Saturday, December 30, 2006

Daily Musings

UFC 66 today. I'm really really looking towards the main event (Liddell/Ortiz 2). Ultimately, the fight boils down to whether Tito is afraid of Chuck's power.

This kind of reminds me of Jones/Tarver 3 (boxing). I thought RJJ was afraid of eating another KO punch from Tarver and it showed by RJJ's tentativeness. For the 2 rounds that RJJ actually tried, he dominated. Otherwise, for the rest of the fight, Tarver controlled the match and he ended up hurting RJJ in round 11.

Back to UFC 66, the game plan for beating Chuck is well known (couture/liddell 1, rampage/liddell). Press the action. Beat Chuck to the punch. Don't chase. Be willing to eat a punch or two. Don't take long range shots. This all depends on closing the distance which means Tito can't be afraid. If Tito only shoots for takedowns from long range, he's gonna get stuffed bad. Before he got poked in the eye, Tito was able to hang with Chuck in the stand up during the first fight. And I think Tito has improved his stand up since then.

Tito mentions that he sees a lot of holes in Chuck's game. According to Randy Couture and Karo Pariysan, one theoretical hole might be when Chuck forces himself up after a takedown (and thus exposing his back). In theory, Tito could take Chuck's back and get a hook in and then try to finish it with a RNC or unleash some devastating GNP. Tito could also try to land some knees to the body during the force-up ala Rampage. Then, the accumulation of body blows will wear Chuck out for the later rounds. Only if Tito uses his vaunted cardio to press the action.

The longer it goes, the better chance Tito comes out on top. But I wouldn't be surprised to see Chuck land another one of those rocket haymakers.

Tito TKO Rd4/5


I hope Josh Barnett wins his rematch with Nogueira in Pride Shockwave 2006. My biggest concern is Josh fading in the third round (if it lasts that long). Nogueira hasn't fought since Sept and has only fought 3 times this year (Zulu/Werdum/Barnett). In contrast, Josh fought on the October card in vegas and has fought 6 times this year (Aleks/Hunt/Nogueira/Crocop/Nastula). Oh yeah, Nogueira passing Josh's guard with ease could be troublesome. Personally, I think Josh should stand with Nogueira, but that ain't going to happen

Josh Submission rd 2.

posted by Edward @ 1:39 AM