The main card for UFC 121 has been announced and it’s a doozy.

Let’s take a look:
Date: Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010
Location: Honda Center in Anaheim, California

265 lbs.: Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez
205 lbs.: Matt Hamill vs. Tito Ortiz
265 lbs.: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Brendan Schaub
170 lbs.: Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Shields
170 lbs.: Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago

Brock vs. Cain is huge. I was one of the first people on the Velasquez bandwagon when he arrived and it’s been a joy to watch him develop these last two and a half years. He started as a mammoth wrestler and has grown into a mammoth wrestler with serious ground ‘n pound and improving strikes. On the other hand, I love Brock too and want him to develop a great legacy in the sport – so I will officially be torn on this one. I probably wont know who I want until the bell sounds.

Tell you one thing, I like Velasquez’s chances. I think his boxing, though not as powerful, is more technical than Carwin’s. If he can stuff a takedown or two from Lesnar he can catch the champ with a punch and then probably learn from Shane’s mistake and meticulously work for a finish - instead of unloading wild punches and gassing… Wait, I mean, unloading wild punches and getting Lactic Acidosis. My mistake.

Of course, Brock is going to have twenty pounds on him so stuffing a takedown will be easier said than done – but we’ll see.

Tito vs. Hamill will mark the first time a TUF coach has fought one of his own fighters. I have no clue how this is going to go. Ortiz’s stand-up is probably more technical than Matt’s, but Matt’s is more powerful – ugliness notwithstanding. I don’t see Hamill wanting to take this to the ground and I don’t think Tito will get the big fella down – so I’d say we’re in for an entertaining 15-minute train wreck.

I realize Gabriel just got knocked on his ass by Junior two Saints, but I still think this may be too big a step up for Schaub. Still, Brendan has been knocking kids out and when your chin is as glass as Napao’s has been lately you always have to be cautious. A win for Schaub propels him to the next level and a win for Gabe gives him some momentum after a crushing defeat.

The UFC Welcome Committee President, Martin Kampmann, will introduce the company’s new prize-possession Jake Shields to the Octagon. I know it’s hard to bet against Jake after that dominating performance over Dan Henderson, but don’t sleep on Marty. If Shields doesn’t bring his ‘A’ game he’s walking out with the loser’s share.

Diego vs. Paulo will send one man back to relevancy and one man into deep, deep trouble. Personally, I think Paulo has been overrated from the start and Sanchez will show some new life now that he’s back with Greg Jackson – but we’ll have to wait and see.

Overall, this looks great on paper. The queso dip and wings will be flowing at my place come the 23rd of October.

Stay lucky.
Ken

Earlier we had the Top 5 UFC Undisputed Head-Scratchers, now lets look at the Top 5 UFC Undisputed Snubs.

Note: I’m going by the Roster I found on Wikipedia, so apologies if any of these are incorrect.

5) Nate Quarry

A pretty popular fighter who has been around since TUF1. It’s surprising not to see him in this.

4) Dustin Hazelett

McLovin really hit the scene in 2008, but it was a bit late to be included the game. Too bad, it would have been great to use his ground game.

3) Matt Hamill

How on Earth was he not included? This really boggles my mind. Fans love him, the UFC loves him - very, very strange he’s not on the roster.

2) Shane Carwin

Another fighter that made a huge impact a tad too late to be in the game. Shane has got to be considered one of the top heavyweights around after KO’ing Gonzaga, but he’ll have to wait until 2010 to get his animated character.

1) Randy Couture

No explanation needed here. There must have been some sort of contract dispute.

-Ken
http://www.IntelligentlyDefending.com

Things have been quiet over here thanks to a week at work that didn’t see me get home before 2:30am on any night - and had me actually sleep at the office one night.

Still, I wanted to get these picks up before the show - no matter how abbreviated they are.  I’m also happy to have picks from my main man - and person somewhat responsible for my terrible week at work - Nick.  This will hopefully be Nick’s first of many contributions to Intelligently Defending.

Here we go…

Ken’s Picks

MAIN CARD

• Quinton Jackson (205) vs. Keith Jardine (204)  Jackson, TKO, Rd. 2
• Shane Carwin (259.5) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (257.5) Carwin, TKO, Rd. 3
• Matt Brown (170.5) vs. Pete Sell (170) Sell, Submission, Rd. 2
• Matt Hamill (205) vs. Mark Munoz (204.5) Hamill, Decision
• Gray Maynard (155) vs. Jim Miller (154.5) Maynard, Decision

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Ryan Madigan (169) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170) McCrory, TKO, Rd. 2
• Jason Day (184.5) vs. Kendall Grove (185) Grove TKO, Rd. 2
• Tim Boetsch (205) vs. Jason Brilz (204) Boetsch, TKO, Rd. 1
• Michael Patt (204.5) vs. Brandon Vera (205) Vera,TKO, Rd. 1
  
