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Well this is a good post doc j i must admit…but as for the heavyweights, it should be good…for randy couture that is.
I think this will be the best test at hw(besides pitbull)that he will have to face. I think that it will ultimately go to the scorecards because i cant see this fight lasting that long on the feet. And i cant see the natural losing this fight.

WINNER: Randy couture, decision

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT:

Well i really dont care for quinton jackson, so naturally i want to say he will lose….but….i think this will be a good fight, but it will depend on two things if rampage wants to keep his belt
1 If he comes out and just trys to strike with dan, he may have a chance, and might even get the knockout
2 If dan comes out with the full flooded gameplan that he came out with when he fought wandy, with aggressive wrestling/grecko-and striking and hecomes with solid motivation and eagerness i think he can win by wearing rampage down then knocking him out.

So in conclusion if rampage wants to win he must stay on his feet and try and out box dan, but if he lets dan bully him and be overly aggressive then rampage will lose….by knockout. So basically if dan can come out like shogun or wandy did against rampage and use rampages agressivness against him..then we will have a new unified champ…but i dont see dan being as motivated to beat rampage as motivated as he was when he beat wandy.

But ultimately i think the ultimate shodown will be with liddell and wandy fighting for the belt early next year, I think by that time shogun will have the belt and liddell will easily get passed wandy and set up for a interesting fight between shogun and liddell

WINNER: RAMPAGE BY KNOCKOUT

MIDDELWEIGHT

Well i dont even think this one is a question. I dont see no one in the middleweight division comming out beating anderson(especially rich) so i think rich will again get embarrased in front of his home crowd and get the brakes beat off of him!!!!

But…………….i do think that if dan looses against rampage he will drop back down and him and anderson silva will be the top of the middle weight division, i see only dan being able to dethrown the spider from his reign on top.

WINNER: ANDERSON SILVA BY A NASTY KNOCK OUT

WELTERWEIGHT:

Well this is a interesting matchup between kos and gsp. Kos by far is the best all around athlete that gsp has faced. I dont see this one lasting very long. I think that gsp will come out and fight a good fight and win via decision. I just dont believe in kos abilites that much to put him over gsp..but anything can happen

oh yea let me get to the shodown with serra and matt
Well i dont think that matt will let serra catch him with a silly punch like last time so i think matt hughes will beat him and him and gsp will go at it again and ultimately gsp will reign supreme

WINNERS: GSP,AND MATT HUGHES

LIGHTWEIGHT

Now this is in turmoil(thanks sherk for being a buzzard) but if the title has to be vacated i think that b.j pen will easily take the belt and keep it for a long time

i think it’s ridiculous that Hughes gets a title shot w/out having to pass through GSP first

couture i think is going to have a solid game plan and has something up his sleeve for gonzaga.
Couture tko refree stoppage in second
Now im a huge rampage fan ,but an even bigger hendo fan
Henderson ko in third
Now for the spider ,hes going to run through rich again but i do see hendo win or lose getting the 185 lb title by next year
Matt serra ,is pissed and has all the motivation to beat hughes
Matt serra decision split
Sherk im waiting until the ufc stripes him of his title to make my final decision on him

My Prediction

HW: Gonzaga will grind out 5 rounds decision over randy. Randy is the best MMA artist I’ve ever seen. The man is absolutely gifted! But unfortunately, gonzaga KOed crocop. If couture fight crocop, u can see couture winning. Gonzaga and couture has a more similar style than crocop with couture. Plus, randy always have a genius plan before any fight because he does his homework and study his opponent well. He always manage to find hole in other people’s game. That’s why he has the most upset win against so many top guys before. Unfortunately for randy, gonzaga is relatively new. I don’t think randy can watch a lot of gonzaga’s fight before. That makes his preparation for gonzaga much harder. Plus, Gonzaga is a ground fighter anyway. I don’t see gonzaga getting overwhelmed by randy’s GNP. In fact, I see their standup and ground game as neutralising each other. The determining factor in this fight is gas tank! Unfortunately for randy, his age will become a factor in this fight as gas tank and age goes hand in hand.

