So last time my picks sucked. However, I still beat Kevin and picked the two big fights correctly so I’m not too disappointed.  Either way, It’s a new week and a new night of fights so I’m ready to make some picks.  Check out the beat down here

Antwain Britt vs Rafael “Feijao” Calvancante

This fight has the potential to be “Fight of the Night”.  Calvancante was a big up-and-coming prospect at one point but just has never broken out.  Both of these fighters like to bang and look for Britt to come out swinging early. However, Calvancante has a very well rounded game coming from the Team Nogueira camp and could definitely submit Britt pretty easily should the fight go to the ground.

My prediction: Rafael Calvancante defeats Antwain Britt via TKO in Round 2.

Roger Gracie vs Kevin Randleman

Why this fight is on the main card I’ll never understand.  Neither fighter is a contender or is even relevant for that matter. The breakdown is as follows: Randleman is a veteran who enjoyed a nice and exciting career in both the UFC and PRIDE organizations but over the past few years has battled injuries as well as the nastiest staph infection I’ve ever seen. He’s lost his last two fights and recently battled a smaller staph infection.  On the other hand you have Roger Gracie who is undefeated in just two pro fights against aging fighters. Randleman will want to stand and bang where as Gracie will want to get it to the ground.  At the end of the day, Randleman just doesn’t have what it takes anymore.

My prediction: Roger Gracie defeats Kevin Randleman via Sub. in Round 3.

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs Joey Villasenor

This is another fight that has potential to be great. Jacare is a submission beast and Villasenor is a gamer. Villasenor has been around for a long time and always comes prepared to battle. He has won his last four fights but the last one was almost a year ago. Jacare is coming off of a very impressive win over veteran Matt Linland.  He has only had one fight go past the first round so look for him to finish it early. The longer the fight goes, the better chance Villasenor has to pull it off.

My prediction: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza defeats Joey Villasenor via Submission in Round 1

Andrei Arlovski vs Antonio Silva

After rifiling off five straight victories, Arlovski has lost his last two fights to Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers. He has taken almost a year off and has spent it with his boxing coach working on his striking. Silva also lost his last fight to heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum via decision last November.  I have never been very impressed with Silva and despite having a 13-2 record, none of them are over any contenders. While Arlovski also hasn’t been at his best, I believe he’s going to come back strong and take this one over Silva.

My prediction: Andrei Arlovski defeats Antonio Silva via TKO in Round 1

MAIN EVENT

“Heavyweight Champion” Alistair Overeem vs Brett Rogers

This matchup is really mind boggling considering that Brett Rogers lost his last fight and now is getting a title shot before the man that beat him last time, Fedor Emelianenko. Rogers’ last fight was the first professional loss of his career and will have a tough time trying to rebound against the champion Overeem. Since winning the Strikeforece Heavyweight title a year and a half ago, Overeem has never defended his title and has won 6 of his 7 fights with one no contest. All of those fights have been overseas. Overeem is a good striker and has great submission skills for a heavyweight with 60% of his wins coming by submission. Rogers is a hard hitting striker and still hasn’t been tested in any of his wins with only one of them being over a formitable opponent, and that was over Andrei Arlovski. Despite losing his last fight, Rogers is continuously improving and could become a very good heavyweight fighter. This fight however, won’t be the fight where he shows us that. He’s just too outmatched by the champion

My prediction: Alistair Overeem defeats Brett Rogers via submission in Round 2

Strikeforce Knocks Down MMA a Few Pegs

Strikeforce did another CBS show last night that fell pretty short.  All 3 title fights went the distance and had decisions that were all pretty obvious and not very entertaining except Melendez. Melendez made Aoki his bitch, and in the final minute of the 5^th round went buck fucking wild to try and end it.  Melendez is now my favorite fighter in MMA, for that very reason.  Nobody tries to end it any more they just coast to the decision, but Melendez went nuts and beat the crap out of Aoki in the final minute trying to get a KO.  Much love to Melendez.

The mediocre fights definitely affected the ratings for last night, which in estimation didn’t even break 3 million viewers the entire night.  The November show with Fedor vs. Rogers peaked out at 5.46 million, which is damn near double last nights ratings.  Pretty pathetic showing in the ratings.

But Strikeforce wasn’t done hurting MMA’s growth… After the main event of Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson, Shields was getting his post fight interview and good ol’ Jason “Mayhem” Miller cut into the interview like a douchebag asking “whats up with my rematch.”  Immediately following this comment my new favorite MMA guy Melendez shoved Mayhem. Then Stockton natives Nick and Nate Diaz, or the “fucktards” as I like to call them, pounced on Mayhem and everyone started throwing punches and kicks.  Referee’s, announcers, team camps, and security got in the middle to break it up the best they could. The announcer, Gus Johnson, even announced over the microphone “Gentleman we’re on national television” which had no effect on the fucktards fighting.

