The UFC Results

It has been officially announced that Tyson Griffin is going to fight Sean Sherk at UFC 90. This is going to be a pivotal moment in both of these fighters careers. Tyson Griffin is on a four fight win streak and with another win, especially over the former title holder, he would be vaulted into the running for number one contender status. And keep in mind that Tyson Griffin is the only person to deliver Urijah Faber a loss, and that speaks volumes seeing how Faber and Sherk both depend on incredibly strong wrestling and an intense pace to win.

This fight is incredibly important for Sherk as well. If he loses this fight he is going to drop out of contention for a while. With Kenny Florian, Roger Huerta, Joe Stevenson and many others all chomping at the bit to get a piece of BJ Penn he will have to go to the end of a pretty long line. What Sherk has going for him is that he only loses to the best. The only people he hasn’t been able to beat are Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes and BJ Penn. So this is going to be a defining moment. If Sherk loses he is out of the title picture for at least a year if not more and for Griffin, if he wins, he steps into the ranks of the elite fighters and will most definitely get a title shot after Kenny Florian, or may get a fight with Florian to decide who is going to get the title shot.

I am going to pick the underdog and call that Tyson Griffin is going to win this fight, what do you think?

The final match for UFC 88: Breakthrough has been announced. The event will take place on Tuesday September 9, 2008 at Philips Arena in Georgia. Start time of 7PM PST / 10PM EST and will be available on PPV.

Chuck Liddell –vs– Rashad Evans
Chuck Liddell is listed at 6’ 2” weighing in at 205 LBS, with a record of 21-5-0. Rashad Evans is listed at 5’ 11” weighing in at 205 LBS, with a record of 16-0-1.

Rich Franklin –vs– Mat Hamill
Rich Franklin is listed at 6’ 1” weighing in at 205 LBS, with a record of 25-3-0. Matt Hamill is listed at 6’ 1” weighing in at 205 LBS, with a record of 6-1-0.

Karo Parisyan –vs– Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Karo Parisyan is listed at 5’ 10” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 26-5-0. Yoshiyuki Yoshida is listed at 5’ 11” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 10-2-0.

Dan Henderson –vs– Rousimar Palhares
Dan Henderson is listed at 6’ 1” weighing in at 185 LBS, with a record of 22-7-0. Rousimar Palhares is listed at 5’ 8” weighing in at 185 LBS, with a record of 17-1-0.

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Life is full of challenges that need to be met head-on. Not only do these challenges make us better people, they help us strive toward jumping over other hurdles presented to us during our lifetime. Every once in awhile we will fail at what we do, but it is the ones who get right back up, don’t give up and try again without getting discouraged, that exceed expectations, learn from their mistakes and become better at what they do; legitimizing themselves in the process.

Brock Lesnar is no stranger to challenges. Even before his college career as an amateur wrestler, Brock wrestled at Webster High School in Webster, South Dakota where he managed to have a 33-0 record in his senior year. Brock would later attend the University of Minnesota on a full wrestling scholarship for his junior and senior years of college; where he would become a two-time NJCAA All-American, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Champion, and win the 2000 NCAA heavyweight championship with a record of 106-5 overall in four years of college.

Still, unknown to most of the world, he would enter into the Professional Wrestling world with a development territory for the WWE known as Ohio Valley Wrestling where he would train to make the next leap from amateur wrestling to the world of professional. He made his presence known and it was Vince McMahon who would recognize the marketability of someone of Brocks size and abilities. When Brock was ready, the WWE was ready for him. He would eventually write himself into the WWE record books as a three-time WWE Champion, and the second youngest WWE Champion in history.

