On Ringside Report Radio’s Friday night episode, Dave Simon, Kevin McKough and I give our picks & predictions for UFC 115. We were also joined by strength and conditioning coach Jonathan Chaimberg. Here’s the write-up on www.ringsidereport.net:

June 11, 2010 episode of Ringside Report Radio hosted by Dave Simon and Kevin “Big Tuna” McKough and featuring weekly contributor, Julie V.

Strength-and-conditioning coach to some of the best in MMA, Jonathan Chaimberg, appeared on this program and talked about Rashad Evans’ win over Rampage, GSP starting the filming of TUF 12 and more.

Dave, Kevin and Julie gave a full preview and their predictions for UFC 115 including David Loiseau’s return to the octagon and the main event bout between Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin.

All this and much more MMA on this episode of Ringside Report Radio.

Click here to listen to the episode!

My picks and results for UFC 115

Chuck Liddell vs Rich Franklin

Prediction: Franklin over Liddel

Result: Rich Franklin def. Chuck Liddell via KO (punch)

Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic vs Patrick Barry

Prediction: Pat Barry over Cro cop

Result: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic def. Patrick Barry via submission (rear-naked choke)

Paulo Thiago vs Martin Kampmann

Prediction: Thiago over Kampmann

Result: Martin Kampmann def. Paulo Thiago via unanimous decision

Ben Rothwell vs Gilbert Yvel

Prediction: Yvel over Rothwell

Result: Ben Rothwell def. Gilbert Yvel via unanimous decision

Carlos Condit vs Rory MacDonald

Prediction: Condit over Rory Mac

Result: Carlos Condit def. Rory MacDonald via TKO

Mac Danzig vs Matt Wiman

Prediction: Wiman over Danzig

Result: Matt Wiman def. Mac Danzig via submission (guillotine choke)

Tyson Griffin vs Evan Dunham

Prediction: Dunham over Griffin

Result: Evan Dunham def. Tyson Griffin via split decision

David Loiseau vs Mario Miranda

Prediction: Miranda over Loiseau, grudgingly.

Result: Mario Miranda def. David Loiseau via TKO (strikes), sadly.

James Wilks vs Peter Sobotta

Prediction: Wilks over Sobotta

Result: James Wilks def. Peter Sobotta via unanimous decision

Richardo Funch vs Claude Patrick

Prediction: Patrick over Funch

Result: Claude Patrick def. Ricardo Funch via submission (guillotine choke)

Jesse Lennox vs Mike Pyle

Prediction: Pyle over Lennox

Result: Mike Pyle def. Jesse Lennox via technical submission (triangle choke)

WEC 48 on PPV thank GOD

WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) is the sister promotion to UFC and focuses on lighter weightclasses:

• Bantamweight (135 lbs)
• Featherweight (145 lbs)
• Lightweight (155 lbs)

The organization is making the jump to Pay-Per-View thank GOD. For the love of MMA, I am thrilled about this decision. I don’t know if $50 is reasonable but it’s a step in the right direction. The card IS stacked though, and I’m excited at the idea of watching an MMA event that won’t unravel worse than the Montreal Canadiens have a history of doing. (UFC 112 with Anderson Silva’s antics, the brawl at the end of the already-lackluster Strikeforce: Nashville event, etc)

Dave, Kevin and I made our picks and predictions on Ringside Report Radio on Friday night. You’ll find my picks below, but you can also listen to the show for our roundtable discussion on the event. As seen on Ringside Report:

Jake Shields was interviewed and discussed his win over Dan Henderson for Strikeforce, the brawl after the fight, going to the UFC and more.

Dave and Kevin talked about David Loiseau returning to the UFC and were joined by weekly contributor Julie V for a preview of WEC 48: Aldo v. Faber. All this and much more MMA on this episode of Ringside Report Radio.

Listen to the full episode here.

My WEC 48 Predictions

Scott Jorgensen over Antonio Banuelos

Anthony Njokuani over Shane Roller

Mike Brown vs Manvel Gamburyan

Ben Henderson over Donald Cerrone

Jose Aldo over Urijah Faber

BJ Penn vs Frankie Edgar

Watching the fights again, right off the bat in the first round, what I can see is Edgar moves really fast, moves A LOT, is dynamic and wants it. What is also obvious is Penn controls the pace and connects with the better strikes at least in the early rounds. As I judge the fight for myself, I cannot help but get a sense of déjà vu. In my entry posted on October 27, 2009 titled UFC 104 – The One With The Immediate Rematch featuring the controversial championship fight between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, I gave my own breakdown of the fight and how I scored it:

Upon watching the fight again more sober attentive, this is how I would score the fight, with my non-existent knowledge of MMA scoring and complete lack of experience judging fights professionally:

the metricjulie scoring system
Round 1: Machida
Round 2: Rua
Round 3: draw, but let’s say Machida for the sake of my post so it’s more interesting
Round 4: Rua
Round 5: Rua

Now, to score this BJ Penn vs Frankie Edgar fight according my own highly UNscientific scoring system:

the metricjulie scoring system

Round 1: Penn
Round 2: Penn
Round 3: Penn (in a less dominating fashion than the two previous rounds, but still.)
Round 4: draw, but let’s say Edgar for the sake of argument
Round 5: Edgar

Result: 48-47 in favor of BJ Penn but really pushing it so that my point comes across.

Pushing it, I could give rounds 4 & 5 to Edgar. Even if I really wanted to favor Edgar in this fight and give him round 3, that still doesn’t explain how the judges could have scored the fight as follows:

50-45, 49-46 and 48-47, all in favor of Edgar.

… with all due respect, which isn’t that much, WHAT ON EARTH WERE THEY THINKING and WERE WE WATCHING THE SAME FIGHT? Did Edgar get points for moving quickly and looking like he wanted it more? Did he get a million bonus points for sorta taking Penn down when none of his opponents had managed to do so in the last 55 years? I guess you could say Penn was fighting not to lose his title. This is stretching the limits of what my inner rational fan is willing to endorse from the crazy and/or casual fan, which constitutes 92% of any fanbase.

Perhaps the 10-point must system isn’t suited for MMA; if you want to read the “world’s first comprehensive mixed martial arts statistics and analysis system”, go to FIGHTMETRIC.com and read their breakdown of the Penn-Edgar fight. Their system also has Penn winning in dominant fashion.

So I guess my biggest question is this: If Machida won his fight against Shogun, how does BJ Penn lose his title against Frankie Edgar?

Anderson Silva vs DemianMaia

As I write this, I am afflicted with the world’s most gigantic headache caused by my eyes being stuck in the back of my head from too much EYE ROLLING. I won’t reinvent the wheel here with my comments on whatever the hell happened, but I will say this:

1. I am a fan of Anderson Silva’s mind games, as evidenced by this tweet of mine in the early stages of the fight:

I have weird sexual fantasies. I never act on them though.

2. … but after the first two rounds, ENOUGH ALREADY, frig.

I read some pretty intense comments, ranging from people wanting their money back to others being utterly embarrassed by Anderson Silva’s existence. Not just in the sport. His existence, period. To those people, I would like to suggest getting dolled up, going out to your favorite bar, having a few drinks, and then perhaps hooking up in the bathroom with the first random person with whom you make eye contact. You all need to get laid. Honestly, if Silva felt he had some sort of mental toughness & advantage over Maia, which he did, why wouldn’t he make good use of it? I admit it was a little much, and the line can be hard to see, which is why I came up with the following point system to properly evaluate Silva’s game:

the metricjulie taunting system

Round 1: Silva
Round 2: Silva
Round 3: It was starting to be a little annoying, but let’s say for the sake of my post, we let Silva have this one.
Round 4: It was exasperating. Just fight already. It was more annoying than Fedor’s excuses not to fight ever. Advantage: Maia for having the patience not to bitchslap him (as opposed to landing a, you know, regular strike)
Round 5: I was touching myself, I was so happy Silva got a warning for literally RUNNING AWAY IN CIRCLES AROUND MAIA. Advantage: Maia

Result: I think the mindgames Silva was playing were legit in the early rounds and effectively managed to break Maia a little bit, but it WAS rather disappointing in the second half of the fight. It’s a little shameful to goad someone so much when you’re not actually doing anything. It’s almost as embarrassing as making the playoffs by one point in an overtime loss, but not quite.

I won’t get into the fact that Dana White apologized about Silva’s performance because frankly I could care less and am highly annoyed by all the drama surrounding the UFC that is often caused by its own president. In fact, this whole event was kind of a circus. I’ve been tweeting on and off about it; I can’t get over how weird it was. Sometimes I think I’ve made my peace with it, then another surge of whatthefuck makes its way to the surface, as you can see in the following tweets that were written at various moments over the past 48 hours:

Plus the Habs lost, frig.

CLOWNSHOES.

At least I amuse myself. Wait that sounds wrong --

Also, is it just me or is it sort of silly that Renzo Gracie asked for Matt Hughes to help him upduring their fight? What a weird, weird night of fights. I don’t even know what to say in conclusion.

Here are my video predictions for the main card as well as my quick picks for the entire card.

