endeavored.’

    Escudero fought really ugly.

    Was it me or did I hear referee Josh Rosenthal say “it won’t matter” or something to that effect to Escudero after he deducted a point for the low blow?

    29-27 decision win for Escudero. So he would have won 30-27 (all three rounds). So the third round went from being a 10-9 round to a 9-9 round.

    Right when the UFC prelims started airing on Spike TV, I had to pull away from the Blackhawks/Flyers game and the Lakers/Suns game. Hope those games don’t kill last-minute PPV buys…

    • 45 Huddle says:

      How many of those lazy, no chance of landing jabs, could Escudero throw during that fight? Very frustrating watching one guy gas, the other start acting like he wanted to throw down, and then nothing happen.

  30. Fluyid says:

    If Rosenthal said that, he better watch out. Boxing ref Laurence Cole did that and a little more and got suspended for it.

  31. robthom says:

    Thank goodness!

    Even if it wasn’t pretty its nice to see good triumph over evil every once in awhile.

    Whats wrong with Cane?

    I knew Duffee was flucking up when he kept going full speed while Russow just laid back. I didn’t necessarily expect that, but I suspected he was making a mistake and laying some bad road.

    I see celebrity spotting is back.
    Blech!

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Duffee reminded me of Woodley on the last Challenger card. What you see in the 1st round is a completely different fighter then you see in the last 2. It’s really a lack of putting on a professional performance. A true professional should be able to put on a steady workrate throughout the fight.

      Duffee does have very good hips for not having a wrestling background. But I kind of see him gassing like that in most of his fights from now on.

  32. 45 Huddle says:

    Went 6-1 in my predictions. I thought Brilz won that fight, but I do have to watch that 1st round again. I had the 2nd for Brilz and 3rd for Nogueira. Either way, that fight killed Nogueira’s stock and completely raised Brilz.

    The upset I picked that I was not suprised at all at was John Hathaway over Diego Sanchez. It was a combo of Diego being small for the weight class. Coming off a really bad beatdown. And I relaly do think Hathaway is the real deal.

    Overall, just a lot of long fights. Definitely a solid PPV, but every live fight on the PPV and prelim show went into the 3rd round, with only 1 ending. But it was a solid PPV.

    • Fluyid says:

      Good job on the picks.

    • The Gaijin says:

      “Either way, that fight killed Nogueira’s stock and completely raised Brilz.”

      Seems pretty darned counter-intuitive. Either Brilz’s stock gets raised because he put it all out there and almost beat a very highly ranked fighter or he beat a guy that’s “overhyped”.

      Pretty hard to say (1) Nog is overhyped and his stock is killed AND (2) Brilz looked so great in the fight with the overhyped guy, his stock is soaring. It’s some nice passive aggressive commentary, but I don’t think it works.

      • klown says:

        I think there’s room for both perspectives to be true – Nog was disappointing, AND Brilz was impressive.

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