LHW: This is a tough call. The only time rampage get overwhelmed was with knees (shogun, wandy). Somehow I think he has a weak torso. Hendo is a tough guy. This is a guy that is well known that he can take a HIT! His only weakness is if u r damn good in submission, u may catch him with one. So…… I don’t see hendo using plenty of knees to take out rampage or rampage submitting hendo. Rampage not known for submission and hendo not known for muay thai clinches and knees. Hence, this is a 5 round decision. Both have very good standup and also can take a hit. Ground game, hendo is perhaps better but rampage can slam if he’s on top. Both have similar GNP ability. In terms of gas tank, both will be similar. Both have plenty! However, if this has to go to decision, I see hendo winning because I see hendo as staying more active and winning points that way. Ideal situation for ufc business is rampage wins and hendo loss. That will set up for hendo to take on anderson in middleweight!

MW: Anderson will cripple rich. No disrespect to rich but dana really screw rich up by bringing in anderson. If u have seen all anderson’s fight, he is the best striker I have ever seen! His built is perfect for 185. Lean, long and lightning speed. When i see anderson’s fight, it reminds me of fedor. Anderson strikes at every angle and with pin point accurate. When he fights, u don’t see him as waiting for his balance or body posturing before he throw a punch. Balancing yourself before a strike tend to take 0.1 sec. That is a split second too late to catch your opponent. Anderson’s strike is continuous! Punches…. whenever u bring your head a little lower towards the side, he will throw a high kick to your head or if u duck in the center, he will throw his knees and muay thai clinch. He is versed in ground game ju jitsu. Very hard to submit anderson. Because of that, he doesn’t even need very good take down defense. He will probably submit u on his back! Rich best game is standup strikes. Rich has limited GNP. If he’s on top of anderson, he probably get submitted by anderson. Hell, he may not even be able to take anderson down in the first place. So best game plan for rich is overstrike anderson. The chances of that is actually zero! So, I see rich signing his life away when he signs to fight anderson. One other thing, rich needs to get world class muay thai fighter to train him to defend the clinch if he is serious of not dying in fighting anderson. Rich only chance is a punchers chance. So may be, just may be rich best strategy is PRAY! Hands up everyone that think rich needs another nose job after fighting anderson? The only two persons could potentially challenge anderson in MW is hendo or lindland. And I only mean potential threat, not beating anderson! I’ll love to see anderson vs hendo.

WW: GSP dissappoints me. That just show u how good Hughes was. Believe it or not, to be a champion is not to beat a champion but is to be able to defend it! When u can defend your title many times, it shows how versatile u r in facing different style of opponents except liddell (Liddell’s title defence was agaisnt wrestlers. They were not quite MMA matches. His first defence agaist a striker, he lost). Having said that, Hughes championship days r numbered as long as GSP is in UFC. Serra win over GSP was a lucky punch. It takes only one lucky punch to rock someone and then, their foot work is gone making them vulnerable. That was what happened to GSP. GSP is very good but he hasn’t proven himself yet as a great champion. Between hughes and serra, hughes will beat serra. I see this as another 5 rounds decision going to hughes because hughes can lay on top of people for indefinite period of time if he can take u down. In UFC, laying on top of u for 5 rounds is considered a show of dominance position whether u like it or not. GSP and koscheck…… GSP better win this. I can’t take another upset loss from GSP. Koscheck?!! Why r we talking about Koscheck? He looks and sounded like the most annoying SOB ever. I just hope he gets KOedCheck by GSP. GSP is one of the best fighter to take on any wrestlers. GSP is like Chuck against fellow wrestlers. GSP will KO or TKO koscheck. And then, he will take on whichever matt left.

