UFC 148 (7/7): Cruz/Faber, Franklin/Le, Ortiz/Griffin

[CPT]

A bunch of fights have popped up for this event in the last few days, so I figured I'd make a thread, even though it's 3+ months away.

I'm not sure if this had been established long ago, but this is where Cruz/Faber III is taking place. It will be over a month after the TUF Finale, so I hope it doesn't lose too much steam. Their second fight, almost a year ago to the day, drew 350k PPV buys, which is a respectable number, but they have got to be hoping to almost double it with a full season of TUF behind it.

This is also where Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le is going to land, contrary to earlier reports putting it on UFC on FX 4.

Ortiz vs. Griffin has been announced as Ortiz' retirement fight. For some reason I thought this fight had already been made and put on another card, but I saw the report on MMA Junkie today, so I guess it's news.

Bisping vs. Tim Boetsch and Renan Barao vs. Jeff Hougland are also scheduled for this event.

I'm not quite sure what to make of Bisping vs. Boetsch. Weird matchup. Interesting though. My mental image of Tim Boetsch outweighs my mental image of Bisping by like 50 pounds and is at least 6 inches taller. I think that's the only thing stopping me from predicting Bisping in a walk, since I think he's on another level skill-wise.

Seems like Barao is getting somewhat of a soft fight on the same card as Cruz/Faber to set up a fight with the winner. Unless god forbid Faber wins a decision, because then we'll obviously have to see a rematch.

[Gold Chain]

Everywhere I see, people are picking Bisping to unanimous on Tim Boetsch.

I gotta say, Boetsch looks pretty and has a chance in this, and by finish as well.

Bisping's crafty though.

[cowboyronnie]

Remember how squirrelly Bisping got when he felt Hendo's power. He was shook.

Boetsch's boxing movement looked really improved last fight (as in, the guy has been putting in tonnes of time) against a guy with better straight punches than almost anyone.

It seems a pretty bad match-up for Bisping, actually. Not much upside to beating Boetsch, some chance of an upset, and a really unfortunate skill-set (power, wrestling, physical strength, boxing, on the upswing) in relation to his own.

Boetsch has definitely shi7 the bed before, mind you.

[Gold Chain]

Apparently Bisping was offered Cung Le before "The Barbarian".

[cowboyronnie]

And wanted someone better? God damn.

[Nemesis21]

Maia's WW debut added to this card, vs Dong Hyun Kim. Also added Fukuda vs Philippou,

http://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-148-fight-card-updates?d

[Gold Chain]

Maia's WW debut added to this card, vs Dong Hyun Kim. Also added Fukuda vs Philippou,

http://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-148-fight-card-updates?d

I like Maia, but I have to think Stun Gun will win this one should he not decide to have a ground match with Maia. I don't think 170 is going to much different for Maia, his striking is what it is, and guys know what to avoid when they fight him.

[CPT]

Hmmm. Maia used to be a guy I looked at as a candidate to drop to 170, but in his last few fights he seemed to have bulked up a bit. Might still be a good move though.

He immediately becomes the best submission guy at 170 by far. He also won't have to worry as much about the power of most guys (though there are still plenty that could put one on his chin), and his size and reach can help him keep guys away. On the flip side, there are a lot of wrestlers at 170 and he could find himself in a lot of bad standup fights.

The fight with Stun Gun will show us a lot, because he's a big, long grappler who doesn't make a habit of getting taken down. Or losing, for that matter.

[REDDzone]

Maia to me looked huge in the Munoz fight but it didn't seem like he maintained the bulk so much for Santiago or Weidman imo.