All in all the post fight melee blame mostly lands on Melendez, and the fucktards.  Although Mayhem’s stupid ass shouldn’t have interrupted Shields after beating his MMA hero, give the man his moment.  The Diaz brothers are unfortunately Stockton natives, my hometown, and I hate the guys. I think theyre both pieces of shit and they further proved my stance last night by kicking and punching Miller while he was on the ground.

So on a huge new stage that was meant to help the growth of MMA, Nick and Nate Diaz just couldn’t drop it and most likely helped every opponent of MMA.  If they are forced to apologize im going to puke, those morons don’t even know what apologize means.  Its pathetic that those morons have survived natural selection.

Im a guy who enjoys a good ol fashioned no rules street fight, but when its going to hurt the whole sport of MMA, im not for that.  I personally liked seeing some emotion and straight out hatred in the melee that broke out, but my personal feelings don’t mean shit when the sport needs respect and ratings and Strikeforce screwed over both parts last night.

After ridiculously long negotiations with the UFC, Fedors agent has signed him with Strikeforce.  UFC couldn’t agree to pretty much signing half the company over to the Russian fighting beast Fedor so they couldn’t get him, but Dana White would have been a fucking retard for doing that for one fighter.  Yet it sucks we don’t get to see Fedor vs. Brock Lesnar because I WANTED TO SEE THAT SHIT.  It would have been like Rocky vs. Ivan Drago only Rocky would have been blonde and an asshole.

Fedor Emelianenko is the best heavyweight fighter in the world right now, period.  People can argue all they want hes pretty much the man.  Brock Lesnar is the freak of nature too big for regulation UFC gloves and most amusement park rides, and to see them fight would have been pretty cool.  Although Brock would have just tackled him and then laid on top of him it would have been cool to see if Fedor could land a monster shot and put the beast on his back.  Alas we all may not get the chance to see this.

This Strikeforce deal is not all bad, there are still good fighters in Strikeforce but no real big names to get some crazy buzz.  I just don’t get how the deal couldn’t be made for Fedor with the money to let the guy fuckin retire on.  But hey im not Russian and undefeated for 6+ years in prize fighting.  Strikeforce will be on Showtime so no PPV’s to buy like UFC, which is sweet and I’m sure other heavyweights will sign with Strikeforce soon.  Basically im trying to be optimistic alright!?

With this deal getting signed for Fedor he will be fighting SOON.  It may be against someone like Brett Rogers whom the casual fight watcher doesn’t even know but it would still be a good fight.  This deal is bittersweet for me, on one end Ive got UFC with a little competition and that always makes for better fights and the rivalry will drive more interest.  Fedor will also fight soon, and not every 9 months.  We may not get to see Brock vs. Fedor but UFC will still use their magical marketing to make things interesting.  All in all im not that upset about the deal, because I like that UFC has competition, it makes better viewing for everyone.  No monopoly on fighters is important and hopefully Strikeforce wont die in a month like Affliction or fizzle out like Pride.  WE SHALL SEE.

And here we go folks!!! We have a brand new strike force show, and I’m going to break it down, hardcore gangsta style, in honor of Nick Diaz.   Da “209″ representing!! So lets get to it ladies, So to date, my record for picking fights across the board has been 11 winners - 4 losers, however the last strikeforce event, i went 5 for 5, and i know i will do it again here. before I cream in my pants and ruin another pair of clothes lets get this started.

-Robbie Lawler (16-4; #2 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Jake Shields (22-4-1; #4 Welterweight in the World)* in a 182-pound bout

This is a very interesting fight; you have 2 of the best guys in each of their weight classes, clashing in a main event fight.  Lawler, who’s a very good middleweight fighter, is coming off a win against Scott Smith, a little under a year ago.  Lawler, who was the middleweight champion of the now defunct EliteXC MMA company, is a solid fighter with a great background. As of late Lawler has hit his stride, he’s beaten, in just his last few fights Frank Trigg, and Murilo Rua, both guys are top 10 fighters. Of his 16 wins, 13 are by KO, with just 1 win coming by submission, however, of his 4 losses, 3 are by submission, which brings us to his opponent. Jake Shields, Shields is a manimal, part snake part human.  He is destructive on the ground, pulling off some of the most absurd submissions in the game right now. Shields trains with Nick&Nate Diaz, so you know he’s got some solid training partners.  9 of his 22 wins are from submission; he’s beaten his last 11 guys, and hasn’t lost since 2004.  With all that being said, this is still a tough fight, Shields is coming in as a lighter fighter moving up, it shouldn’t play to big of a part, but still something to be considered.  I’m a little bummed that this fight won’t be for a title, however since it’s not both guys should stay pretty fresh for the 3 rounds, I think Lawler has an advantage if he can keep it standing, but i doubt he  will.  Should be a great fight as the main event.