LW: Sherk….. Why?!!! I used to have respect for him. I thought he will be LW champ for a long long time. He was the most dominant fighter in LW. Or may be he has always been on steroids?! Damn! Either way, he needs to be stripped off his belt if he loses his appeal. Dream match between bj and sherk vanished into thin air in LW. So who’s deserving? bj definitely deserves a title match, interim or not. I will vote for huerta to fight bj if it’s for the title. Kenny will be good as well. So, bj against huerta or kenny. I saw some people posted stevenson to be a good candidate. I’m not sure about that. I don’t remember steveson fighting any real opponent yet. Melvin Guillard is one of those guys that steveson submitted before I finished my yawn. Melvin is one of those guys that I seriously advise to consider another career. If he hasn’t got a degree, he should really be thinking about going back to college. Or try singing and be a rapper or somthing.

mmahero, about randy and gonzaga, you make some good points.. but talking about gas tanks, randy has shown that hes conditioned in every fight. Gonzaga like you said is relatively new, we havent even seen him go the distance yet, so his gastank might be questionable.. you definatly cant say its better than randys.. yet. I think it will go to decision too, but man, im not going against randy anymore, hes proved to me that he can overcome.. and hes always the underdog, even though hes proved himself time and time again.. Im with randy on this one by decision.

Rampage vs Hendo should eb a great fight! you mentioned Hendos striking and Rampages grappling.. but what about Dans grappling? thats his strong point.. i could see him submitting rampage after some GnP. Especially if the fight goes to the 4th or 5th round, i think Dan has the better conditioning personally.. but thats probably the most interesting fight out of all these matchups.

Im with GSP too, and i also dont like Kos.. I think Hughes will be the champ again, i dont think GSP has his number, he chose to stand with GSP last fight, and he paid the consequences.. so did his nuts lol.

About the LW, are you serious about Stevenson?? I dunno why people are sleeping on this guy, he could be the next champ, yes he has faced some tough competition and destroyed them decisively. You mentioned melvin, whos a good striker, but hes a relative newcomer. Josh neer, whos definately a veteran fighter (who he lost to by decision), Yves Edwards who was one of the best LW at one point and mishima, i guess you dont think much of him? those were his last 4 fights, all tough guys. Your talking about a guy whos been fighting for almost 10 years, with a record of 26-7

You guys better recognize Joe Daddy as a threat at that division.. trust me!

As for Kenny, he surprised me in his fight with Sherk, and alot of people on this site expected him to win.. But to me, he seems like one of those guys who tears up the dojo, but other than that, i dont see him as a contender for the belt. Hes got alot of knowledge and hes beaten some tough guys.. but he will never be #1. I would pick alot of LW fighters against him.. Huerta, Stevenson, BJ, Sherk, Fisher.. theres just too many guys who are better than Kenny in my opinion..

BVRASP

You sound like u know a lot about light weight. May be u r right about stevenson. We will see how dana sees it. We should be able to find out in about 1 month. The only reason I don’t think dana will throw stevenson at bj is because dana knows steveson is not at bj’s level. Dana is a businessman. Businessman always protect his investment. The last thing he wants is for his TUF winner getting destroyed. He wants to build up stevenson gradually as stevenson already has a lot of fans due to TUF. I think stevenson needs more time. Stevenson should fight somebody like kenny perhaps to get to the next step of popularity.

Chuck vs jardine and shogun vs griffin. I have to say very interesting fights. Either way, dana wins! This is one way for dana to build jardine and griffin if they both win because beating guys like chuck and shogun will definitely put jardine and griffin on top of the food chain. On the other hand, if jardine or griffin loss, there is nothing to be ashamed of. U lose to chuck and shogun. So what? These are the two most popular and toughest SOB in MMA.

As far as chuck vs wandy, I hope it happens after chuck vs jardine win, lose or draw. This is going to be a huge fight. I will go for wandy. Chuck hasn’t prove himself yet against any striker. He kicked a lot of wrestlers *** throughout the years. But wandy is a different ball game. One thing for sure is chuck will not engage in any clinch with wandy. My prediction is chuck will be back-paddling the whole fight and get knocked out like his fight with rampage OR chuck will still be back-paddling but catch wandy with his MAY BE heavy hands. Win, lose or draw against jardine, chuck DO NOT deserve a title shot yet. He needs another fight before a title shot provided that he wins both.

