UFC 121 - Lesnar vs. Velasquez

[hamato_yoshii]

Brock Lesnar Vs. Cain Velasquez - Well, it's no secret who I'm going with. I predicted that Cain would be the eventual HW champ, after his win over Dennis Stojnic. I in no way see this as a easy win for Cain, or even a dominant one, but I think he will win nonetheless. I have always said that the guy who beats Brock will not be a big bruiser type guy, it's going to be near impossible to "out-Brock" Brock. The guy who beats him will be smaller and faster, and more able to compete at a high level longer (stamina). Here's how I see it: Cain is better standing than Brock, I'm hoping no one would argue that. He does not have near the power as Brock, but he is much more technical, and faster (with punches). I think the fight starts there (duh), and this will set up Cain's victory. Brock will be a little timid at first to go for the shot, because Cain is quick, and can wrestle well. So, Brock will test his hands. I think that will happen for maybe the first round, while Cain sticks and moves around Brock, and hopefully, frustrates him. I think Brock will get tired of being hit (mostly by jabs), and then go back to what he knows, and is very good at, takedowns and wrestling. Here's where I think Cain can win it. Brock is stronger, and may be a superior wrestler technically, but I think that can be debated. But, Cain has the far superior BJJ skills. I think thats where he will have a significant edge on Brock. While on the ground, I think that Brock will be outmuscling Cain, and trying to impose his will, and I think that Cain will be able to evade, and sweep, because of his quickness, and will be able to submit Brock. I'm calling for a RNC victory for Cain, maybe in the second or third round.
The main thing that will stop this is, Cain needs to evade Brocks power on his feet at all costs. Kepp distance, jab, and make it through the rounds. If he gets caught, even though he has a tough chin, he will go down, and Brock won't let him up.


Jake Shields Vs. Martin Kampmann - I like Shields here, but it's mainly because I feel like I still can't trust Kampmann. I know that Shields has a huge edge in one area of this fight, and I'll go with that wrestling to take a victory.


Diego Sanchez Vs. Paulo Thiago - I like Thiago by TKO. Sanchez doesn't belong at 170, unless he is really training hard. He wasn't for his last fight, and until he proves he is again, I'm not taking him.


Tito Ortiz Vs. Matt Hamill - Hamill should pound Tito out pretty easily.


Brendan Schaub Vs. Gabriel Gonzaga - I like Gonzaga to stop Schaub here, using his reach, and his ground game.


Court McGee Vs. Ryan Jensen - I rooting for McGee, but we'll see how he does now facing real competition.


Patrick Cote Vs. Tom Lawlor - Could be fight of the night, and I think Cote gets back on track.


Sam Stout Vs. Paul Taylor - When Stout is facing "like" opponents, I'll always take him. He can't beat the top guys, but he is better than most.


Jon Madsen Vs. Gilbert Yvel - Gilbert is getting the TKO he's been looking for in this fight, first round.

 

[hamato_yoshii]

The anti Brock sentiment is kinda funny. However, it makes you look foolish because you're not analyzing the fight for what it is. Brock is an tremendous athlete who has come a long way in the short period of time he's been in MMA. To discount the accomplishment, skills, size, or power is only clouding your judgment. If you think that Cain easily overcomes a 35-40lb muscle weight advantage easily, you're out of your mind. If Cain comes in at 245, he'll have sand in his pockets and a bucket of fried chicken under each arm. Brock at 265 is cutting. The promo specials on Spike this week showed a pretty slim Lesnar, much more so than in previous fights.

Is there a chance Cain can win? Sure. Punchers always have a chance.
Do you think Cain will beat Brock in ground work? Not a chance.
This should be a pretty decent PPV this weekend.

This fight shouldn't have happened yet. It should have been a Junior Dos Santos/Cain Velasquez match up during the Carwin/Lesnar match up. But that would break down the HW division a bit more and doesn't allow the UFC to stretch out the hype leading up to these fights for the next year. I expect a Carwin vs winner JDS/Lesnar/Cain announcement soon. I really don't think either of them has a really good shot against Lesnar, but I'm sure we'll hear how Dos Santos is superior and more Lesnar hate when that fight comes around. But remember, Carwin gassed himself and was unable to finish Lesnar - a fight he was winning. If he had come in 20 lbs lighter and better cardio, I think it would have been a Carwin/Cain fight this weekend. I think Carwin is a stronger fighter than both Dos Santos and Cain. But those 3 haven't fought each other, so it's been a quick rise against less than stellar competition for all 3 of them. Hopefully, Carwin learns something from this and cuts down to about 255-260. I think that would make him a much better fighter and improve his cardio. He weighed in at 265, but went back up to 275-280 on fight night (I think).