• Shane Nelson (155) vs. Aaron Riley (155) Riley, Decision

Nick’s Picks

MAIN CARD

• Quinton Jackson (205) vs. Keith Jardine (204)  Jardine, Split Decision
• Shane Carwin (259.5) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (257.5) Gonzaga, Submission, Rd. 2
• Matt Brown (170.5) vs. Pete Sell (170) Matt Brown, Split Decision
• Matt Hamill (205) vs. Mark Munoz (204.5) Matt Hamill, TKO, Rd. 3
• Gray Maynard (155) vs. Jim Miller (154.5) Maynard, Unanimous Decision

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Ryan Madigan (169) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170) McCrory, Submission, Rd. 2
• Jason Day (184.5) vs. Kendall Grove (185) Grove TKO, Rd. 2
• Tim Boetsch (205) vs. Jason Brilz (204) Boetsch, TKO, Rd. 1
  
• Michael Patt (204.5) vs. Brandon Vera (205) Vera, Unanimous Decision
  
• Shane Nelson (155) vs. Aaron Riley (155) Riley Submission, Rd. 1

I’ve criticized this show in the past, but I’ll be watching like a good fanboy should.  Maybe it will surprise me.

Come back for the Post-Mortem Monday-ish.

-Ken
http://www.IntelligentlyDefending.com

If you read this blog, odds are you have realized that I have a strong allegiance to the UFC. They were the reason I got into MMA and I will usually defend them to the death. On the Sherdog forums I would be referred to as a “UFC nuthugger” - so its a good thing that I would rather drink bleach than ever go to those forums.

With all that said, I can’t defend UFC 96. It looks terrible and I think its outrageous that we are expected to pay for this event.

Let’s take a look…

Main event:

205 lbs.: Quinton Jackson (29-7) vs. Keith Jardine (14-4-1)

I don’t buy this as a main event for a second.

I know Jardine has beat Chuck and Forrest, but I still don’t see him as a main eventer. His performance against Vera was average and he was demolished by both Wanderlei and Houston Alexander. What other headliners have lost two fights in under a minute like that?

Besides all that, if Keith wins – which ain’t happening, but for arguments sake - he doesn’t gain anything except a little more notoriety. He won’t get a title shot like Rampage will because Rashad and he are training partners. There is something about a guy winning a main event and being in the same spot he started at that really bothers me.

At least if The Dean pulls it out, Machida will get his crack at the gold.

Main card (Televised):

205 lbs.: Matt Hamill (5-2) vs. Mark Munoz (5-0)

This is just awful. A co-main event between a guy who was last seen beating Reese Andy and a guy from the WEC? Come on. I know Hamill is from Ohio, but I highly doubt that the locals want this as their co-main event.

Amazing wrestlers or not, neither has shown the prowess inside the Octagon to warrant this spot on the card. Hell, 95% of the audience isn’t even going to know who Munoz is. And don’t tell me it has the potential to be a fun fight because this has snoozer written all over it. God help us all if wrestling gets cancelled out and we are treated to a stand-up war between these two.

And for the record, I like both guys.

265 lbs.: Shane Carwin (10-0) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (10-3)

An awesome fight and the REAL co-main event. Is Carwin for real? Or is Gabriel back?

If I cave at the last second and order this card – which, lets face it, is probably going to happen – it will be because of this fight.

155 lbs.: Jim Miller (13-1) vs. Gray Maynard (6-0)

A legit main card fight – I really can’t bitch much about this one. I like Maynard more than most people and Miller is a very solid fighter. Should be interesting.

170 lbs.: Pete Sell (8-4) vs. Matt Brown (8-7)

OK, I try not to swear too much on this blog because I think it’s a cheap way to write – but are you fucking kidding me?!?!?!

Goddamn, this fight isn’t even worth a main card slot on a Fight Night. Sell vs. Brown on a PPV main card. Really? I mean, REALLY? I don’t bust my ass working for the man so I can pay for this garbage.

Sell is 1-4 in his last 5 UFC fights. 1-4!!! And Brown has an 8-7 record according to Sherdog. This boggles my mind.

Will it be an entertaining slugfest where Goldberg will mention ten billion times how “these guys don’t want to go to the ground, they want to bang”? Sure. But who cares? The winner will slide into about the #18 spot in the welterweight rankings. Sorry if that doesn’t excite me.

Under card (May not be broadcast):

185 lbs.: Kendall Grove (9-5) vs. Jason Day (17-7)
205 lbs.: Tim Boetsch (8-2) vs. Jason Brilz (16-1-1)
205 lbs.: Brandon Vera (9-3) vs. Mike Patt (12-3)
170 lbs.: Ryan Madigan (5-0) vs. Tamdan McCrory
155 lbs.: Aaron Riley (27-10-1) vs. Shane Nelson (11-3)

A pretty standard undercard. I’m really surprised to see Kendall not televised and it will be interesting to see where the Brandon Vera saga goes next.

Overall, it’s just a piss-poor card that I can’t get excited over for the life of me. Of course, the cards you don’t expect to be good sometimes turn out to be great – so here’s hoping.

-Ken
http://www.IntelligentlyDefending.com