UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis (Aug. 31st)

Bernman · Post #1 » by **Bernman** » Wed May 15, 2013 8:04 pm

Fight Card to Date:

Ben Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis
Josh Barnett vs. Frank Mir
Chad Mendes vs. Clay Guida
Dustin Poirier vs. Erik Koch
Ben Rothwell vs. Brandon Vera
Pascal Krauss vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
Chico Camus vs. Kyung Ho Kang
Tim Elliot vs. Louis Gaudinot
Soa Palelei vs. Nikita Krylov

So far it's looking pretty good, and close to what I expected. I think Bendo-Maynard will be the main event. It's the title fight which makes the most sense. They just have to sort out Maynard-Grant later this month first.

Expect locals like Sergio "Phenom" Pettis, Chico "King" Camus, and Pascal "Panser" Krauss to also populate the card.

NZB2323 · Post #2 » by **NZB2323** » Wed May 15, 2013 8:39 pm

What weight is Diego fighting at?

SDM · Post #3 » by **SDM** » Wed May 15, 2013 8:44 pm

Whoa. Vera at HW (unless Ben cut off a leg).

Nemesis21 · Post #4 » by **Nemesis21** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:15 pm

NZB2323 wrote:What weight is Diego fighting at?

I read he wants to fight Nate Diaz at 155 or 170, or Josh Thomson at 155.

SDM · Post #5 » by **SDM** » Thu May 16, 2013 2:36 pm

And Gil Melendez.

Fine with all three of those, to be honest.

REDDzone · Post #6 » by **REDDzone** » Thu May 16, 2013 2:53 pm

After losing to Gomi, seems like all 3 of those may be a tough fight for him. Hell, maybe 170 is the best weight for Diego afterall.

Bernman · Post #7 » by **Bernman** » Thu May 16, 2013 6:57 pm

REDDzone wrote:Hell, maybe 170 is the best weight for Diego afterall.

Na, I don't think you can conclude that off one fight, after a year plus layoff. He could have been rusty, or just is over the hill as a fighter because of all the wars he's been in. I didn't think he looked good against Ellenberger. Obviously Ellenberger is stout, but he needed Jake to gas before doing much of anything against him. You could reasonably argue the only fight he deserved to win at 170 during that last stint was Thiago. He made a run at 155.

REDDzone wrote:After losing to Gomi, seems like all 3 of those may be a tough fight for him.

SDM wrote:And Gil Melendez.

Fine with all three of those, to be honest.

I'm more with RZ. You've got to treat the Gomi fight as a loss for him, and it came against a mid tier. He shouldn't be fighting guys easily in the upper tier after that. I like a guy like Varner who is like low upper tier to high mid tier. And both of them are in a lot of good fights. That would be a strong, logical match for this card.

SDM · Post #8 » by **SDM** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:03 pm

I don't think Diego "deserves" Gil, but I think it's impossible that it won't be an absolute barnburner. I want it as a fan, Diego getting pushed through isn't really anything new. He's like a good version of Leonard Garcia.

Gil is removed from the title scene for the short term and Diego is a name and everyone knows Diego will try to kill him, salivating just thinking about it (I think Diego's biggest positive--- and negative--- is that he fights to the level of his competition, so I'm not concerned with his loss to Gomi/being out of his league here). Diaz I'd be fine with too, but in hindsight, I want Thomson to fight someone closer to the top, but not Melendez again.

REDDzone · Post #9 » by **REDDzone** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:43 pm

The reason I said the weight thing is how Diego looked last time out, both in the fight itself and his body. He didn't have the relentlessness that Diego is known for against Gomi. I think it was a conditioning/weight cut thing. Gomi isn't known for the best takedown defense (in the cage especially) and Diego couldn't do anything against him.

Look at Diego's body in that fight versus his run to a title shot at lw. He looked softer this time around. Maybe he has it figured out again, but in the meantime I'd rather him be at ww IF he can't be as well conditioned at lw. Diego basically hasn't changed since he won tuf 1 lol. If he can't push the pace then he may as well just go back to king of the cage or something. But when he can he is one of the most exciting fighters around. Would have finished Ellenberger if that had been a 5 rounder like it should have been, and Jake is probably number 2 contender at ww right now.

I agree with both of you that Diego/Varner and Diego/Gil would both be ridiculous, assuming the Diego that showed up against Ellenberger/BJ/Thiago, etc. shows up. Insane fights.

SDM · Post #10 » by **SDM** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:48 pm

He yo-yos, of course, but it could have just been a one-off bad cut... he came in at 158 against Gomi and he's never missed weight before.

