CHAPTER 148: UFC 79 - Thoughts & Predictions

" I want to fu-k, ..I want to fight with Chuck here. Fight Chuck. "
- Wanderlei Silva

There’s three fights that I’m looking forward to see from this event:

1. Machida - Sokoudjou
2. Chuck Lidell – Wanderlei Silva
3. Georges St Pierre – Matt Hughes

Machida – Sokoudjou
The elusive Machida against the fighter that has knock-out victories against Lil Nog and Arona, and Sokoudjou’s making his debut in the UFC. This is an interesting matchup of contrasting styles and technique. In addition, Machida is working his way up the LHW division, and Sokoudjou is hyped as an exciting newcomer under Team Quest. As to who will win, I can’t really say much as I don’t know much on either of them. But if looking at instinct or intuition, I’m looking at a Machida victory. So far, Dan Henderson and Ryo Chonan have lost their debut match in the UFC ever since Pride was bought by the UFC, and I have a feeling that the same outcome could be with Sokoudjou.

Predicted victor: Lyoto Machida.

Chuck Liddell – Wanderlei Silva
The match everybody’s been waiting for, for a long time. Out of all three fights, I think this has the most potential to be the best and most exciting of all. I think we can be sure that this will be a stand-up/striking encounter. If it’s a ground game war then I’ll be damned! As to who will win? Who knows man, this is tough to call. Considering that both are coming off two lost streaks in their career, it further fuels to not only the expectation and pressure on both Silva and Liddell, but it also on how the repercussion of a defeat is going to have on either one if they lose. If however that this fight would end in a draw, then I believe that it’s going to be even more worse for both of ‘em. Going by heart, I’m pulling for a Silva win, but going by head, Liddell’s probably just edging it for a win since he’s more accustomed to the octagon. Sure, out of all the Pride newcomers who fought in the UFC, Silva’s the only one who had prior octagon experience, but that was a long time ago (before he became the Pride superstar that he was). Furthermore, Silva last fought way back in February, and Liddell had the more recent fight, besides adding that Liddell got knocked out and lost his title to Rampage and then had a lackluster performance against Jardine, whereas Silva got his head knocked out by CroCop, and then getting knocked out and lost his title to Dan Henderson.

Predicted victor: I’m going by heart here, so: Wanderlei Silva.

Georges St Pierre – Matt Hughes
I’m a St Pierre fan, so I’ll be rooting for him in this fight. If there’s anything to go by, St Pierre showed in his fight against Kosheck that there’s no doubt about his abilities and capabilities, to get back that WW belt from Serra, plus he has already soundly beaten Hughes before, so I believe that in this rubber match between these two St Pierre will have the edge. What’s even more impressive is that St Pierre was reportedly believing that this opportunity could occur and he’s been training hard ever since his loss to Serra in the likelihood that an opportunity arises. Well, he’s got the chance now. This is another fight to really look forward to, and like the previous fight preview, I’m sure there’s hell lot of expectation and pressure in this fight for both fighters. The Interim title is on the line, but more important;, the chance for a championship match against Matt Serra. Based on my writing, you can see that I’m pulling for a St Pierre victory. But you can’t ignore the fact this is actually suppose to be a championship match between Serra and Matt Hughes, and I believe that Matt Hughes has the more pressure coming into this fight. If he were to lose, then it’s going to be difficult for him to gain back a championship opportunity. So I can’t distress the fact that Matt Hughes will have to make 100 percent sure that he has to win this fight (not withstanding that all the bickering between him and Serra on TUF he’ll definitely wants that fight against the WW champ). So by head, I’ll pick Matt Hughes (but just by a little margin), but heart……..St Pierre all the way.

Predicted victor: Georges St Pierre.