@mmahero

How can you say chuck has not proven himself just because he knocked silly grapplers and wrestlers? lol your kidding right? Ok firstly wandy fought the same kind of opponents in pridefc…..grapplers and wrestlers…….and if you dont know who he fought here it is

and AGAIN we talk about who wandy and chuck has fought. Firstly wandy fought majority of grapplers/wrestlers his career too. Quinton and cro cop and wandy is some strikers i guess you can say are superb strikers lets break it down of wandy opponents:

arona: Brazillian jjstu stylist
Nakamura-judo specialist
hideko yoshida-judo specialist
hunt-kickboxer
kanahara-submission specialist
tamura- submision specialist
sakuraba-wrestler
matsui-wrestler
melenko-wrestler
cro cop-kick boxer
quinton-kick *** style
and excuse me if i mispelled the names, but wandy fought Way more grapplers and submission specialist, yall act like he fought nothing but top level strikers all his career. He made his rise to the top just like chucky did by knocking out submission specialist and grapplers,

Now im not saying that wandy will beat chuck or chuck will beat wandy, but that statement you made isnt right..is it chucks fault that that is all the ufc had to offer?…is it chucks fault that almost everyone in the ufc chose to be grapplers and wrestlers?……..Chuck did what he had to do and knocked out who he had to knock out to get to the top and so did wandy…. ok just because wandy knocked out quinton doesnt mean sh++, if that is the case didnt wandy lose to tity ortiz?

@ mmahero I know and everybody knows chuck wont duck anybody……and and im pretty sure that if the ufc had some good “strikers” then chuck would have fought them and ufc would have made even more money off of chuck and fights if that were the case…..people tend to forget contract stipulations and holds and binds that probably hold the fighter back from going to other organizations to fight or any thing else. but oh well it is what it is…….

@mmahero

all i can say is.. poor kenny lol

Y’know, I want Serra to beat Hughes, but I don’t want St. Pierre to beat Serra. I don’t mind St. Pierre beating Hughes again, so I’m tempted to say I want Hughes to beat Serra so that St. Pierre can have a rubber match with Hughes. That is, provided that St. Pierre beats Koscheck, which I definitely want him to do.

But if Serra can beat Hughes and St. Pierre again, I’ll be all smiles.

i see the gsp fight going like gsps fight with sherk in the end kos probably cant take him down ,but if he should hes standing up for sure

It’s amazing that anyone thinks Hendo will beat Rampage. There is nothing in any of Hendo’s fights that should indicate it. Beating a sick, fevered Wand with a 103º fever means NOTHING. Fighter math will not work here (Dan beating a 60% Wand; and Wand destroying Rampage, doesn’t equal Dan beating Rampage.

Rampage’s wrestling neutralizes Dan’s, and Rampage’s striking is much better. And Hendo won’t rely as heavily on the clinch as Lindland did. All of that equals Hendo getting KTFO’d. Hendo is gonna killed in the fight. Count on it.

I agree with Dr. J on all the other champs.

Todd

U big chuck’s fan? Anyway, this is the problem in pride where a lot of the guys are ranked very high because they have a lot of win. People forget the opponents that they have beaten are very important. A lot of fighters from pride have very good record because they beat down a lot of japanese. I somehow won’t take japanese fighters very seriously except those few good ones. The important thing is to see how well they do in ufc.

I don’t know pride do the same but ufc tend to very obviously hand pick their opponent for their ’stars fighters’ to make sure that they win. Having said that, chuck against fellow wrestlers is way better than wandy against fellow wrestlers. In terms of fighting a fellow striker, I see wandy as better. I have absolutely no confidence in chuck’s striking ability. Rampage prove my point. Now I’m not saying that wandy will beat chuck because he destroy rampage. All i’m saying is that I think wandy will fare better against a fellow striker. In other words, wandy has better hands.

