MMA HQ - Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis

The UFC will hold their sixth Ultimate Fight Night Live show this Thursday on Spike TV. I normally break down the full fight card for UFC events, but this time I’m only going to cover the televised matchups.

Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan - Diego Sanchez brings his TUF 1 title, 15-0 record, and huge ego into what will be the fight of his career so far. Karo Parisyan brings a 15-3 record, impressive fight resume, exellent grappling skils, and desire to get back his title shot into this matchup. Diego began his UFC career with an easy victory over an out-of-weight-class Kenny Florian and followed it up with a good victory of MMA veteran Brian Gassaway. Sanchez’s next fight was a close decision victory over Nick Diaz that could have gone either way, and his most recent fight was against John Alessio at UFC 60, where Diaz was unable to take Alessio down to the mat even though he was riding his back for the final 3 minutes of the round.

Karo Parisyan is a world-class judo grappler whose only career losses are a decision loss to Georges St. Pierre and two losses to Sean Sherk after over 15 straight minutes of fighting (1 was a decision loss and 1 time Parisyan’s corner threw in the towel). Karo has been pretty quiet since an injury forced him to withdraw from his title fight with Matt Hughes at UFC 56. Karo has only fought once since June of 2005 when he submitted Nick Thompson at UFC 59 last April.

I think Diego Sanchez has finally met his match and will face a fighter where his bite won’t equal his bark. Karo is just too strong on the ground with his grappling skills. Diego has a good wrestling game and good ground-and-pound, but not good enough where Karo won’t be able to escape. Karo will be able to use a very effective guard if he needs to, and when on top or on the feet, Karo will use his judo throws and submissions to wear Diego down until he gets an opportunity for submission. Winner: Karo Parisyan

Chris Leben vs. Jorge Santiago - We all remember Chris Leben’s “welcome to the big leagues” moment; it was his last fight against Anderson Silva at the last Ultimate Fight Night in June. Silva handled Leben with the “greatest of ease” in 49 seconds of the first round. Leben has a reputation for having knockout power; while I agree he does have heavy hands, he doesn’t have much technical skill when throwing those heavy punches and fighters like Anderson Silva, Joe Doekrsen, and Patrick Cote have shown that. Jorge Santiago is making his second UFC appearance after defeating Justin Levens in the first round at UFN 5 in June. Santiago is an “up-and-coming” fighter with an 11-5 record. Jorge has gone to decision with Diego Sanchez and Joey Villasenor, so he has faced some tough competition. I have a feeling though that Leben will get lucky with a few punches and do what he can to gather a decision victory. Winner: Chris Leben

Dean Lister Vs. Yuki Sasaki - Dean Lister looks to continue to grow his new found celebrity from TUF 3 and display more submission mastery when he takes on Pancrese veteran Yuki Sasaki. Lister is an amazing submission fighter and his losses have come to Ricardo Arona, Amar Suloev, and Jeremy Horn - all by decision. To put it simply, you are not KO Dean Lister; either he will submit you or the fight will go to a decision. Sasaki has spent almost all of his career between Shooto and Pancrese. I personally have only seen him fight once, but when Lister is on his game, there is no one that he can’t and won’t submit. Winner: Dean Lister

Josh Koscheck Vs. Jonathan Goulet - I actually am really looking forward to this fight very much. I know many fans consider Josh Koscheck to be somewhat of a “blanket” when it comes to fighting and that he can be a boring fighter due to the fact that his wrestling is so good and he just seems to smother his opponents. For a guy who has only been fighting MMA for a little over 2 years, I think Josh Koscheck is one of the better fighters to come out of TUF season 1. Wrestling definitely is Koschecks strenght, but Jon Goulet has had success against excellent wrestlers. Goulet is more known for his standup power as was exhibited at UFN 3 when he knocked out Duane Ludwig in 11 seconds. I look for Kos to get takedowns early and often and to “smother” his way to a victory. Winner: Josh Koscheck