Riots UFC 99 Picks -THE COMEBACK
Before we begin ..... i would like to say that UFC 98 was not so hot for me. Iv realized my mistakes and im going to work toward correcting them. Starting with not looking at the pricelines before i make my picks. I see an underdog with a decent shot at winning and i start convincing myself that he will win ... that will not happen this time. I may edit and add the prices later , but for now ... here are the picks.
Ricky Story Vs. John Hathaway
To be honest, i do not know much about either fighter other then what iv looked up online. Im fully convinced that your only as good as your last 3 years. These guys have only been in MMA for 3 years and they have some crazy records, 7-1 and 10-0 respectivly. Each have fought jobbers with sub .500 records. Hathaway has a purple belt in juijitzu, but is much more dangerous in the ground and pound. Hathaway has alot of TKO's on his resume and Story seems to go the distance quite abit. These are 2 guys who are nto familiar with losing (except when Story went 0-17 as a wrestler his freshman year in college). All in All, the UFC is trying to reach out globally, and get audiences from every country, especially England. I think the matchmakers who know more about these guys then i do are setting up Hathaway for success in an intreset to draw a bigger UK crowd. I like the pick, but i dont love it.
Riots Pick: Hathaway 1st Round TKO
Denis Stojnic Vs. Stefan Struve
First off , loser leaves the UFC match ... i barely knew they were here to begin with. The obvious difference is thats almost 7 foot tall, which wont be a problem for Stojnic who is almost 6 foot tall, because he trains with the almost 7 foot kickboxer/UFC vet Semmy Schilt. I think this fight will find its way to the ground and Struve will keep attempting submissions but Stojnic is a survivor, he will use Struves long limbs against him, keep him pinned and work out a lay and pray.
Riots Pick: Stojnic Unanimous Decision
Paul Kelly Vs. Rolando Delgado
How do you bet against someone who got their blackbelt in BJJ in a week ?? (according to what he told Frank Mir while on TUF when Mir was wondering how in the world he was a BJJ blackbelt). Paul Kelly is one of the best and most underrated british fighters in the UFC. His only loss was that crazy fight against Marcus Davis. Paul Kelly has not been the finisher that he was before the quaility of his opponents got better, so i think we may have a distance fight in which you will say "Wow, we are probably never going to see Delgado on T.V. again" oh yeah ... and Delgado lost to Junie Browning, thats a def no-go.
Riots Pick: Paul Kelly Unanimous Decision
Paul Taylor Vs Peter Sobotta
I think this is a tougher one then people think. Taylor has been the step child of the 170lb division, going 2-3 in the UFC. One loss was almost a TKO win over Marcus Davis, the other a rough decision against Chris Lytle. He is however a seasoned vet. I do not know much about Peter Sobotta , but i did check out his highlight tape, and there were some things i liked, like his killer instinct. He was glue on his opponents when going for takedowns, he had alot of dextarity to wrap his legs around his opponent and looks like he would be very dangerous on the ground, however im not sure what his BJJ level is. Hes striking looked very amaturish. He had some power when he connected, but his form was way off on kicks and punches. Also, he seemed to try and punch alot on the ground instead of moving for better positioning. Taylor should get this, but i wanna see Sobotta go to a better school. He has alot of potential.
Riots Pick: Paul Taylor 2nd Round TKO
Dennis Siver Vs Dale Hartt
I am not to wild about either of these two. Hartt was losing to Corey Hill when "It" happened. He looked suspectable to hills striking, but i think he was able to block most of it because Hills long legs and arms telagraphed it a bit. Siver is ALOT shorter then Hill, i think Hartt will have no answer for his striking. He may have a chance to submit Siver on the ground, but i think Siver will TKO him. Hart has good submissions but his transistions are not that great.
Riots Pick: Dennis Siver 2nd Round TKO
Justin Buchholz Vs Terry Etim
I made a comment earlier that i would like to take back. I think Buchholz has a good camp, and can eventually become a respected fighter, but right now, Etim has more going for him. He easily wins the striking battle. Buchholz didnt do to horribly bad against Hill, but he did leave alot to be desired. I think he has a bit of wrestling in him, he could get a dominate position on top of Etim, but i dont know if he get finish him. Etim is alot better at surviving on the bottom then he is at escaping it, so we will have to wait to see how that plays out. But i think Buchholz comes out fast and exciting, eats a couple counter punches , tries to get the fight to the ground and gets hurt early, and then loses some steam in fear of getting stopped. I think Etim will know that he has the fight won and if he does not have it stopped after the 2nd, he will coast to victory over the less formidable opponent.