I’m not even sure chuck will beat jardine even though I hope he kicks jardine’s ***. I don’t see chuck as having superior striking ability like what ufc led us to believe. I see chuck’s striking as regular as another striker perhaps. If chuck lose to jardine, i’ll be very dissappointed. We will see.

If u want to see real great striking, watch all of anderson silva’s fight. It’s awesome! He makes hands, elbows, knees and shin combinations like a dance routine. I’m already praying for all of franklin’s sin on earth just in case he never makes it out alive.

jeez how can anyone underestimate hendo, he has heavy hands himself and he knows how to use them.His wrestling is olympic caliber better than rampage,the only thing i think rampage gots on hendo is strength i think rampage is way stronger than hendo

Thank you Richard! you obviously know whats up.. I think some people just saw Chuck as superman, and now that Rampage beat him, they see Rampage as Superman. The fact is, Rampage is a good fighter.. but he was pretty average in pride. I think overall Dan has more tools than Rampage.. Hes definately stronger than Dan, but I personally think Dans Hips are stronger and he can manipulate his weight and his opponents weight better than Rampage. Ofcourse Rampage can slam, but thats takes a toll on your energy, where dan can put you down with alot less effort.. i think Rampage is gonna gas grappling with Hendo, if he doesnt catch him with a hard shot.

Id love to see some of these Team quest guys go at it.. Dan vs Randy would be an awesome fight!

but dan aint afraid to stand either so they each might catch each other its really anyones fight

thats why i give Hendo the edge in this fight Rich, he can stand with Rampage, and hes superior on the ground.. Personally i think the standup would be too risky, why fight quints fight?

Heres my picks for these fights.. Ill keep them brief

Randy - I already explained why earlier..

Hendo- I just said why last post..

Franklin- Im picking the underdog on this one, everyone seems to think its gonna be an exact repeat of the 1st fight. Im sure it wont, it will be a much more competative fight this time thats for sure. Rich is still a great fighter, he needs a good gameplan thats all.. not a prayer lol..

Hughes- no explaination needed

BVRASP

U must like oldies songs. All your choices are ex-champ. Interesting. I have to say i agree on hendo and hughes. Then I pick Gonzaga and anderson. This should be interesting.

frankin aint going to learn anything that anderson doesnt already know standing hes better and bjj hes better so hows he going to win

Well, i explained this right after Franklin lost to Silva, so ill sum it up briefly. Franklin has dominated all his opponents in the clinch, when Silva clinched him up Franklin could have broken out of that clinch, but he didnt even try. I personally know how to break the clinch, its a very basic move, and im nobody, Franklin is a pro fighter, im sure he knows how to break the clinch. By the time he realized that he was out matched in the clinch, it was already too late, his body was battered, then Silva just finished him by busting his face open. The problem was in the gameplan..

How can Franklin win? by jumping on his bicycle, usig his movement and striking with Silva. Theyre both great strikers, and they can both end the fight with a single shot. Other than that, Rich should use his other skills in defense mode only, his thai skills to avoid the clinch, his bjj to avoid the takedowns or submissions.

Ya, hes definately the underdog, but i dont see it like most people, saying he has no chance to win.

@mmahero
Yea im a chuck fan but my fav is pitbull, but yea i see your point, and i dont know if the ufc hand picks opponents for there stars…i mean it is possible i wouldnt put it past dana…but no one knows, and that fight they didnt even get to strike……..the first fight was when they were throwin them bows, but they both have hands, just different styles, chuck sits back and waits(sometimes) and wandy goes forward full speed, but who knows we will see them fight HOPEFULLY.

And yea the spider has sick hands.

todd
iam hearing that the pitbull might be fighting vera in november

really?……where did you hear that at?

