Las Vegas, Nevada will once again play host to the Ultimate Fighting Championship as UFC 84: Ill Will takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this Saturday night. The UFC 84 fight card features what should be three highly entertaining fights and a very solid undercard.
BJ Penn vs Sean Sherk – Boy, oh boy, there are few people who know how to hype up a fight like BJ Penn. Ever since he defeated Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 to win the vacant UFC Lightweight title, he has been antagonizing former champion Sean Sherk for his failed steroid test. BJ Penn is called the “prodigy” for a reason – because he really is that good of a fighter. Penn’s grappling skills are second to none and his flexibility and balance are a thing of beauty to watch. Against a fighter like Sherk, Penn should also have the edge in the striking game which. Penn’s condition, what used to be his achilles heel, has been excellent his past two fights and he should be in great shape again for this fight with Sean Sherk.
Sean Sherk continues to maintain his innocence and insist he never used any steroids. Sherk contends he continues to train as he always has, which according to BJ Penn, means he should test positive again after this fight. Penn has a good point, but lets leave the failed drug test aside for the moment. Sherk’s game is all about his wrestling and ground control. While BJ Penn’s cardio and condition has been suspect in the past, conditioning is one thing that Sean Sherk has never lacked. I’m sure Sherk envisions taking Penn down early and often and working him over with ground and pound for a full five minutes just like he did against Kenny Florian at at UFC 64. The problem is he won’t be able to do that against a fighter like Penn. Penn is excellent off his back and will be able to attempt submissions from positions Sherk never thought possible. I see Penn winning this fight via submission in the second or third rounds. If Sherk is able to survive through round three and advance into the later rounds he may be able to test how good Penn’s conditioning really is. Winner: BJ Penn
Wanderlei Silva vs Keith Jardine – Keith Jardine has gotten somewhat of a bad wrap due to his demoralizing loss to Houston Alexander at UFC 71. But if you look at Jardine’s recent you will see that he has beaten the long-time UFC champion Chuck Liddell, the current #1 light heavyweight challenger Forrest Griffin, fellow UFC 84 competitor Wilson Gouveia and really should have beaten Stephan Bonnar if the judges knew how to properly judge a fight. The problem for Jardine is that everyone knows exactly what his game is – a strong kicking game followed by some heavy, wild strikes. Against a fighter like Wanderlei Silva, having such a limited arsenal can be a problem.
Wanderlei Silva is a man in a strange place at the moment. The former longtime PrideFC Welterweight champion has lost his last three fights, getting knocked out against Mirko Filipovic and Dan Henderson and losing a unanimous decision to Chuck Liddell. Silva fought Liddel last December and has been able to use the past five months to get his mental game back in order and will look to regain some of his personal pride against Jardine. While Silva throws wild looping strikes, it seems to continue to work for him. While Jardine has KO power as we saw against Chuck Liddel and Forrest Griffin, if he starts to get the best of Wanderlei, Silva can always resort to his clinch game. I look for Wandi to come back into the cage on point and put on a good show for the crowd. Winner: Wanderlei Silva
Tito Ortiz vs Lyoto Machida – While Tito Ortiz has been less than impressive recently and hasn’t had a convincing victory since his UFC 51 victory over Vitor Belfort in 2005. However, other than his rematch with Chuck Liddel at UFC 66, Ortiz really hasn’t had a fight that truly motivated him. This fight, the last on his UFC contract is Tito’s “contract fight.” We’ve all heard about pro athletes having to perform in the last year of their contract, also known as their “contract year.” Well, this fight is where Tito Ortiz know’s he will make his money for the next three years, and nothing motivates Ortiz more than money. Ortiz will be well conditioned and fully confident that he can beat Lyoto Machida.
Unfortunately for Ortiz, Lyoto Machida will be equally determined and perhaps the most well-rounded fighter Ortiz has faced since he found Randy Couture at UFC 44. Machida is perhaps one of the most technical strikers in the UFC and has some of the best evasive defensive maneuvers of any light heavyweight. Machida’s still jab and karate-style kicking will keep Ortiz off-balance. If (when) Tito is able to bring the fight to the ground, Machida is very adept at jiu-jitsu as well. Ortiz’s whole game is ground and pound, and unfortunately for Tito, being a one-dimensional fighter just doesn’t cut it in today’s UFC.