REDDzone · Post #11 » by **REDDzone** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:50 pm

He was so lean in his first 155 run. You can tell he tried to cut too much and didn't prep well for his second time out. Soft, pudgy, slow. Hopefully he gets it right this time because I love watching Diego. Just the right mix of psycho...and I dig it.

Diego is old school man. Probably couldn't knock out nemesis standing. But he's going to drag you on the ground, he's going to GnP, and he's going to tko or submit. Oh, and you can hit him as hard as you want but unless you cut him and the ref stops it, he's going to keep coming.

REDDzone · Post #12 » by **REDDzone** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:58 pm

Now I'm reminiscing Diego moments. Besides the crazy "YES" cartwheel moments. My favorites are:

1) The picture of him holding the cross with the hood on and his facial expression. Seriously captures how awesome/crazy he is.

2) Season 1 of TUF he was a nut anyway, but. The Josh guy, didn't want to fight Diego because they had become such great friends or whatever. Diego accepts the fight immediately and they fight. Diego is just pounding this guy. The dude tries to concede the rnc (as fighters do when they're broken) after getting pounded with Diego on his back but Diego just keeps beating him down, opting to go for the tko. lol classic. And I may have made this out to be more in my head than it was but that's how I remember it - been several years since I watched.

Bernman · Post #13 » by **Bernman** » Thu May 16, 2013 9:23 pm

A one-off bad cut, there you probably have it. Still, he should have lost, and we can only speculate as to why, so until then let's keep him away from the top of the top. Varner has shown he can beat or lose to just about anybody. The uncertainty going into a fight is in large part what makes it fun. I'd have a really hard time seeing him beat Melendez, even in his prime at 100%, so my anticipation going into that fight would be lacking. Same thing if he faced Thomson, although to a lesser extent, because of his injury history. Could he reasonably beat Nate Diaz? Yes! He could take him down, gnp, work some kicks, so I guess that one would be acceptable. But IMO Nate should take some time off after all the savagery he's experienced recently. Diego would be a good fit for NateWeight like Diaz suggested the UFC create though.

REDDzone · Post #14 » by **REDDzone** » Thu May 16, 2013 9:27 pm

What is Nateweight? The fact that Diego is in between weight classes is something that I know sdm has discussed on this board before.

SDM · Post #15 » by **SDM** » Thu May 16, 2013 10:31 pm

All they have to do is increase all 155+ weight limits by 7-8lbs, no need to create a new division.

Diego, Nate fight at a 162 limit. Vitor, Rich, Wandy, Hendo fight at 192.

cowboyronnie · Post #16 » by **cowboyronnie** » Fri May 17, 2013 2:01 pm

Diego holding the cross is all-time best walk-in (Nate Mohr coming in to the Scissor Sisters a close second).

What's Overeem's hormone make-up gonna be here? Will he get rejected for TRT? His career is in the balance here, he will try to cheat. He can't not, his nuts are shut down. I'm sure he's doing long-term therapy to try to get them going again but he was a mess before that last fight. The risk of doing testosterone is worth it for him, I'd have to think.

REDDzone · Post #17 » by **REDDzone** » Fri May 17, 2013 2:15 pm

Yea I was talking to some people about going to the event. Seems like people are excited for Overeem. I think it depends on his state physically by that point. The dude is either going to be the physical specimen known as Testostereem, or he goes off the juice and shows up with b*tch tits.

Bernman · Post #18 » by **Bernman** » Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 pm

Chad Mendes vs. Clay Guida added

UFC has been trying to make this fight for a while. They really want Clay to lose, possibly so they can cut him Fitch style.

Now that UFC has re-signed Barnett, hopefully they put that dream match vs. Mir on this card. Whoever takes it to the ground first is the one with more balls (that have been less shrunken from the artificial testosterone).

SDM · Post #19 » by **SDM** » Wed May 22, 2013 7:34 pm

Great fight. In SDM's midwest America, both guys would lose and get cut.

And yeah, I agree. Barnett/Mir for the main.

Bernman · Post #20 » by **Bernman** » Wed May 22, 2013 7:52 pm

SDM wrote:In SDM's midwest America, both guys would lose and get cut.

I'm not quite sure what that means.

Chad Mendes has been rather entertaining lately also.

And yeah, I agree. Barnett/Mir for the main.

I don't think that's a main. That's a co-main maybe. Almost all mains on PPV's are title fights these days.

I have actually heard GSP/Hendricks bandied out for this event. Dana said he doesn't want GSP fighting in Canada for the next 1-2 matches. It might depend on who wins between Grant and Maynard, as to how this plays out. If it's Grant, then he could headline the Toronto card.