Re: comment 22

I can’t disagree with you more here. Franklin was completely outclassed by a superior fighter with the type of speed that “Ace” only dreams he had. If you want to talk about a matchup, when are we going to get Anderson Silva vs. Dennis Kang? or I’d even like to see Dennis Kang humiliate Rich Franklin…you need to get over your UFC “paper champions”.

todd
i heard it from ufcmania but they said they cant confirm or deny the info
Amir i like “paper champions”

man vera is good, i think andrei can knock him out, its just the ground im worried about……..and his chin…

I don’t think that Rampage will have many more problems gassing in fights in the Octagon as opposed to Pride. I think if he keeps serious about his training. He will only get better and more confident in the cage. Let’s not forget how many times Pride fights have a 10 minute first round. After fighting like that for so long, a 5 minute round is a cakewalk for many of the Pride veterans.

if the fight does happen then im going with the pitbull

me too, i hope he is really serious inmaking his rise up to the top.

Glad you like paper champions…by showing your support for them…your encouraging UFC management to keep shoving ******** fights down our throats

i want to ask everyone what they think about a few things. do you think PRIDE will ever be back up in running? why are Zuffa is going to unify the belts, are they going to allow Rampage to defend the PRIDE title in PRIDE if he wins? are they going to have the fighter who wins both belts defend them both in every fight? are they even going to have two belts anymore or will they go with one Super Uber Zuffa belt? i’m not sure if Dana or the Fertittas or anyone at Zuffa for that matter has the “real” answers to these questions, i think a lot of times they just go with the flow. you know like plan ahead a bit, but leave some things open for change. i was just wondering what your guys take on this is?

@Amir

ya i remember we disagreed about that right after th fight happened with Franklin and Silva. I agree that Silva is overall a better fighter, but hes not THAT much better, that he would destroy him everytime. You cant judge by just one fight, and ill say it again, the next fight will not be a repeat of the first. Silva is the favorite, but i dont count Franklin out, like pretty much everyone else on the site.. including Dr. J

I mean guys are saying he needs a prayer to win? thats a bit much, i know fighting, and it has nothing to do with if the guy was a champ or not. I was a fan of Franklin well before he became the champ, simply hes huge at 185, he has good movement, good striking, good ground game and hes a smart fighter. Ill agree that Silva is a little better than Franklin at everything he does best, thats what makes it so hard for Rich. Thats what makes him the underdog, Silva is a better fighter and hes got more experience. That doesnt mean Franklin has no chance, im picking the underdog in this fight and i believe he can win.. you cant always back the favorite bro.. and remember its still the year of the underdogs hehe

paper champs huh….. yeah they give those belts away? there is a bunch of fighters who have very little or no title defenses but i think if you have won a belt at any time you deserve a bunch of respect. i have never won a pro mma title so untill i do i’m not going to go around trying to tell people what it takes to become a “true” champ.

Exactly RJ, thats wat im saying, its annoying when guys hate on fighters.. especially Tim Sylvia, for the little amount of technical skill and experience that guy had, he accomplished a hell of a lot!

@Amir

Personally i dont consider Rich Franklin a paper champion.. hes a tough guy and hes a well rounded fighter. I dunno what your talking about really, who else do you think is a paper champion?? Chuck?

thats why i said i like paperchamps

I think you guys are getting me all wrong. I’m the last person who will ever disrespect any of these guys, but you can’t honestly tell me that with everything that’s happened in the last year, specifically the acquisition of Pride’s superior fighters, that any of the champs from last year have legitimate shots at gaining their titles back. You can rub it in if you want…IF it happens…but I am going to say right now that

Rich Franklin
Matt Hughes
Tim Sylvia

WILL NEVER REGAIN THEIR TITLES!!!

the only one i dont agree with is matt hughes he has a better than 50percent chance of beating serra

The only one i will agree with is Tim Sylvia, he was fighting in a pretty weak heavyweight division when he was champ, with the exception of arlovski. But guys like Mir dont hold much water these days is my eyes..