Georges St-Pierre over Dan Hardy
Frank Mir over Shane Carwin
Jon Fitch over Ben Saunders
Kurt Pellegrino over Fabricio Camoes
Jim Miller over Mark Bocek
Nate Diaz over Rory Markham
Ricardo Almeida over Matt Brown
Jared Hamman over Rodney Wallace
Tomasz Drwal over Rousimar Palhares
Greg Soto over Matthew Riddle

By the way, I will NOT be tweeting during the event. I already think it’s ridiculous how some people need to tweet like it’s life support; I’m sure as hell not going to waste one second of MY night at UFC 111, for which I’ve waiting months to see (and to see GSP fight live, YEARS) tweeting and such. There’s nothing more annoying than being out with someone who is always checking their tweets and replies, and I won’t do that to my GSP. I won’t. I’m sure he wants my undivided attention. I mean, the restraining order might say “GET. AWAY.”, but the eyes say, “Come ‘ere”.

Part 1:

Réjean Tremblay’s article in La Presse regarding Pierre Boivin “finally” defending La Nation Québécoise by ensuring everything related to the Habs is bilingual, and thoughts from Habs blogger bebehabs over at BleuBlancPisRouge.com.

Listen here to part 1!

Part 2:

UFC 109 quick round up and fantasy hockey by the guys at The Hockey Card Show (awesome videos where 2 guys sit around, drink beer and discuss hockey cards – it’s fantastic) – The Hockey Card Show Olympic Pool (you could win a Team Canada jersey! and there’s even a trashtalk tab. I love it.)

Listen here to part 2!

I welcome and encourage comments and questions, so have at it!

You can hear me on Game Points with Matthew Ross Sundays 8 to 10 pm and Tuesdays 11pm to 1am by visiting Team 990’s website to listen online.

As always, I made my predictions for the event (I got 9 out of 10… I really need to consider betting my house & whole life on sports events because my success rate is ridiculously high), and you can listen to the Ringside Report Radio roundtable on UFC 109 from Friday, February 5 here.

Preliminary card

Heavyweight bout: Rolles Gracie vs Joey Beltran

Metricjulie’s prediction: Joey Beltran

Result: Beltran via TKO (punches) round 2

Heavyweight bout: Tim Hague vs Chris Tuchscherer

Metricjulie’s prediction: Chris Tuchscherer

Result: Tuchscherer via decision

Light Heavyweight bout: Brian Stann vs Phil Davis

Metricjulie’s prediction: Phil Davis

Result: Davis via unanimous decision

Lightweight bout: Phillipe Nover vs Rob Emerson

Metricjulie’s prediction: Rob Emerson

Result: Emerson via unanimous decision

Lightweight bout: Melvin Guillard vs Ronny Torres

Metricjulie’s prediction: Melvin Guillard

Result: Guillard via unanimous decision

Lightweight bout: Mac Danzig vs Justin Buchholz

Metricjulie’s prediction: Mac Danzig

Result: Danzig via unanimous decision

Main card

Welterweight bout: Matt Serra vs Frank Trigg

Metricjulie’s prediction: Matt Serra

Result: Serra via KO (punches) round 2

Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs Dan Miller

Metricjulie’s prediction: Demian Maia

Result: Maia via unanimous decision

Welterweight bout: Mike Swick vs Paulo Thiago

Metricjulie’s prediction: Paulo Thiago

Result: Thiago via submission (d’arce choke) round 2

Middleweight bout: Nate Marquardt vs Chael Sonnen

Metricjulie’s prediction: Nate Marquardt

Result: Sonnen via unanimous decision

Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs Mark Coleman

Metricjulie’s prediction: Randy Couture

Result: Couture via submission (rear-naked choke) round 2

Read and listen for Ringside Report Radio's UFC 109 predictions!

As I have mentioned before, I started collaborating with the guys over at Ringside Report as a columnist (you can read my articles here,  including my piece on UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman set to fight Randy The Natural Couture tonight). Last night, they had me on their show, Ringside Report Radio over at Team 990, to give my UFC 109 predictions. It was a lively discussion, everyone had some interesting ideas and we are pretty much in agreement that Nate Marquardt is going to demolish Chael Sonnen.

Listen to the entire show here (our UFC 109 picks roundtable starts a bit before the half-way mark).

If you’re interested in listening to the entire show, read on to find out what was discussed:

In this episode Dave and Kevin discussed WEC going to Pay-Per-View, Brock Lesnar appearing on the cover of UFC Undisputed 2010 and more.

