UFC-108

Tonight, the remaining healthy and uninjured fighters in UFC go head to head in UFC 108: Evans vs Silva. The ridiculous number of injuries and fighters being forced to withdraw left this fight card a little hollow, but as we saw in UFC 107, replacement fighters can put on one heck of a show. Here’s hoping the first UFC event of 2010 is just as riveting.

Indeed, in a span of 2-3 months, there have been many injuries among UFC fighters. The fact that they were all at one point scheduled to fight in UFC 108 is a pretty big coincidence, as evidenced by this list:

We wish a speedy recovery to all these fighters. Meanwhile, the official fight card for UFC 108 looks like this:

  • Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva
  • Paul Daley vs. Dustin Hazelett
  • Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout
  • Duane Ludwig vs. Jim Miller
  • Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

  • Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann
  • Dan Lauzon vs. Cole Miller

PRELIMINARY CARD (Un-aired)

  • Ryan Jensen vs. Mark Munoz
  • Jake Ellenberger vs. Mike Pyle
  • Rafaello Oliveira vs. John Gunderson

Most people who know me know I love MMA. That would be quite the understatement, actually. Only thing I love almost as much as MMA is meeting other MMA fans and bloggers so I can gush about upcoming fights and stuff. I was recently introduced to a fellow blogger, Jameson, who writes at http://fightwrite.tumblr.com.  Jameson and I are both passionate and have a lot to say about a lot of things, so we thought it might be cool to go head to head and debate over a few fights happening tonight. Unfortunately, the result wasn’t as rowdy and the debate not as heated as I would have hoped, so I am only posting 3 of our predictions for the night. Enjoy and make sure you check out Fight Write!

Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva

Jameson: I hated Rashad at first, loved his fight with Griffin and he proved he’s a great coach, humble personality, and likeable guy on (the worst season of) The Ultimate Fighter with Rampage messing up their fight, only to come back and say he’ll do it after the movie, means Rashad winning gives him some more steam rolling into their fight. Winner of that probably gets the winner of Rua/Machida II. Silva is a great striker and solid jiu-jitsu, but I think Rashad gets a decision.

Julie: I think Rashad is quick and elusive enough not to get knocked out by Silva, and Silva is tough and smart enough not to go to the ground with Silva. I think I have to go with Rashad via decision too here.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel

Jameson: I think Yvel doesn’t belong. Now can he hit? HELL yes. Does he hit referees? HELL yes. Does he have any semblance of a ground game? Hell NO. I say Dos Santos, round 1, TKO.

Julie: Dos Santos is the superior strategist in this fight. Yvel’s fighting and conditioning are outdated. I say JDS by TKO in round 2. Yvel is gritty enough to withstand JDS in the 1st round and JDS is smart enough to pace himself.

Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann

Jameson: Kampmann is the favorite,  but I’ll bet a decision upset on Volkmann. Kampmann is a striker, but he’s lost to Daley & Marquardt trying to trade. Volkmann took Thiago the distance.  He is not gonna try and trade with Kampmann; he’s a wrestler with a ground game. If he takes this fight to the ground, he can pull it off.

Julie: I think Kampmann is the well-rounded fighter and if it goes to decision, Kampmann would win. Volkmann can’t rely on the judges. I have Kampmann by TKO in round 3.

If the debate had been heated and we had clashed on our predictions, a bet would have been in order, but we will simply high-five if we are right with our almost-identical picks and be back at UFC 109 with more UFC goodness.

What do YOU think? And who are you most excited to see fight in 2010?