UFC 132 ESPN 2am
Main card
Dennis Siver v Matt Wiman
This should be a good fight, I'm becoming a fan of Dennis Siver (18-7), he's a no nonsense kind of fighter with very good standup & can hold his own on the ground. After a slow start in the UFC he's now won 7 of his last 8 with a loss to Ross Pearson & is coming off a big win against George Sotiropoulos in Australia & in those 8 fights has 2 KO of the night, one fight of the night & one submission of the night award.
Since getting to the quarterfinal of series 5 of TUF in 2007 Matt Wiman (13-5) has won 7 of his 9 fights & has 3 consecutive fight of the night awards, he's also coming off a big win over the dangerous Cole Miller.
Wiman has an even finish record but all but one of his 4 losses are by decision & Siver is pretty equal except his 9 sub wins & 4 of his 7 losses are by sub so this will either go the distance of end on the ground. -
Siver Decision
Carlos Condit v Dong Hyun Kim
Former WEC Welterweight champ Carlos Condit (26-5) is I'm sure a very good fighter but I can only remember his last fight which was a 33sec KO of Dan Hardy so there's not much I can say from my own opinion. He's only lost 1 of his last 12 & that was his UFC debut against UFC test fighter Martin Kampmann (I do remember this being a close fight), fighting out of the Greg Jackson camp with 12 KO's & 13 subs is a pretty impressive record in anyones book.
Condit's impressive record is about to face a stern test against unbeaten Kim Dong-hyun (14-0, 1 draw, 1 no contest). It's no surprise that a fighter like Carlos Condit is Dong-hyun's next opponent, he's already had to pull out of fights against Dan Hardy, Chris Lytle & John Hathaway due to training injuries. Just like Condit Kim Dong-hyun has all the tools to be a top fighter if not champion in the UFC & it's no surprise he's just signed a new 4 fight extention given the exposure he gives the UFC in the Asian market (One of his prelim fights was shown 3 times before the main event in Korea) 3 consecutive decision wins says he's got over his early problems of suffering from jet lag.
This is one of 3 fights on this card that I expect to be battling for fight of the night bonuses & is a very hard fight to call, Condit has only gone the distance 3 times & 2 of those were in the UFC 1-1 & the other was in another organization against Jake Shields, Dong-hyun has 6 ko's & 7 decision's from 14 win's I can see this one being a fitness test for both. -
Dong-hyun Decision (I wanna say sub)
Tito Ortiz v Ryan Bader
I really don't understand this fight, 1 loss albeit against Jon Jones & TUF sreies 8 winner Ryan Bader (12-1) is forced to give one of the UFC pioneers a testimonial when he should be getting another top opponent so he can take the next step in his career, I think he should've been put in against fighters like Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Rampage or Rich Franklin or be put in with another one of the up & comers like Kyle Kingsbury or Phil Davis, I know some of these fighters have opponents but back when Bader was looking for another fight I'm sure one of these would've been available, I don't see what this fight does for his career other than have the name Tito Ortiz on it.
Tito Ortiz (15-8) as I say is one of the UFC pioneer fighters & probably the original love hate character but since he beat Ken Shamrock who was 42 at the time (2006) he has lost to Chuck Liddell (TKO) drawn with Rashad Evans & lost decisions to Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin & Matt Hamill all top fighters yet after suffering the first loss of his career Ryan Bader has to put up with being another top fighter on the retirement list of Tito, why??? -
Bader TKO
Wanderlei Silva v Chris Leben
This is another fight of the night contender, but the recent record of Wanderlei Silva (33-10) says the outcome may not be in his favour as his return to the UFC reads 2-3 & his last 7 going back to 2006 is 2-5 albeit all his opponents have been top fighters but this may be his last chance in the UFC after he was scheduled to fight Brian Stann at UFC 130 but refused so he's now up against Leben.
Chris Leben has been on somewhat of a roller coaster both personally & professionally over the past few years having problems with drink & a few arrests but he's also taken to coaching, something which has given him a new focus but his fights have still been hit & miss resulting in 3-3 in his last 6. Since fighting twice in two weeks in June/July 2010 & beating Yoshihiro Akiyama (Silva pulled out after breakning 3 ribs) his stock has been high & ironically his last fight was a TKO loss to Brian Stann at UFC 125.
This is an interesting fight as both need to win & both will come out swinging. If Silva loses I think he'll be cut or at least be given one more fight considering this is his first fight back after beating Michael Bisping in February 2010 & having knee surgery in July 2010 & if Leben wins it puts him back in with a chance of having another crack at some top fighters.
36 KO's in 58 fights between them says this isn't going the distance -
Leben TKO
Dominick Cruz v Urijah Faber
Again I'm gonna be honest & say having not seen many WEC fights I haven't yet seen Dominick Cruz (17-1) fight, but with only one loss in his 6 year career ironically in a title fight against Faber I'm very much looking forward to seeing him for the first time.
Urijah Faber (25-4) is a fighter I've heard a lot about & seen on one or two occasions, he's been hot & cold since losing his WEC Featherweight title 4-3 in his last 7 which include 2 title fight defeats.
I've seen him against Raphael Assuncao & Jose Aldo (Demolished) & his UFC debut which wasn't great but 13 of his submissions have come via a choke including his defeat of Cruz who has 10 decision's from his 17 wins.
This may be somewhat of a chess match. -
Faber submission Errr decision
Preliminary card
George Sotiropoulos v Rafael dos Anjos
I know it's a packed card & fights need to be had but putting George Sotiropolus (14-3) on the Prelims after he suffered his first UFC lost having been 1 or 2 fights away from a title challenge is a bit of a slap in the face albeit they are televised prelims (In the US). Rafael dos Anjos (14-5) has been hit & miss in the UFC 3-3 albeit against decent fighters but this is a big test for him.
Sotiropolus Decision
Melvin Guillard v Shane Roller
Melvin Guillard (27-8) is a fighter who always seems to be on the edge of everything, all his fights seem to be on Fight Night shows or on Prelims but after an up & down career he's now on a 4 fight win streak since moving to the Greg Jackson camp last year & he'll be looking to keep that going & maybe get a move up in opponents & cards tonight.
Shane Roller (10-3) got his UFC career off to a bang when he scored a nasty KO win in his debut but will have a big test against Guillard who has improved his takedown defence since being coached by Jackson so wrestler Roller may find this on a little tough. -
Guillard TKO
Thiago Tavares v Shane Roller, FF to 6m 25sec
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhd46u_...ller_sport
Anthony Njokuani v Andre Winner Live on Facebook.
Andre Winner (12-5) is back in action & seriously needs a win or it may well be his last fight in the UFC for now at least, he's 2-4 & 1 draw in his last 7, 2-3 in the UFC so needs to win this fight & may even need to win big. Anthony Njokuani (13-5) is almost in the same boat albeit he's only just arrived in the UFC losing his debut but he's lost 3 of his last 4, I've never seen him fight but he's got 3 consecutive KO of the night awards in the WEC & fight of the night in his UFC debut loss.
Njokuani Decision
This looks like a very good card!!!