Ive made my case about Franklin already..

Hughes, how can you say he has no chance of ever getting his title again??? it seems to me everyone thinks that Hughes cant beat GSP now, just another case of a guy losing 1 fight, then everyone forgets of what hes already accomplished and how dominant he was for YEARS! and your telling me he cant beat Serra? you must be crazy dog.

“You can rub it in if you want…IF it happens…but I am going to say right now that

Rich Franklin
Matt Hughes
Tim Sylvia

WILL NEVER REGAIN THEIR TITLES!!!”"

I don’t think we can ever underestimate the possibility of crazy stuff happening in this sport. For instance, Couture loses the title at UFC 74 to Gonzaga…Gonzaga goes on to lose the title at a future date to someone like Arlovski…saying for instance Crocop beats Nogueira and Arlovski beats Crocop…and now we’re looking at Arlovski vs. Sylvia 4…In that case…Sylvia’s probably the champ again…You never know…

As far as Rich Franklin, I don’t think he can be counted out until we see this upcoming fight against Silva…He stated on right after the fight at UFC 64 that he thought going in that the clinch would be one of his strengths…Well we know now that obviously he had a major game plan problem. The talent, though is still there. This is a guy who stopped Ken Shamrock in the first round, dominated Loiseau and totally changed the way he fought from that point forward, has walked through Evan Tanner, Jason MacDonald, Yushin Okami, Nate Quarry, and a few others the UFC has labeled as “contenders…” We’ve seen Anderson Silva lose his poise at times…he was dominated by Takase who’s a .500 fighter, he was mounted by a dehydrated Travis Lutter and in danger, and sure he walked through Marquardt, but I think Rich would have as well. This is a tough fight coming up at UFC 78…and Rich is a smart guy…he’ll be ready to go.

And Hughes will beat Serra…why wouldn’t he?? He beat B.J. and has said many times that B.J. is a better fighter than GSP…if he really can’t beat GSP…so what…he’ll still get to hold his title for a few more “glory” months…

Adam

for some reason i have this feeling that Serra will beat Hughes and it will happen a lot like the fight with GSP. it looks like Serra have some good boxing going for him (better then Hughes at least) and on the ground it a coin flip in my mind. so if Serra can keep it standing or get it stood up a lot i think he can get the knock out.
i dont see Franklin beating Silva but i’m also a big Silva fan. if Rich wants to beat Silva he is going to have to get it to the ground. he rolled with Shamrock and did just fine (i know not the best measuring stick) he rolled with Okami and did fine so the way i see it thats his best chance.
and dont get me started on Big Tim i know its not cool to rip on fighters and i b*tch when others do it but i dont like Sylvias style at all. fight man, you gotta fight, you get in the ring and get payed to FIGHT, so FIGHT! i understand why big Tim fight the way he does. he is a striker and he likes to counter punch kinda like a huge Chuck Liddell but the difference is he is much slower and throws about half as many punches and the most of the ones he throws are jabs.
so with that said i dont think Hughes, Franklin, or Sylvia will win there titles back any time soon… i wont say never but i will say not right now at least.

Well, well. Heated discussion above.

First, to be honest, I can’t see franklin beating anderson whichever way i look at it (unless lucky punch). BVRASP mentioned franklin came in with a flawed game plan the first time. If that was the case, and u also mentioned that it’s easy to break muay thai clinch (which i disagree, we are talking about anderson’s muay thai clinch), then flanklin should have broke it off the first instance he smells trouble unless he is not a ‘thinking fighter’. All I see was that franklin was unable to get his head out. He was completely off balance being thrown around by the clinch. The only way to beat anderson is ground game because he has lost a few through submissions. Franklin is not known for his submission, not at the level of submission as the submission artist. So for any franklin’s fight, his best chance of winning is standup game. And with anderson, franklin’s standup game is not good enough. So conclusion, franklin will be destroyed. Franklin may be big and strong for 185, but anderson has much greater reach. And with anderson’s accurate strikes (not to mention his fluent elbows, knee, & legs), franklin definitely won’t stand a chance. If franklin beats anderson, it will be a similar level or more upset than the serra vs GSP fight. I don’t see franklin getting his title back unless someone else beat silva first and franklin gets it through that other guy.

