A Fan's View from his Couch: Prefight UFC 93
Pro Fighting Fans brings you a new column entitled "A fan's view from his Couch" as die-hard UFC fan Greg Vorse will now be contributing to our site. Greg will be sharing his pre- and post-fight thoughts on all of the biggest UFC events and begins with UFC 93 to be held on Saturday, January 17th. For more on this fight, check out our official UFC 93 preview here at ProFighting-fans.com and check back after the event for a recap of the UFC 93 results.
UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland is being dubbed by the UFC as "the dream fight card UFC fans have been waiting for." Really, not this fan, and not any I have spoken too, the UFC is so excited about it that they are promoting UFC 94 in primetime on spike instead of this one. I'm sorry to say but no fight card can or should be headlined by the 2009 versions of Dan Henderson versus Rich Franklin. Honestly, does the UFC take us for fools; I would be willing to bet this pay-per-view gets the worst ratings in years. $50 for Ace v Hendo, a battle of guys who know they have little to no chance in the Middleweight division due to Anderson Silva, so let’s throw our gloves into the light heavyweight division because its not already deep enough (I understand that they were both successful at 205 in the past). I guess the point is that a fight card shouldn't be lead by two men who are one loss away from the under card and the winner is now what, top 10 or 15 light heavyweights. One thing that may save this fight is the fact that both combatants should look more like they fought with cheese graters instead of 4 oz. gloves. My prediction Aces wild as Franklin wins a squeaker.
Maybe the saving grace is the "co-main event." In one word, NO! Mark Coleman vs. Shogun Rua was a headliner almost 3 years ago in Pride, but the UFC has evolved into the Mega Mart of MMA, thus this is weak. A rematch between a guy who we last saw in the cage getting out jitsed by Forrest Griffin against a man who hasn't fought since being pummeled by Fedor in 2006. Let me tune up my vocal cords when I sing "big 'F'ing deal." Yes, this fight has a bit of a grudge match feel to it, but Shogun's camp expecting Coleman to stop striking him after he "didn't know" he broke his arm is ridiculous. I mean to stop hitting someone before a referee stoppage is like asking a Detroit Lions opponent to not come out of the locker room at halftime because the game is virtually over, in laymen’s terms it ain't happening. My prediction Shogun bounces back to his old form and Coleman is just old, Rua by submission 2nd round.
The one saving grace for this event is a fight that I'm praying makes it to us the at home viewing audience. Which bout am I speaking of? Marcus "the Irish Hand Grenade" Davis vs. Chris "Lights Out" Lytle. Just the nicknames have my skin tingling. Lights out against Irish Hand Grenade - sign me up! 13 of Davis' 15 wins have ended via knockout or submission, while 21 of Lytle’s 26 wins have ended early. Put that together and you have K.O., submission or fight of the night written all over it. Davis has begged Dana to send him home to fight in Ireland, the winner of this one is a step closer to GSP and his newly re-polished title; the loser doesn't fall too far and may toile with the decision to drop 15 lbs and try their hand at a slim lightweight division. My prediction Davis finds his roots and knocks Chris' lights out in the 3rd.
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With the combination of two lackluster feature bouts and a sub par (Lytle-Davis excluded) under card I find myself searching for reasons to watch. I will in the end dish out the $50 to see UFC 93, as well as enjoying my adult beverage of choice and nachos with cheese, but let’s all be honest with ourselves - we want UFC 94 and we want it now! I hope I am wrong, but on a scale from 1 to 10 I give this event a meager 3.
By Greg Vorse
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer
A Fan's View from his Couch