Riots Pick: Etim Via Unanimous Decision
That Does it for the undercard. I have to go now, i will type up my Main Card tomorrow and i can not wait to dig into it. For now, feel free to critizize my picks and let me know what ya think. I think we should start keeping track of who the majority of us pick and see if their is any value when we put our heads together !
To be honest, i do not know much about either fighter other then what iv looked up online. Im fully convinced that your only as good as your last 3 years. These guys have only been in MMA for 3 years and they have some crazy records, 7-1 and 10-0 respectivly. Each have fought jobbers with sub .500 records. Hathaway has a purple belt in juijitzu, but is much more dangerous in the ground and pound. Hathaway has alot of TKO's on his resume and Story seems to go the distance quite abit. These are 2 guys who are nto familiar with losing (except when Story went 0-17 as a wrestler his freshman year in college). All in All, the UFC is trying to reach out globally, and get audiences from every country, especially England. I think the matchmakers who know more about these guys then i do are setting up Hathaway for success in an intreset to draw a bigger UK crowd. I like the pick, but i dont love it.
Riots Pick: Hathaway 1st Round TKO
Denis Stojnic Vs. Stefan Struve
First off , loser leaves the UFC match ... i barely knew they were here to begin with. The obvious difference is thats almost 7 foot tall, which wont be a problem for Stojnic who is almost 6 foot tall, because he trains with the almost 7 foot kickboxer/UFC vet Semmy Schilt. I think this fight will find its way to the ground and Struve will keep attempting submissions but Stojnic is a survivor, he will use Struves long limbs against him, keep him pinned and work out a lay and pray.
Riots Pick: Stojnic Unanimous Decision
Paul Kelly Vs. Rolando Delgado
How do you bet against someone who got their blackbelt in BJJ in a week ?? (according to what he told Frank Mir while on TUF when Mir was wondering how in the world he was a BJJ blackbelt). Paul Kelly is one of the best and most underrated british fighters in the UFC. His only loss was that crazy fight against Marcus Davis. Paul Kelly has not been the finisher that he was before the quaility of his opponents got better, so i think we may have a distance fight in which you will say "Wow, we are probably never going to see Delgado on T.V. again" oh yeah ... and Delgado lost to Junie Browning, thats a def no-go.
Riots Pick: Paul Kelly Unanimous Decision
Paul Taylor Vs Peter Sobotta
I think this is a tougher one then people think. Taylor has been the step child of the 170lb division, going 2-3 in the UFC. One loss was almost a TKO win over Marcus Davis, the other a rough decision against Chris Lytle. He is however a seasoned vet. I do not know much about Peter Sobotta , but i did check out his highlight tape, and there were some things i liked, like his killer instinct. He was glue on his opponents when going for takedowns, he had alot of dextarity to wrap his legs around his opponent and looks like he would be very dangerous on the ground, however im not sure what his BJJ level is. Hes striking looked very amaturish. He had some power when he connected, but his form was way off on kicks and punches. Also, he seemed to try and punch alot on the ground instead of moving for better positioning. Taylor should get this, but i wanna see Sobotta go to a better school. He has alot of potential.
Riots Pick: Paul Taylor 2nd Round TKO
Dennis Siver Vs Dale Hartt
I am not to wild about either of these two. Hartt was losing to Corey Hill when "It" happened. He looked suspectable to hills striking, but i think he was able to block most of it because Hills long legs and arms telagraphed it a bit. Siver is ALOT shorter then Hill, i think Hartt will have no answer for his striking. He may have a chance to submit Siver on the ground, but i think Siver will TKO him. Hart has good submissions but his transistions are not that great.
Riots Pick: Dennis Siver 2nd Round TKO
Justin Buchholz Vs Terry Etim
I made a comment earlier that i would like to take back. I think Buchholz has a good camp, and can eventually become a respected fighter, but right now, Etim has more going for him. He easily wins the striking battle. Buchholz didnt do to horribly bad against Hill, but he did leave alot to be desired. I think he has a bit of wrestling in him, he could get a dominate position on top of Etim, but i dont know if he get finish him. Etim is alot better at surviving on the bottom then he is at escaping it, so we will have to wait to see how that plays out. But i think Buchholz comes out fast and exciting, eats a couple counter punches , tries to get the fight to the ground and gets hurt early, and then loses some steam in fear of getting stopped. I think Etim will know that he has the fight won and if he does not have it stopped after the 2nd, he will coast to victory over the less formidable opponent.
Riots Pick: Etim Via Unanimous Decision
That Does it for the undercard. I have to go now, i will type up my Main Card tomorrow and i can not wait to dig into it. For now, feel free to critizize my picks and let me know what ya think. I think we should start keeping track of who the majority of us pick and see if their is any value when we put our heads together !