As for Fedor, well, I said this a few years ago. By not fighting the best in the division, Fedor was going to mess around and get caught by someone who was well below his caliber - and it happened. Fedor is almost irrelevant now because of his contract situation, end of his career on the horizon, and lack of credible competition in his organizations. Fedor has also been 25-30lbs too fat most of his life anyway. If he competed at 205 (which is easily doable for his frame), he would have faced much tougher competition, probably would have lost a few times, but I think it would have shown him to be a much tougher fighter. I was a huge Fedor fan in the past, but it's hard to support someone when they're doing their best to duck the good fights. I think an Overeem/Fedor would be very telling for Fedor, but he ducks that fight, so we may never see it happen. Overeem wins that fight IMO, and it will be the first KO/stoppage of Fedor. I don't see a guillotine submission in that one.

I think JDS gets the winner of this fight right away. He won't be in for the Carwin/Nelson winner because he already pounded Nelson. I guess they could wait, and hope Carwin wins, but I think they could give him the shot right away.

As for my thoughts on the Brock/Cain fight, see my earlier post.

 

[SumoNinja]

UFC 121
10-23-10
PPV


Brock Lesnar Vs. Cain Velasquez
I'm with yoshii on this one. I think Cain has what it takes to beat Brock and I think he has the striking and wrestling to counter Brock. Cain's advantage will be more visible in later rounds. His advantage is the cardio. I think he brings a fast, hard pace and can do it 5 rds. I don't think Brock can go 5 rds at the rate Cain brings it. Brock's biggest chance is in the first 2-3 rds. Take Cain down and try to do what he did to Mir and Carwin. If he is unsuccessful in the first couple rounds, I think Cain will start to pull away and embarrass Brock in later rounds. Cain can tko him on the ground or knock Brock out standing. Don't think just because Carwin couldn't do it means Cain can't. Brock never ate a clean, solid punch from Carwin. If it goes 5 rounds, I say Cain by UD. If Kongo didn't ko Cain, I don't see Brock doing it. At least not standing. I think Cain can very well ko Brock.

Jake Shields Vs. Martin Kampmann
Kampmann definitely is the underdog here. He has the better striking but Jake doesn't stay on his feet long. He throws to setup the take down. His wrestling and jits are better and I think he will sub or get a UD. Dana has already said Jake deserves a title shot after he beat Dan and he will fight GSP or Kos, who ever wins. Would love to see Jake vs GSP. but if that should happen, I got GSP

Diego Sanchez Vs. Paulo Thiago
Should be a good fight. I like Paulo Thiago in this fight. Both guys are not that great, but both like to scrap so it will be a good fight. I got Paulo by decision. If BJ couldn't ko Diego, I don't see Paulo doing it either. Diego has a good chin

Tito Ortiz Vs. Matt Hamill
This is one that I'm not too excited about. I don't like watching 2 wrestlers fight. But I'm kind of up in the air on this one. Doesn't matter to me who wins.

Brendan Schaub Vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
I think Bendan will surprize everyone. I'd pick him if I had to choose. Gonzaga has not looked good recently so who knows. I just hope it will be a ko victory either way. They both can ko eachother

Court McGee Vs. Ryan Jensen


Patrick Cote Vs. Tom Lawlor


Mike Guymon Vs. Daniel Roberts


Sam Stout Vs. Paul Taylor


Chris Camozzi Vs. Dongi Yang


Jon Madsen Vs. Gilbert Yvel

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Time to see if my prediction of Cain being the one to dethrone Brock will come true.
Lots of good fights on this card though.

the rest should be decent fights.

I WILL BE THERE LIVE!!!!!!!! CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW Got my camera and sharpie ready!

 

[benzjamin13]

I'm a Lesnar fan! Everyone always wants to see him lose because he came from WWE and people just don't want to admit that Professional Wrestlers have the potential to compete with MMA fighters. While there are some guys stepping out of Pro Wrestling and into MMA, I don't think they will be good as Brock. What people don't understand is that Brock is a legitimate wrestler. What makes him different than any other MMA fighter with a wrestling background?

 

[SumoNinja]

Everybody seems to hate Lesnar, or love to hate him, at least. But after he survived Carwin, I find it hard to believe Cain can knock him out. Maybe Velasquez wins a decision, otherwise I think Brock survives. He'll probably beat Dos Santos in his next match after that, too IMO

the only reason i don't like brock is his wwe mentality. he'd earn more of my respect if he humbled himself some. i think he's a great athlete and love how he submitted carwin. he's strong as an ox and a fantastic wrestler but needs to work on his stand up. i actually want him to beat velasquez.

