Posts with the tag "UFC 79"

UFC 79 is this Saturday and was originally billed as a match up between the coaches from The Ultimate Fighter 7. With an injury to Matt Serra, George St-Pierre jumped at the opportunity to fight Matt Hughes in the main event. The other main event fight is a long time in the making, Chuck Liddell will fight Wanderlei Silva.

Liddell vs Silva is a long time in the making. Back when both owned their divisions in their respective organizations, a super fight couldn't be arranged between the two. With the demise of Pride, the UFC has signed Silva and finally arranged the fight. Both fighters are coming off of back-to-back losses. This fight will get one fight back into the mix and put the other a fight or two away from retirement.

Here are my predictions:

• Matt Hughes vs. Georges St-Pierre: With Hughes coming to the end of his career, he has trained harder than ever before. After a losing the title, St. Pierre is hungry to get his hands back on the title. I have been a Hughes fan for some time, but my gut tells me St-Pierre will win this one.
• Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva: The winner will be the fighter who lands the first big punch. I give Liddell the edge in this one.
• Lyoto Machida vs. Rameau Sokoudjou: Another light heavyweight fight featuring strikers. Sokoudjou is relatively inexperience with only 5 professional fights, still I expect him to make this a good fight. Machida wins via strikes.
• Rich Clementi vs. Melvin Guillard: Guillard makes any fight interesting with his unpredictable nature. I pick Guillard via early knockout.
• Soa Palelei vs. Eddie Sanchez: Since I don't know too much about either fighter, I will go on their nicknames. Palelei is the "The Hulk" and Sanchez is "The Manic Hispanic." I am going with the Hulk.

As every MMA site is now reporting, Matt Serra is out of the main event for UFC 79. Checkout the article on Yahoo.

I sure was disappointed when I heard the news as I would love to see Hughes pound on Serra. Not that I don't think Serra can't win, but as Hughes would say he doesn't belong in the top 5.

Now, we are treated to another Hughes vs. St. Pierre match which should be outstanding. Each fighter has one a match in the trilogy. Each has a legitimate claim to fame. So who win this one?

One last thought, why the interim title? I guess so everybody is happy. Hughes and St. Pierre get their title shot, the UFC gets good ratings, and the fans get a title fight. The only thing the interim title says to me is five rounds instead of three, but we won't need them anyway.