UFC 102…It doesn’t have the same ring as UFC 100 or 101 for that matter. Why? Well quite simply the ‘main event’ of UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira is the championship of the loser’s bracket from Lesnar vs. Mir. What’s intriguing about that, honestly, not a whole lot, but I’ll still be watching and this is why…
Couture v. Nogueira
Together they are 47-14-1, rather impressive, but even more impressive is the list of who’s-who that they have notched on their collective belts – Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Vitor Belfort, Pedro Rizzo, Tim Sylvia, Gabriel Gonzaga, Kevin Randleman, Jeremy Horn, Heath Herring, Josh Barnett, Fabricio Werdum, Mirko Cro Cop, Ricco Rodriguez and Dan Henderson to name a few. Although it may have been better to see this fight 3 years ago, how can you doubt the resumes of these two men – you can’t! And even though the loser of this fight most likely puts one foot into his career grave; the other one remains on the short list of those next in line to test their mettle against the raging beast that is Brock Lesner, and that man will be the one and only Randy “The Natural” Couture. Randy would have won this fight 5,4,3,2 or 1 year ago and he will win on Saturday. Couture will smother Nog with his world class wrestling and eventually dirty box him into his second straight KO! Randy should then get another shot at Brock while Nogueira can be another stepping stone for Cain Velasquez.
The rest of the main card which lacks the luster and names…
Keith Jardine v. Thiago Silva
This should be the definition of unorthodox styles and those styles making a great fight. Thiago Silva‘s lone loss came when he was way too aggressive against Lyoto Machida, while on the other side of the cage is Jardine, who we know has the wildest of styles that has led him to wins over Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin and Brandon Vera. However, Jardine is sloppy at the same time, opening him up to losses to Houston Alexander, Stephan Bonnar and Wanderlei Silva. Combine the two and you have somebody saying goodnight a little prematurely. With both men have hands of stone and KO power I see Silva returning to his Brazilian roots and taking this one to the ground by taking one of “The Dean of Mean‘s” limbs home with him as well as the “Submission of the Night” bonus.
Nate Marquardt v. Damian Maia
Maia is 10-0 with 8 submissions and his eyes are set directly on a shot at Anderson Silva with a win. Meanwhile Marquardt is 28-8-2 with 15 submissions to his credit as well 3 King Of Pancrase Middleweight Championships. Raise your hand if you see this fight ending in some other fashion than submission….now that all our hands are still firmly on our keyboards here is how it goes down – Damian starts getting the better of “The Great,” but that doesn’t last long as Marquardt’s tried and true triangle work to perfection and he is able to sink in a tight triangle choke and stakes claim to his second shot at “The Spider.”
Other names to watch out for @ UFC 102:
The winner of Brandon Vera v. Krzysztof Soszynski – which one is able to stay relevant at 205. Chirs Leben makes his come back from suspension, Gabriel Gonzaga looks to bounce back to an unimpressive KO loss to Shane Carwin and anytime Ed Herman fights expect fireworks!
By Greg Vorse
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer