UFC 97: Redemption 

Alright you wanna be cage fighters, get ready to get your face fucked, cause the UFC is back in Canadia, and they aren’t queering around. 

 

Middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites

Anderson the Spider Silva is back to defend his title, not only as the raining UFC middle weight champion, but as the Pound for Pound king of MMA. Silva is 23-4 during his career in MMA, and he’s 8-0 in the UFC.  Silva is known for his fierce striking.  Leites who’s basically being thrown to the dogs in this one, he’s 14-1, winning his last 5 in the UFC. Leites only loss coming in the UFC by decision. He’s not known for being great at any one thing, but he is an all around good fighter.  Still he doesn’t have the skill set to beat Anderson in this fight.  Silva is really best known for dismantling fighters quick.  I don’t see much of a difference here. Personally if Leites wants a chance in this fight he’s going to have to take it to the ground and hope he can catch Silva in a submission, that being said, Silva in the 1^st.

Anderson Silva via TKO in the 1^st.

Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua 

One of the most exciting fights for the UFC in quite a while. This fight pits Chuck Liddell the former UFC light heavyweight champion against former Pride Fighting Championship mega star Mauricio Rua.  Rua has been on a bad slide as of late, even after his victory against a 40 something Mark Coleman at UFC 93.  Liddell however is no spring chicken, coming off a disgusting knock out loss to Rashad Evans, the current UFC light heavyweight champ.  This fight means a lot to both fighters, as the president of the UFC Dana White has said that Chuck is not safe from getting the pink slip.  Thus it brings us to the fight term, “win or go home“. I believe that if Rua losses this match to chuck he WILL be cut by the UFC.  The funny thing about that is that 3 years ago Rua was considered number 1 or 2 in the pound for pound greatest MMA fighters. He demolished such names as Alistair Overeem, Kevin Randleman, Ricardo Arona, Antonio Noguera, Quinton Rampage Jackson, and Babalu Sobral. Rua has literally beaten a who’s who of top MMA fighters, yet right now many people can’t say he will win this fight against an old ass washed up Chuck Liddell. This is do in part to his piss poor performance against Mark Coleman and Forrest Griffin.  Chuck has seen his hay day in this sport, but I think it’s passed him by now, however I think Chuck will take this due to Rua no longer roiding his ass off. Chuck has a much better gas tank than Rua and I think this fight will make it to the 3^rd.

Chuck Liddell via KO in the 3rd

Krzystof Soszynski vs. Brian Stann

Krzysztof “the polish experiment” Soszynski (yes that’s his real nickname), who will be referred to as Kris, because he name is to fucking difficult to spell over and over, is making his return to the octagon after his first win in the UFC over 4 months ago.  Kris is an Ultimate Fighter Alumni, he is a great fighter and coming in with one goal, just win.  Brian “the all American”Stann (yes… I know) is a former WEC star, and Light heavyweight champion.  Stann is 6-1, with all 6 wins coming by way of KO, and all coming in the first round. His only loss was his last fight to Steve Cantwell, who was the former light heavyweight champ himself, and fighting on this same card as well.  Kris certainly has much more all around skill in the ring. Stann is known for his KO power and he uses it well, this should be an interesting match-up of styles. I think Kris takes this one, because he can take a punch, and that’s what Stann is going to come in and try to do, punch the big polish guy’s face.  I think Stann will gas in the first round, lose the 2^nd, and get subbed in the 3^rd.

Krzysztof “The Polish Experiment” Soszynski via Rear Naked Choke in the 3rd 

                                           Cheick Kongo vs. Antoni Hardonk

Their isn’t much to say about this fight, Kongo who is personally one of my favorite fighters, not because of his skill but, due to the fact that he’s a 6″7 black man who speaks French, and his name is Kongo. This fight is typical of his past fights, the UFC has been feeding Kongo weak ass opponents for a while now, and this is no exception. IT is believed that if Kongo wins he will be next in line for a title shot against the winner of Brock Lesnar/Frank Mir.  Personally their isn’t many others in that division that I could make the case for besides Kongo, he’s beaten most of the lower tier guys in that  division but hasn’t really been tested, but he’s beaten most of them in pretty impressive fashion, he’s a former Kick boxer and his stand-up really can’t be beat in the HW division, however his ground game is horrid, if I were to rank it, he would get 10 out of 10 for standup, and negative 5 out of 10 for his ground game.  Hardonk is a joke, and I won’t even go into how he could win, because honestly I don’t ‘think it’s possible.

Kongo via TKO in the 2^nd.

Luis Cane vs. Steve Cantwell

This is certainly and interesting match-up, you have 2 fighters here who are coming off very impressive wins. Cane back in October destroyed “The African Assassin” Sokoujou, and Cantwell most recently ripped a guys arm out of it’s socket… yes, you heard right, he won by Arm out of socket submission.  Anywho, both are young fighters, both with fewer than 10 fights in their careers, and both with a lot to prove in the stacked Light Heavyweight division.  Cantwell was a WEC fighter, and most recent Light Heavyweight champion for that organization.  Cantwell has certainly proved himself as the more well rounded fighter, however Cane, has won all but one of his fights in the first round.  This is a hard one to predict, but personally I give the nod to Cantwell, as a former champ and more well rounded fighter, Cane is good, but he last fought back in October, that’s a 6 month layoff were as Cantwell is only coming off 3.

Steve Cantwell via split decision