But the road life in the WWE would take a toll on Brock Lesnar where he would hardly ever have a day when he wasn’t traveling and able to spend with his wife Rena (formally a WWE Superstar known as Sable). So Brock would soon drop it all for another passion of his before he would be too old to make an attempt at it. After a few years at the top of the WWE ladder Brock would quit for a career in the NFL playing for the Minnesota Vikings where he proved to be a little too tough for the team. His dominating figure proved to be a little too violent with the Quarterbacks in practice and scrimmage games. He would eventually be cut from the team only after a few pre-season games with the Vikings. It would become clear to many of us that Brock proved too violent for the NFL. So it would become inevitable that Brock would enter into the world of MMA.

In K1 Brock would totally dominate his first opponent in Kin Soo Kim within two minutes of the first round by submission via strikes to the head. Brock would quickly move to a deal with the UFC and have his first bout with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. With the UFC 81 results we saw that Brock was a little too anxious for his own good. Although he was winning the fight against Mir, his inexperience at a ground game would prove fatal as Mir managed to secure a kneebar and force a submission at 1:30 of the first round while on the floor. Brock was mounting a standing attack against a grounded opponent and his inexperience at protecting his feet against a grounded opponent would become an issue.

After the Mir fight, he was 1-1 in MMA and 0-1 in the UFC and it was time for Brock to go back to the basics. Something he forgot while being a little over zealous in his UFC debut. You need to protect yourselves at all times. Even when your opponent is on the mat and your first reaction is too ground and pound your opponent; your approach must remain guarded. It can all end instantly here with the right opponent as Brock found out so quickly.

Brock wouldn’t let this discourage him, going back to the basics and focusing on his mistakes he would come back against Heath Herring and show us how he can totally dominate in the octagon. Quickly from the start of the match Lesnar opened Herring up quickly with a right to the face and stayed on top of Herring throughout the match. Never allowing Herring to mount much of an offensive against Lesnar. But as we watched the match we could see that Lesnar was now more aware of protecting himself against a grounded opponent. Knowing where is miscalculation was in the past he was able to go the distance and also win a unanimous decision to win the match against Herring.

After seeing the UFC 87 results, Brock Lesnar has the makings of a champion in the UFC. His strength, size, agility and presence will dominate most opponents. If he can keep in mind that sometimes the best offense is a defense I don’t see many opponents beating him at a standing fight or a ground and pound. As long as he learns protect himself, uses his amateur wrestling background he will be a force to be reckoned with no matter the MMA organization he fights in.

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch – Winner: Georges St. Pierre via Unanimous Decision

265 lbs Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring
Winner: Brock Lesnar via Unanimous Decision

155 lbs Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta
Winner: Kenny Florian via Unanimous Decision

185 lbs Demian Maia vs. Jason MacDonald
Winner: Demian Maia via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Round 3

230 lbs Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen
Winner: Cheick Kongo via TKO (Strikes) Round 1

170 lbs Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Thomas
Winner: Ben Saunders via Submission (Armbar) Round 1

170 lbs Steve Bruno vs. Chris Wilson
Winner: Chris Wilson via Unanimous Decision

205 lbs Andre Gusmao vs. Jon Jones
Winner: Jon Jones via Unanimous Decision

155 lbs Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson
Winner: Rob Emerson via TKO (Strikes) Round 1

170 lbs Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory
Winner: Tamdan McCrory via Unanimous Decision

No he isn’t going to fight them at the same time but he is going to be doing some moving between weight classes. After contract negotiations with Dana White they apparently talked over some additional things such as a mega-fight between BJ Penn and Georges St. Pierre, or maybe, with Jon Fitch if he stops St. Pierre. Check out this quote from Penn:

“I want to be the best. I want to do all these things. I want to fight the welterweight, I want to fight at lightweight and you gotta be in shape, you gotta be the best to do that. I’ll be with the UFC a couple more years and we’re probably looking at a fight [on] December 27. I’m looking at the Florian-Huerta fight and I’m also looking at the Fitch-St. Pierre fight. Jon Fitch is a great opponent, a tough opponent, but St. Pierre brings the whole backing of Canada with him to a fight. It would be great to put on a big fight with me and St. Pierre, but then again, it’s about me fighting the best fighter and if Fitch goes down and proves he’s the best fighter, then he’s the man. [But] I’m moving up to fight in the welterweight division and then I’m moving back down to defend my lightweight title.”