I agree about his WWE antics. But I think he's learned from that. He is getting better at mma and how he acts. He only gets into talking crap if his opponents talk crap like Mir and Herring. If you notice, he was respectful towards Randy and Carwin and is with Cain

i hope Lesner gets his face beat in i dont care who does it but it would be nice to see Fedor or Alistair Overeem rip his head off but the only one i see that will for sure beat him that is in the UFC is Junior Dos Santos but Cain might pull it off

I think stylistically, Cain has a better chance of beating Lesnar. Junior has the stand up to ko Brock but we've never seen him on his back. You can bet Brock will put him there. I don't think Brock will stand with Junior and I think he'll use his wrestling to get a decision or tko on the ground

I hope Lesnar does what he says hes gonna do after beating Cain, and that's to eat a taco and drink a corona in rememberance of his mexican heritage. I hate how Valasquez can have brown pride tattooed across his chest. If any white man had white pride tattooed on him it'd be the end of the world. All good fights and I hope Hamill takes out Ortiz and smakes his butt

dude, seriously, why would you hate Cain for the tat? if you are mad people wouldn't accept a "white pride" tat, what does that have to do with Cain? it's not his fault is it? I agree about the double standard, but what does that have to do with Cain?

fedor is garabage. he'd get rocked by lesnar. to big to fast to good of a wrestler bottom line carwin proved shots dont mean anything when ur punching a huge rock on shoulders. I dont believe cain wilp beat lesnar .2nd round Lesnar KO cain. Read somewhere that lesnar will be the first title holder in UFC history to sucessfully defend a championship belt in 3 consecutive fights. So for any1 to say lesnar is terrible obviously you have no idea what MMA is made of. Constant upgrade of talent and evolution of skills is why lesnar keeps winnng. He may go down as one of the best heavywieghts of all time

I don't think Fedor would be an underdog against any hw in the UFC. Sure, they have a chance to beat him. He's slowed down a lot since the Pride days but he can still beat any man alive. I'd root for him and I think he can beat any hw in the UFC. Dana claimed the UFC hw's would beat him. Of course that was before the Arlovski and Sylvia fight. But of course he will still claim that. And Werdum on any given day can sub anybody. He caught Fedor, good for him, but he will still be an underdog to me if they rematched

You read wrong if you think Brock will be the first title holder in UFC history to successfully defend the title 3 times in a row. Unless you meant in the hw division then I'm not sure. but I think Anderson Silva has the most consecutive title defenses.

 

[AreoN]

lesnar is a cocky bastard but i think he will beat velasquez. anyhow, nice match ups! can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[DREAM-faw]

fedor is garabage. he'd get rocked by lesnar. to big to fast to good of a wrestler bottom line carwin proved shots dont mean anything when ur punching a huge rock on shoulders. I dont believe cain wilp beat lesnar .2nd round Lesnar KO cain. Read somewhere that lesnar will be the first title holder in UFC history to sucessfully defend a championship belt in 3 consecutive fights. So for any1 to say lesnar is terrible obviously you have no idea what MMA is made of. Constant upgrade of talent and evolution of skills is why lesnar keeps winnng. He may go down as one of the best heavywieghts of all time

fail...

 

[krichardson]

The UFC Primetime specials really did a good job of hyping this match up,not that it really needed the shows but I think this will be the first UFC PPV that I purchase.I don't like his chances against Velasquez but I'm hoping for a Brock win.

 

[Clay]

I think JDS gets the winner of this fight right away. He won't be in for the Carwin/Nelson winner because he already pounded Nelson. I guess they could wait, and hope Carwin wins, but I think they could give him the shot right away.

As for my thoughts on the Brock/Cain fight, see my earlier post.

Yes, JDS gets the winner. I was saying that I would have preferred to see JDS/Cain right after Lesnar/Carwin (or even right before) in order to line them up for a title shot.

Come on, Denis Stojnic was what made you think he Cain was ready for hw title shot? I watched that fight originally and it was forgettable then. They recently reaired it (this week or last) and I thought Cain looked average against a very slow and overweight Stojnic. At the time they fought, Denis was 5-1 and looked AWFUL. He had an inner tube hanging over his shorts and tits that drooped to his belly button. I think Cain is legit, but it isn't from seeing that win.

Respectfully disagreeing with the prediction too. Not because I'm a Lesnar fan, but because I just don't think Cain is the man to beat him.

 

[SkidMark]

i've always been a fedor fan but cro-cop's 3-3 record in ufc somewhat proves that pride fighters aren't the all out best fighters i used to think they were. cro-cop was one of my pride hero's for a long time and i thought he would tear up the ufc. fedor could have run into the same thing if he didn't take the easy way out. still a fan but not as much as before.