Winner: Jake Shields by 2^nd round submission

-Nick Diaz (19-7) vs. Scott Smith (15-5)

Here it is Stockton natives, the fighter you look forward to.  Nick Diaz is coming off a very, very impressive win over MMA legend Frank Shamrock.  Diaz who’s always a colorful fighter is riding a 4 fight win streak right now, all by way of TKO. He’s making a very quick turn around, fighting just 2 months ago.   Diaz has shown some mental improvement over the past year or so, and it seems like he’s on the right track to take fighting seriously, but this should be a great test of that. Smith, who is a good fighter, but never known as a great, is coming into this fight to make a name for himself.  If he can beatDiaz, he will be well on his way to fighting for the title again.  Smith, known as “hands of steel” has 13 KO’s to his 15 win record, so he will be trying to knock Diaz clean out.  Smith is training with a GREAT group of guys up in Sacramento so he will be well prepared for what Diaz has to show.  Personally I think Smith CAN pull off the upset in this fight; he will have to keep it standing. If Smith can “bait” Diaz into playing his game, which shouldn’t be hard because Diaz is known to be very stubborn, he has a shot here.  All things considered, I think Diaz will take this fight, Smith is coming off 2 months rest as well, but his fight was a war, and I think he will be much more worn down than Diaz will.

Winner: Nick Diaz by 3^rd round TKO

-Andrei Arlovski (15-6) vs. Brett Rogers (9-0)

Oohhhhh boy, this fight has got fireworks all over it.  Andrei is coming off a devastating KO loss to the best fighter in MMA, Fedor.  He is rebounding with this fight on very short notice, Andrei is taking this fight with only 1 month to train, bad sign.  Arlovski is a former UFC champion, and has been around the block.  11 of his wins are by KO, and believe you me, he can stand and bang.  Arlovski is actually being trained by the same guy who trains Manny Pacquio.  Arlovski throws retardedly good combinations, and has KO power in his fists and Knee’s.  Rogers is an interesting fighter, He’s a young guy with great upside. So far all we have seen of Rogers is his stand-up, and it’s been great. All of his 9 wins are by punches. We don’t know what his ground game looks like, but I would imagine its leaves something to be desired.  Rogers is a guy who’s trying to break into the top 10 of Heavy Weights, and this is his big shot.  With Arlovski coming off a heartbreaking loss, his mind may not be in the right place for this fight, he’s also been known to have a suspect chin.  Rogers is so inexperienced that Arlovski should have his way with him in all aspects of this fight.  However, If Rogers can land 1-2 solid shots on Arlovski, he could knock him out.  This fight is about Skill VS heavy fists.  I think skill wins it this time, but if the odds are right, take Rogers, he could pull an upset.

Winner: Andrei Arlovski by 2^nd round KO.

-Joe Riggs (29-10) vs. Phil Baroni (13-10)

This fight is the Underperformer VS the underachiever. Joe Riggs, is a solid MMA fighter, he’s been bounced around and pawned off on us fans as a great fighter. The only thing really great about Joe Riggs is that he used to fight Heavy Weight, and looked like a school bus, then lost the weight and moved to fight at the lower classes. He is an evenly talented fighter, with 14 wins by KO and 13 by submission.  Riggs has never put together a streak worth mentioning in his career, and has lost to the better fighters he’s faced. Baroni was the talk of MMA just a few short years ago; he was being talked about as a solid up a coming MMA fighter. However he ran into the brick wall of life.  After losing 4 in a row the UFC cut him. Baroni then headed overseas to fight, beating a couple named opponents.  Baroni has never lived up to the hype that surrounded him, however his past 3 fights have given the impression he may have finally turned the corner.  I think this fight will be Baroni trying to knock out Riggs, while Riggs trades blows and attempts takedowns.  Riggs is the more rounded fighter as well as the younger fighter, but Baroni has that KO power.  This fight could be over quick, or go the distance, either way I think Riggs takes this fight.

Winner: Joe Riggs by KO in the 2^nd.

-Kevin Randleman (17-12) vs. Mike Whitehead (23-6)

Randleman is well past his fighting prime. The man is coming up on 40 years old. He’s an old school wrestler who grinds out decision wins.  He is a veteran of both the UFC and of over sea’s Pride Fighting Championship.  Randleman has amazing amounts of experience, fighting the best in the sport, including, Fedor, Shogun Rua, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Bas Rutten,  Rampage Jackson, & Mirko Cro Cop, funny thing, is he lost to ALL of those guys. However, it goes to show that he doesn’t duck fighters.  Mike Whitehead is a young fighter with a good record against a lot of subpar opponents. Whitehead has beaten up on the lesser guys for a while now; he’s a submission wiz, with 13 of his 23 wins coming that way.  Whitehead is a mid tier fighter who hasn’t had to fight any top 10 level opponent yet.  With all that being said, he is a much younger fighter than Randleman, and probably a stronger, more well rounded fighter as well.

Winner: Mike Whitehead by unanimous decision.