Saturday, February 23, 2013

UFC 157 Preview and Predictions

It's finally here. The first female fight in UFC history will go down tonight. Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche is going to not only be a historic fight because of their gender, but this fight has the chance to do for the UFC what Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar did back in 2005.

The viewership won't be as high as the Griffin/Bonnar fight was, but the potential implications are just as high if not higher. MMA is dominated by men and the audience is almost 100% male. Rousey and Carmouche are breaking down a barrier and could lead the UFC into a whole new demographic. Like Jemele Hill said on Around The Horn, she's not a UFC fan, but she is ordering this fight because of the main event. That has to be music to Dana White's ears.

Alright, enough off that, prediction time. I can't stand Josh Koscheck as a person, but he is a damn good fighter. I think he outclasses Robbie Lawler quite easily. Court McGee vs. Josh Neer should be an interesting fight. McGee has dropped down to 170lbs. which is probably a better fighting weight for him. As much as I like Neer, I think McGee imposes his will and gets the victory.

Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar has the potential to be great or a total snoozer. I really like Faber and can see him dominating this fight start to finish. Hopefully he gets an early submission and moves on. Admittedly I don't know much about Menjivar, but I know how good Faver can be and when he's on his game he's tough to beat. Machida vs. Henderson is the fight I'm most interested in on this card. Machida's whole career has been based around not getting hit. But he's slowed down quite a bit over the last few years. While Hendo is old now, at least by MMA standards at 42, he's still got cinder blocks for hands. I'll take Hendo by knockout.

Like I said earlier, the main event has all the potential in the world to break down doors for the UFC. However, I don't see this fight going past the first round. Rousey has won all of her professional fights by armbar in the first round. She's much more experienced with all the hype, the big stage, and MMA in general. That's not to say Carmouche can't win this fight. All it takes is one punch, and she can definitely punch. I just think Rousey's judo background is too much for Carmouche to overcome.

So there are my thoughts, what do you think? Do you agree with my picks? Are you interested in the title fight?

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