Ortiz is under pressure to not only win, but win in a decisive, exciting fashion. If he can do that, the money will come either from the EliteXC, Affliction, or some other promotion. Machida is under pressure to stay undefeated and move one step closer to a title shot. I think Machida will out-point Ortiz on his way to a unanimous decision victory. Winner: Lyoto Machida
Thiago Silva vs Antonio Mendes – Antonio Mendes brings a solid 14-2 record into his UFC debut, but he has yet to face any upper-level competition. Thiago Silva is still undefeated at 13-0 and has finished hist last three fights in the UFC via TKO. Most recently, Silva stopped the rising star that was Houston Alexander at UFC 78 last November. Silva is an excellent fighter will excellent grappling and striking skills. Mendes will definitely have his hands full and if he can make it out of the first round, he should consider his UFC debut a success. Winner: Thiago Silva
Wilson Gouveia vs Goran Reljic – Since losing via decision to Keith Jardine in his UFC debut, Wilson Gouveia has reeled off four straight victories including three via submission. Goran Reljic is a strong grappler in his own right and probably has the edge in pure wrestling skill. I think Gouveia will have no problem will Reljic and give him a rude welcome to the UFC while notching yet another victory via submission. Winner: Wilson Gouveia
Ivan Salaverry vs Rousimar Palhares – Winner: Rousimar Palhares
Rameau Sokoudjou vs Kazuhiro Nakamura – Winner: Rameau Sokoudjou
Rick Clementi vs Terry Etim – Winner: Rich Clementi
Jon Koppenhaver vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida – Winner: Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Jason Tan vs Dong Hyun Kim – Winner: Dong Hyun Kim
Christian Wellisch vs Shane Carwin – Winner: Shane Carwin
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tom b
Ben Cartlidge
Shawn Smith
JStein
StuDog
LaM
Angelina
Can’t wait for this Saturday. BJ is in the best shape I’ve ever seen him in and I think he will be able to finish Sherk before the end of the third round. Keith vs Wand fight is going to be sick. I hope Wand can get on the inside and get the clinch and unload some knees and dirty boxing. If Jardine can keep him at a distance and use his brutal kicks he can pull off the win. Tito and Machida for some reason I think will be a boring tactical battle. Tito will try and get the fight to the ground but if he can’t he will be having to stand back and trade strikes with Lyoto. I just don’t see this being an exciting affair but I hope they prove me wrong. Other tahn that I hope Shane Carwin does well. He’s been the local “Ring of Fire” champ here in Colorado for a while. We need more heavyweight talent in the UFC. The times I have seen him fight here he has destroyed guys. Should be an awsome night of fights.
agree w those picks..except sherk…I see sherk winnin this….
sherk!
go sherk!
go shawn sherk!!!!!yayyyy
sherk sherk sherk!!!!
shawn shawn shawn!!!
Well this is rare, but I agree with all of Doc’s main card picks.
i already told you guys my picks so im not going over them again, i’ll have to check again but i think Docs picks are all the same as mine. im super excited to see Wand back in the cage and fighting someone he can slug with, and also im waiting to see BJ go all weird on Sherk, i dunno maybe try to bathe in his blood or eat one of his fingers or something lol. i wonder how the commentary is gonna be for the Ortiz vs. Machida fight, by all rights they should be hyping the young, hungry, and undefeated Lyoto but will they cross that line and call Tito washed up or just run him down?
kansas I told u….silva kicked major booty….much luv
**** man…wand has to get ko of the night!!!
wand will be champ if he fights like that damm!!!!
there you go Kansas your boys back!!! ChuteBoxe for life b*tches!!! now just remember that one kids THATS why your boy Kansas tells you all Wanderlei is the man.
Yeah boy!
how good was it to watch Wand hand Jardine that asss beating?
Gotta agree.. wow… geesh.. i was wondering but when I saw him come out with his head fully shaved.. you know the old wand logo.. lol.. I knew he was gonna massacre Jardine.. hehe
I agree with you too Patrick… good call
BJ Penn did it, he made me a believer. i said after the Stevenson fight that if he could beat Sherk and hang with him for a few rounds that i would change my mind about him. Penn looked like a complete fighter tonight and i dont know who is going to be able to hang with him.
my two favs one.. Thiago is the future.. now Shogun needs to come back…
CHUTEBOXE for LIFE ….. YEAYAH!
you see Soko called out Shogun after his fight? that might be a good comeback fight.
kan….amen….
well here i sit watching the fights again, i like watching the p.p.v. again right after its over that way i get to catch things i may have missed. one thing i noticed about tonights card was they showed almost every fight, maybe there starting to finally get it we would rather see an undercard fight then the new trailer for Rambo. Yves Lavigne doing the little backroll-slip-flip and failing badly at trying not to crack a smile AND being Canadian cements him as the best ref around right now in my mind lol. the Soko vs. Nak fight was a bit weird, with the color scheme in the octagon it just seemed very PRIDE they just needed the blue gloves and the ref yelling “ACTION!” (oh and the ring) im sure Nak will be on his way out of the UFC very soon, its ok DREAM will take him im sure. Tito and Machida went down the way i though it would and i think Machidas next 100 fights will look the same. im a bit shocked they let Tito jump on the mic, BUT im starting to think we just witnessed the great MMA swindle, what do i mean? well you have someone or something that people are bored of and you make up some crap to make people interested again. when was the last time you heard Tito get cheered like that. anyways i was happy with the fights and the card lived up to my expectations…. GO WAND!!!!
and the winner is….. Wanderlei Silva!!!!!!!!! oh man, i think i was even happier than Wand when he won hehe. Jardine just made one mistake and Wandy capitalized on it, BIGTIME! Keiths mistake was to throw that lowkick, im sure Wandy was expecting that and im sure it was part of the gameplan. Talk about killer instinct! once he was hurt, technique went out the window, he just bumrushed him, grabbed him by the throat and thumped on his face, and i loved every milisecond of it!!!!
I think Yves Lavignes did more work in that fight than Tito did, atleast he got a takedown, even though it was on himself..
how bout Sherk? umm.. why did he standup with BJ? must be suffering from the Hughes syndrome.. BJ is the man, nuff said.
Patrick, you owe me a MMAHQ shirt, dont pull a dennis hehe..
yea bv..I know…ill have it for ya in about 5 yrs when doc finally makes them ..lol
ya thats cool patrick, im sporting my imaginary shirt already though.. hmm.. kinda fuzzy.. must be made of wool or something..
its actually 100% purebred shih tzu hair, very high quality lol,