RealGM

* Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum
* Champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs. Jan Finney (for women's middleweight title)
* Cung Le vs. Scott Smith
* Pat Healy vs. Josh Thomson

Cyborg is -2500 to win. I've never seen odds that crazy.

Healy is apparently an OK opponent. I can't remember any previous SF opponents for Thomson other than Melendez, so I'm moderately stoked for this.

The other two are cool fights. Le wins, Fedor wins.

Healy has beaten some quality opponents. (Condit, Daley, Hardy) Still have to go with Thompson on this one.

Fedor
Smith
Cyborg
Thompson

Not a very exciting card at all.

Deelow_23 wrote:Healy has beaten some quality opponents. (Condit, Daley, Hardy) Still have to go with Thompson on this one.

Fedor
Smith
Cyborg
Thompson

Not a very exciting card at all.

really!? sheeeeeeeeet

is this card this saturday ?

Yes it is. This card has quietly snuck up on a lot of people, including me.

Fedor
Cyborg
Smith
Thomson

I'm re-considering how easily Fedor wins this. I just re-watched the Cro Cop fight, and Fedor's top game is pretty weak - he can't do anything outside of guard. He passed CC's guard a couple times - into N/S and mount - and lost them immediately. A well-trained Werdum, if he can hang on the feet with Fedor, has a serious chance to at least take the fight to decision. He's not going to get pounded-out on the ground and it would be real dangerous for Fedor to stay in his guard.

Also, Fedor was an inch and a half from getting KTFOd by Mirko. Mirko clipped him with a couple punches and had Fedor moving backwards when he threw a LHK too high and over Fedor's head. He grazed him. If it had been any lower, Fedor was not expecting it and his guard was weak - he would have been KOd.

cowboyronnie wrote:Also, Fedor was an inch and a half from getting KTFOd by Mirko. Mirko clipped him with a couple punches and had Fedor moving backwards when he threw a LHK too high and over Fedor's head. He grazed him. If it had been any lower, Fedor was not expecting it and his guard was weak - he would have been KOd.

I remember the exact kick. How different would the MMA world be had that kick been just an inch lower?

Truth.

There are a lot of "what ifs" in mma. What if Fujita could actually finish an opponent or what if Randleman broke Fedor's neck? The guy never disappoints when you think he's in trouble.

Does Strikeforce spend any money on advertising? You got the best fighter in MMA history fighting and I haven't seen a single commercial, poster, or anything.

Posey H8er wrote:There are a lot of "what ifs" in mma. What if Fujita could actually finish an opponent or what if Randleman broke Fedor's neck? The guy never disappoints when you think he's in trouble.

I knew dummies would misunderstand.

Those are 'what if someone had been better' hypotheticals. This is not. Fedor had a huge hole in his defense, allowed his opponent to leverage a KO strike to that side, and only escaped because his opponent over-shot. It's different than asking what would have happened if Fujita had been a better fighter. A couple inches of difference in foot position circumstance, and Fedor;s KTFOd.

Lighten up with the insults bud.

You're basically saying the only difference between my comparison and yours is that Cro Cop actually had a realistic chance of winning. Instead of creating distance and striking Fujita let Fedor grapple with him which gave him time to recover. With Cro Cop that was an instance in the fight where Fedor wasn't aware and put himself open for a high leg kick. The only difference with our examples was that Cro Cop was 'unlucky' and Fujita was stupid. The circumstances are basically the same. Both fighters could have finished the fight right there.

What if Fujita's punch hit Fedor directly on the chin and not on his temple like it did? Same difference. It still is a "what if" statement. The point is it didn't happen.

My bad with the insult, bro.

cowboyronnie wrote:I'm re-considering how easily Fedor wins this. I just re-watched the Cro Cop fight, and Fedor's top game is pretty weak - he can't do anything outside of guard. He passed CC's guard a couple times - into N/S and mount - and lost them immediately. A well-trained Werdum, if he can hang on the feet with Fedor, has a serious chance to at least take the fight to decision. He's not going to get pounded-out on the ground and it would be real dangerous for Fedor to stay in his guard.

Also, Fedor was an inch and a half from getting KTFOd by Mirko. Mirko clipped him with a couple punches and had Fedor moving backwards when he threw a LHK too high and over Fedor's head. He grazed him. If it had been any lower, Fedor was not expecting it and his guard was weak - he would have been KOd.

Fedor will be in no danger in Werdums guard because the only move that Werdum could possibly catch him with and win the fight off his back is a triangle which Fedor would just power right out of. Noguiera the best BBJ guy of our time couldn't get close to any submissions and Fedor was in his guard for 2 whole fights. The only way IMO that Werdum can win is a knockout, TKO do to an avalanche of strikes or by decision. Fedors submission defense and quick burst explosiveness make getting him into a submission move almost impossible and on the off chance you do there is now way he's tapping, I can't even imagine it in my head, that guy will never tap. Mark Hunt had him in a few really deep kimuras and he didn't even grimace, he just waited it out, reversed positions and won like he always does.

Those Nog fights were quite a long time ago now I think about it.

Can't wait to see Cung Lee kick the **** out of Scott Smith. He got lucky last time.

Main card:
Fedor Emelianenko (229) vs. Fabricio Werdum (238.5)
Cung Le (184.75) vs. Scott Smith (184.75)
Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (144.5) vs. Jan Finney (143.5)
Pat Healy (155.25) vs. Josh Thomson (155.25)

Preliminary card:
Chris Cope (175) vs. Ron Keslar (173.75)
Bret Bergmark (168.75) vs. Vagner Rocha (171)
Gareth Joseph (185.25) vs. Yancey Medeiros (184.25)
Derrick Burnsed (156.75)* vs. Bobby Stack (154.5)

* two hours to make weight

Going to update my picks,

Fedor over Werdum
Le over Smith ***********After some thought, don't think the " Comeback kid " will beat Le this time.
Cyborg over Finney
Thomson over Healy

Le wins that, I can't imagine otherwise.