After quite a long layoff, MMA fans are going to “get their fix” again this weekend when UFC 74: Respect takes place in Las Vegas. UFC 74 has some excellent matchups both on the main card and the undercard, so let’s get started and dive right in.
Main Card
Randy Couture vs Gabriel Gonzaga – The main event of UFC 74 features the heavyweight title fight between current champion Randy Couture and rising star Gabriel Gonzaga. This fight also just happens to be the toughest fight of the night to call, in my opinion. Randy Couture’s history and career are widely known and I don’t really need to do much analysis on Randy’s game. We all know that Randy will be ready and prepared with an excellent gameplan to attack Gonzaga. Whether that plan will be to roll with Gabriel on the ground or stand with Gonzaga as he did against Sylvia really is unknown. Whatever the method of attack I’m sure it will be well executed.
Gabriel Gonzaga became an overnight star with his brutal upset win KO against Mirko Filipovic at UFC 70 in England. Gabriel was considered a strong fighter in the division, but wasn’t expected to get past Cro Cop; much less dominate him that way he did. Now, no one is sleeping on Gonzaga and he has garnered much respect since his abysmal UFC debut against Kevin Jordan at UFC 56. A dominating ground fighter, as evidenced in his easy first round victory over Carmelo Marrero, Gonzaga also showed that he can hang in the standup game against Cro Cop.
In the end, I think Gonzaga takes this fight in the fourth or fight round by ground-and-pound. I think Gonzaga will try to work his BJJ game against Randy and will wear Couture down physically as the fight proceeds into the later rounds. But, then again, Couture proved he can go strong through a five-round title fight against Tim Syliva. I think Gonzaga will bring more to the table and be able to press Randy a lot more than Sylvia was able to and that will be the difference in this fight. Tim Sylvia fights not to lose; Gabriel Gonzaga fights to win. While I’ll be pulling for Couture to win, my head is telling me to go with Gonzaga. Winner: Gabriel Gonzaga
Josh Koscheck vs Georges St Pierre – Most MMA fans I talk to are looking forward more to this fight than the main event. Josh Koscheck vs Georges St Pierre will hopefully turn out to be the fight we all expected Josh Koscheck vs Diego Sanchez to be.
GSP is coming of his devastating loss to Matt Serra at UFC 69 while Koscheck is coming off his emotional victory over Sanchez the same night. People have questioned St. Pierre’s mental state, his chin and will training schedule since his loss. GSP isn’t mentall strong… GSP doesn’t train seriously… GSP is too nice… Blah, blah, blah. St. Pierre loss to Matt Serra, end of story. He admitted he didn’t train properly for that fight and didn’t take Matt Serra seriously enough. That ISN’T an excuse; it’s the honest truth. GSP isn’t bad-mouthing Serra or making excuses. He is telling you why he lost and what he did incorrectly while preparing for that fight. I’m sure after his Saturday we won’t be hearing those same criticisms.
Josh Koscheck, like it or not, is not in the short list of UFC welterweight contenders since he defeated Sanchez. I’m not saying the welterweight division only has a small number of contenders; I’m saying out of that large group, Koscheck is not on the UFC’s “short list” of contenders. If Koscheck defeats GSP he most certainly will be next in line for a title shot against either Matt Hughes or Matt Serra. However, since Koscheck won’t defeate GSP, a more likely scenario is Koscheck facing the loser of the Matt Hughes-Matt Serra fight and then having a rematch with Diego Sanchez if he happens to get past Hughes/Serra. Winner: Georges St Pierre
Joe Stevenson vs Kurt Pellegrino – I believe this fight will be a lot closer than the betting line indicates (Pellegrino +620, Stevenson -580). Pellegrino is a relatively unknown fighter to most casual MMA fans and that is really unfortunate considering how good an MMA fighter he is. Pellegrino has excellent BJJ skills and will give Stevenson all he can handle. Since dropping down to the 155lb division, Joe Stevenson has looked like he is much more comfortable and has easily defeated all challengers in the UFC lightweight division. Watch closely, because I think we will see a very exciting ground fight here. In the end, I think Stevenson’s experience and pace will get the best of Pellegrino and Stevenson will be that much closer to a shot at the UFC Lightweight title. Winner: Joe Stevenson
Patrick Cote vs Kendall Grove – After losing his first 4 UFC fights, Patrick Cote was finally able to get a win against Scott Smith at UFC 67; unfortunately for Cote, I think he’ll return to the losing streak with this fight against Grove. Kendall Grove is clearly improving by leaps and bounds with each fight he has in the UFC and I think we will see even more new skills from Kendall against Cote. Grove’s size and reach will be a serious problem for Cote, and I see Grove getting the victory in the second round. Winner: Kendall Grove
Undercard
Renato Sobral vs David Heath – Winner: Renato Sobral
Marcus Aurelio vs Clay Guida – Winner: Clay Guida
Alberto Crane vs Roger Huerta – Winner: Roger Huerta
Antoni Hardonk vs Frank Mir – Winner: Frank Mir
Thales Leites vs Ryan Jensen – Winner: Thales Leites
richard
Jason
bvrasp
Michael Hatamoto
Amir
Great picks Doc. I agree with all of them. I kinda surprised you picked Mir. I really hope Randy is able to pull it out. This is going to be the first UFC event I am attending live and I can’t wait. I’m more pumped for the GSP vs Kos fight also just because Kos needs to be put in his place. Aurelio vs Guida has war written all over it also. This is one of the best fight cards the UFC has put out this year but like UFC stacked you never know if the fights will live up to the hype. I’m just glad I’ll be there and hopefully Captain America and GSP rein supreme.