So it sounds like we could see BJ Penn in the octagon as a Welterweight by December, and then defending his title not too long after, probably against the winner of Florian/Huerta. After the UFC 84 results when BJ Penn dismantled Sean Sherk I have a hard time seeing either Huerta or Florian really posing a large threat to the Penn dynasty that is beginning. But then again who would have thought that Matt Serra would have beaten Georges St. Pierre.?

What do you think about BJ Penn moving between weight classes?

Thanks MMAWeekly

Up until now, the UFC has been hush-hush about what the remaining fight card will be for UFC 87: Seek and Destroy. We already know the event will take place on Saturday August 9, 2008 at The Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and will start at 7PM PST / 10PM EST, be available on PPV and online at Yahoo! Sports. Well, now we know what the entire fight card will be, as the UFC has finally announced the final bouts for UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, allowing us a full picture of the entire evenings entertainment. So without further delay here is a run-down on the full UFC 87 card, which takes place on Saturday August 9, 2008 from The Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota 7PM PST / 10PM EST on PPV:

Georges St-Pierre –vs– Jon Fitch
This match will be for the UFC Welterweight Championship.
Georges St-Pierre will be coming into this fight at 5’ 10” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 16-2-0. Jon Fitch will be coming into this fight at 6’ 0” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 21-2-0.

Brock Lesnar –vs– Heath Herring
Brock Lesnar will be coming into this fight at 6’ 3” weighing in at 265 LBS, with a record of 1-1-0. Heath Herring will be coming into this fight at 6’ 4” weighing in at 250 LBS, with a record of 29-13-1.

Kenny Florian –vs– Roger Huerta
Kenny Florian will be coming into this fight at 5’ 10” weighing in at 155 LBS, with a record of 9-3-0. Roger Huerta will be coming into this fight at 5’ 9” weighing in at 155 LBS, with a record of 22-1-1.

Robert Emerson –vs– Manvel Gamburyan
Robert Emerson will be coming into this fight at 5’ 9” weighing in at 155 LBS, with a record of 9-6-1. Manvel Gamburyan will be coming into this fight at 5’ 9” weighing in at 155 LBS, with a record of 9-3-0.

Demian Maia –vs– Jason MacDonald
Demian Maia will be coming into this fight at 6’ 0” weighing in at 185 LBS, with a record of 8-0-0. Jason MacDonald will be coming into this fight at 6’ 3” weighing in at 185 LBS, with a record of 21-9-0. This match may not be broadcast.

Tamden McCrory –vs– Luke Cummo
Tamden McCrory will be coming into this fight at 6’ 4” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 10-1-0. Luke Cummo will be coming into this fight at 6’ 0” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 9-6-0. This match may not be broadcast.

Dan Everson –vs– Cheick Kongo
Dan Everson will be coming into this fight at 6’ 3” weighing in at 250 LBS, with a record of 10-2-0. Cheick Kongo will be coming into this fight at 6’ 4” weighing in at 240 LBS, with a record of 21-5-1. This match may not be broadcast.

Jon Jones –vs– Andrew Gusmao
Jon Jones will be coming into this fight at 6’ 4” weighing in at 205 LBS, with a record of 6-0-0. Andrew Gusmao will be coming into this fight at 6’ 2” weighing in at 205 LBS, with a record of 5-0-0. This match may not be broadcast.

Steve Bruno –vs– Chris Wilson
Steve Bruno will be coming into this fight at 5’ 10” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 12-3-0. Chris Wilson will be coming into this fight at 6’ 1” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 12-5-1. This match may not be broadcast.

Ryan Thomas –vs– Ben Saunders
Information on Ryan Thomas was not available. Ben Saunders will be coming into this fight at 6’ 3” weighing in at 170 LBS, with a record of 5-0-2. This match may not be broadcast.