Strength and conditioning coach to Nate Marquardt and many more, Jonathan Chaimberg, appeared on the show from Las Vegas to talk about the fighters he has trained for UFC 109. Chaimberg also confirmed Chael Sonnen’s assertion that Anderson Silva speaks English and much more.

Ringside Report contributors Julie V and Tito Curtis joined Dave and Kevin to give their thoughts on Ringside Report’s UFC 109 Roundtable. Dave and Kevin gave a full preview of the card and all four members of the Ringside Report team gave their predictions.

Let me know what you think of our picks! UFC 109: Relentless airs tonight on PPV at 10pm EST.

Preliminary card

Heavyweight bout: Rolles Gracie vs Joey Beltran

Metricjulie’s prediction: Joey Beltran

Heavyweight bout: Tim Hague vs Chris Tuchscherer

Metricjulie’s prediction: Chris Tuchscherer

Light Heavyweight bout: Brian Stann vs Phil Davis

Metricjulie’s prediction: Phil Davis

Lightweight bout: Phillipe Nover vs Rob Emerson

Metricjulie’s prediction: Rob Emerson

Lightweight bout: Melvin Guillard vs Ronny Torres

Metricjulie’s prediction: Melvin Guillard

Lightweight bout: Mac Danzig vs Justin Buchholz

Metricjulie’s prediction: Mac Danzig

Main card

Welterweight bout: Matt Serra vs Frank Trigg

Metricjulie’s prediction: Matt Serra

Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs Dan Miller

Metricjulie’s prediction: Demian Maia

Welterweight bout: Mike Swick vs Paulo Thiago

Metricjulie’s prediction: Paulo Thiago

Middleweight bout: Nate Marquardt vs Chael Sonnen

Metricjulie’s prediction: Nate Marquardt

Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs Mark Coleman

Metricjulie’s prediction: Randy Couture

Little known fact about me: I love UFC

If anyone, besides my mom, wants to hear me talk MMA for 30 minutes, read on.

I was recently interviewed by Tyler Conium for his weekly interview segment of The Swamp:

This week my guest is Montreal native Julie Veilleux. Julie is a mixed martial arts (MMA) fan as well as an avid follower of the Montreal Canadiens. She is currently blogging, writing, and being heard on the radio on these topics and it was a true pleasure to talk to her. This girl really knows her stuff.

It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I could have gone on for five more hours on the subject. I’m not saying it would have been interesting for anyone else but me; I’m just saying. I could talk about mixed martial arts until I’m blue in the face. Incidentally, that could be a good vlogging idea. Yes/No?

Anyway, here is the link to either stream or download the interview. I hope you have as much fun listening to it as I had doing it. But probably not.

Interview with Julie Veilleux

• Patrick Côté’s return to UFC against Alan Belcher at UFC 113 in Montreal. Patrick was sidelined with a torn ACL and dislocated right knee following his fight against middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 90, and is slated to fight in May at UFC 113 in Montreal.
• Fight set to co-headline UFC 113: Josh Koscheck vs Paul Daley. Let the overstated trashtalking and eye-gouging begin!
• Update on UFC 109 Relentless: people still don’t care. UFC posted a poll on their website for readers to vote on their pick between Randy Couture and Mark Coleman, and a whopping 94% of over 8,000 answers were in favor of The Natural. Doesn’t really matter that these two fighters are hall-of-famers; their last fights were disappointing and unimpressive. Time to retire the gloves already.

• Possible date change for UFC 113. Because of the Mayweather fight that was just scheduled for May 1, 2010, UFC will probably postpone the fights for UFC 113 to May 8, 2010. Always thinking ahead and ever the savvy businessman, UFC president Dana White had apparently booked the Montreal Bell Centre for every Saturday night in the month of May in the event that his PPV event would have to compete with the Mayweather fight.
• Georges St-Pierre considering moving up to middleweight. GSP stated in this video that he could be working to make the move up to middleweight division (171 lbs to 185 lbs). He currently weights 193 lbs – 8 lbs of muscle mass heavier than when he fought Thiago Alves at UFC 100. He states the move would be permanent and would not move up and down between weight classes like BJ Penn or Anderson Silva. He is however hesitant to make the move, as he refuses to fight his friends, many of which are in that weight division (Patrick Côté, David Loiseau, Nate Marquardt). Watch the video:

• Update on Brock Lesnar. The heavyweight champion is expected to appear on ESPN on Wednesday, January 20 to discuss his situation with diverticulitis and his future in UFC.

Thanks for listening, clicking, linking and following me on twitter! I am on Game Points on Sundays from 8 to 10 pm and Tuesdays from 11 pm to 1 am. À la semaine prochaine!

Check it out and thank me later.