Yeah, I know after his last fight I said I would never pick Frank Mir again, but I guess I lied. I think he’ll beat Hardonk, which isn’t that difficult, in my opinion.
Doc
I agree with almost all of your pics, and you could be right in all of them. I just believe that Kos is going to pull out the upset. I am not a huge Kos fan nor am I a GSP fan, I just believe that Kos will control the fight with smart striking and great takedowns. But GSP is a great fighter and he could end it at any time from the ground or standing…….So we’ll see. The one pick that I think you really missed is the Mir fight. I believe that Hardonk is gong to dominate the fight, Mir just is not the same since the accident and I believe Hardonk just brings to much to the table.
I can’t wait to see Kendall Grove beat the living **** out of Cote.
Like you said doc, its a tough one to call, so im going with Randy, i just cant go against him again.. ever again lol. Gonzaga is probably superior to Randy in every aspect of the game besides wrestling, but i definately think Randy is smarter and he will manage to get the decision.
Im picking Kos to upset GSP, based solely on mental states, GSP is at an all time low, and Kos is at an all time high. GSP will definately train his azzz off in this fight, if he doesnt then hes a fool because this is a VERY important fight for GSP. As far as im concerned, all the pressure is on GSP in this fight and he has everything to prove, where Kos has nothing to lose really. Kos by man love decision, its only 3 rounds, so i think Kos will probably get tagged on the feet, then use his takedowns and dry humping to get a decision.
I think Joe Daddy will crush pellegrino, to quote Diego, he WILL take him down, and elbows WILL be dropping, and bones WILL be breaking hehe.. tko strikes round 2
I like the rest of the picks except the Guida – Aurelio.. i could see Aurelio pulling out a submission in this fight.
Should be a great night of fights..
@Doc
add me to the camp on mmaplayground. my name is ….drum roll…. RJStCroix. lol yeah you can call Mr. Original lol
@B.V.
it is very possible for the Kos/GSP fight to be a total hump-fest but i really hope not.
@RJ,
You’re in man. I just sent the invite.
I’ll have to start posting the standings after each event so we can get more of the guys to join up.
So far we got 4 guys which isnt bad for the first event.
dr j
go against couture ,how could u .Other than that i agree with ur picks
@Richard,
Like I said, that was my toughest pick. I want Randy to win and hope he does, but for some reason I have a feeling Gonzaga will pull it out.
I can already hear Kos corner during the fight.. “work your man love!” lol
Kos & Couture win. For the rest of my picks, find me on facebook.com, I got them up there.
@B.V.
they’ll be yelling “man love, hump, hump, hump” lol and when Koscheck trys to drop his trunks St.Pierre is gonna knock him out with a nasty elbow lol.
LOL RJ, but seriously, I think their plan is to stand with GSP lol, once they realize thats not going to happen, Kos will have to fall back on the wrestling..
HUMPFEST 74 …. RESPECT BABY!
lol…. you guys put out some funny stuff!
LOL yea Kansas, im looking forward to this ****! you check the Video for that UFC game i put up?
Win picks:
Gonzaga in the 4th
St. Pierre by decision.. boring fight me thinks
Huerta (whenever)
Stevenson
Grove
Cannot call the Sobral Heath fight… they are both in the same boat
last pick would be Mir over Hard donk me…
LOL Hard Donk
@BV
Heck yea I checked that out…. MY LORD MAN! THAT IS THE BEST LOOKING REALISTIC GAME I HAVE EVER SEEN, I am glad they are waiting on it though, because they can put the champ in there now…. WANDERLEI SILVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
do u guys think ur going to be able to do submission on that game or i mean like if the guy can or they going to have it universal every guy can do the same thing
they will probably do it like the other UFC games where guys like Chuck Liddell can submit someone but he doesnt have many options for submitions and they are harder to pull off and a guy like Jeremy Horn can knock you out but it easier to take it to the ground and submit them. no matter what it will be cool (i still play the old UFC games) and i will be first in line when it comes out.