Behind The Box Score

Personally, I don’t know a whole lot about UFC, although I am learning for sure. At first, I was digusted by MMA, and the thought of it. Something about it that I didn’t really like. But lately, as in the last two or three months, I’ve watched a lot more UFC, and played the UFC Undisputed 2009 for 360 (a video game which I would rank in my top 10 all-time video games I’ve played). But for now, I’ll turn it over to one of my good friends in Josh Duggan, that happens to be a huge UFC fan, the biggest fan of UFC that i know. This is going to be a brief preview of the Silva-Griffin fight, the review will for sure be much longer than this.

Light Heavyweight fight:  Anderson Silva (24-4) vs. Forrest Griffin (16-5)

Alright I want to start off by pointing out that as usual this is quite the fight card. About a year or so ago, Silva was the best pound for pound fighter. However, Silva is going up a weight class for this fight so Griffin Is not only physically but mentally more secure.Personally I am all for Forrest Griffin. He is bigger, stronger and more equipped. Anderson Silva along with Griffin both are well rounded. I believe in all honesty that if the fight remains standing up, (which it won’t) Silva has the advantage but if on the ground, Silva will be out powered.

The other matches include: (special props to sherdog.com for the following information)

Lightweight Championship: B.J. Penn (13-5-1) vs. Kenny Florian (11-3)

What Sherdog says: Florian is undoubtedly the top contender to Penn’s crown, but the more I think about it, the more I believe he has no real chance against Penn. There is not a grappler in the division who can beat Penn on the mat, and Penn’s striking has been a revelation of late. This will not be as terribly one-sided as Penn’s previous lightweight scraps, thanks to Florian’s cerebral style, but that will only prolong a foregone conclusion. Penn delivers another vintage performance by putting Florian away with his trademark rear-naked choke late in the third round.

Welterweight fight: Amir Sadollah (1-0) vs. Johny Hendricks (5-0)

Sherdog’s opinion: Just a year ago, Team Takedown was heralded as a revolutionary force in MMA, but, after some high-profile miscues from its premier fighters, Hendricks is basically the last man standing in his once powerful crew. That will not last much longer, as Sadollah’s year on the shelf has only given him more time to work on his game with the top-tier trainers at Xtreme Couture and acclimate to the cut down to welterweight. Neither of those factors bode well for Hendricks, who will end up on the wrong end in this one. Sadollah will eventually put his prey away with an armbar late in the second round.

Middleweight fight: Ricardo Almeida (10-3) vs. Kendall Grove (10-5)

Sherdog’s opinion: Once upon a time, Almeida walked away from MMA as the world’s premier middleweight. Five years later, he’s no longer the jiu-jitsu boogeyman he once was and his standing in the division has taken a hit. He won’t find any relief against Grove, who will work a disciplined clinch-centric game plan en route to a mostly one-sided decision win that will leave Almeida’s ledger with a fresh loss and his face with the evidence to prove it.

Lightweight fight: Josh Neer (25-7-1) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (13-4)

Sherdog’s opinion: Though this fight has the potential to turn great, it will not take long to realize Pellegrino is fighting a losing battle. Neer has the edge on the feet with his reach and power, and his ground game is vastly underrated in comparison to Pellegrino. He will have to get past Neer’s thunder and find a way to take down his oversized quarry before he can get anything done. Pellegrino will not last long enough to reach that point, as Neer survives a back-and-forth first round before starching “Batman” midway through the second.