Hughes will be champion again. Among all the champ that lost their belt, hughes is the only one that i can see him getting his belt back because current champ is serra. Chuck won’t get his title back unless every one of his fight is a title fight. Let’s not talk about tim sylvia. I hope he never fights again. He disgraces ufc. He should fight in other MMA events perhaps if he has to make a living. People spoke about true champion etc. It’s not easy to define. Yes, and it is also nearly impossible to define what is a ‘paper champ’ until tim sylvia comes along. I have spoken about franklin’s above. By the way, rich is definitely not a paper champ. What r u talking about amir? What the **** is going on with ufc lightweight division?

By the way, for those of u that don’t know, anderson silva trained in chute box before. Sounds familiar? He trained with the likes of wanderlei silva, mauricio shogun etc. He also trained with the nogueira brothers in Brazilian top team.

Heavyweight:
Couture will stroll into 2008 as the Heavyweight Champ. I see an early 2008 match up with Cro Cop

Light Heavyweight:
Jackson will enter 2008 as champ as I doubt they will make him defend his belt again before the end of the year.(and of course, this means I feel he will defeat Hendo) But I disagree that Rua gets an automatic shot if he beats Griffin (and thats a HUGE if, because Forrest will be up for that fight). If Rua & Liddell win their September fights, look for the UFC to match them up in a “#1 Contender’s Bout”.

Middleweight:
Anderson Silva will be the champ until the next great middleweight comes along. I just don’t see him losing to anyone at this point.

Welterweight:
Completely disagree with Doc here. Matt Serra will defeat Matt Hughes & will defend his title again in the Spring of 2008 against either Koscheck or Swick. Swick just went down in weight and he was on the verge of earning a middleweight title shot before the loss to Okami. Swick will be tough at 170. Given the Serra vs Hughes match up comes at the end of this year, there is a lot of time for the division’s #1 contender to be determined.

Lightweight:
After Sherk is forced to drop the belt, look for the UFC to put together one of the following match ups for the vacant belt:

Penn vs Huerta
Penn vs Florian

Either way, I feel Penn will get the nod and Penn’s desire to hold a UFC belt again will keep him at 155.

Thanks Adam and RJ, its nice to hear that some guys dont think Franklin sucks just because of one fight. I already said i think Silva is the better fighter and im picking the underdog, plus the fight will take place in Richs Hometown too. Win or lose, were gonna see a great competative fight, Rich will NOT get destroyed like the first fight.

Seems like alot of guys are picking Serra to beat Hughes.. and most of them are the same guys who think Franklin has no chance against Silva. All i can say is.. WOW.. Hughes is another guy who just lost 1 fight, and now everyone thinks he sucks.. get ya mind right guys..

Cant wait for these fights to happen!

BVRASP

Hey, I never say rich sucks. In fact i think he is at present the best person in middleweight to challenge anderson (apart from hendo) in ufc. But that doesn’t mean that I see rich as having a chance. No offence.

And also, I pick Hughes too to beat serra. Hughes I think is still the best welterweight at present (except against GSP). Hughes can beat other fighters that GSP may not necessarily able to beat but I just think GSP is a bad matchup for hughes.

anderson silva isnt unbeatable there is a couple guys out there by the names of hendo {the best 185 pounder in the world}and a guy named kang dennis kang

who told you Anderson can be beat? they lied to you!!! its imposable, no one will ever beat him… EVER!!! nah i’m just kiddin i would like to see him fight Henderson or Kang ether fight would be awesome. even though both of these fighter would have a good shot at beating Silva i just can bet against him, he is easily one of my top five favorite fighters.

for sure he is one of the best but i think these guys are up there for sure