The Good Andre Ward – Sure Andre Ward defeating Chad Dawson was no surprise, however the ease in which he did so was unexpected. After the first round it looked as it may be a competitive contest but from the 2nd on it was all Ward as he outpunched, outboxed, and just outfought Dawson. Ward dropped Dawson in both the third and fourth rounds putting himself ahead signifigantly on the scorecards but fortunately unlike “Bad” Chad, “S.O.G.” kept trying to win the fight. By the 10th round Dawson seemed to concede defeat which was confirmed when Ward hurt Dawson, who took a knee and despite beating the ten count by referee Steve Smoger, Chad decided to call it a night. The loss was a signifigant one for Dawson as although it was only the second of his career he was completely dominated by his smaller opponent. On the other hand the win for Ward just adds to his increasingly impressive career and puts him amongst the top names currently in the sport.   Lucas Matthysse – If you’re a fan of boxing it’s hard not to like Lucas Matthysse and he showed once again why with a hard fought win over Olusegun Ajose. The bout was for the interim WBC 140 pound title and both men competed like it was the biggest fight of their respective careers but unfortunately for Ajose he was in against an oppoent with superior firepower in his hands. Matthysse was aggressive from the start landing hard shots to both the head and body of his opponent. To Ajoses credit he withstood the Argentinians powerful punches while landing some of his own. In the 10th round the accumulation of Matthysses output caught up to Ajose as he was stunned and dropped moments after from a right [...]

This weekends UFC 136 is a stacked card on paper co-headlined by two championship bouts and the return of one of mixed martial arts most polarizing fighters.  First up we have a fight that all but guarantees fireworks as former WEC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis makes his second trip into the Octagon against hard hitter Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens. Pettis came into his UFC debut on a high note after winning the WEC 155 pound title in the companies final fight punctuating it with what has since been dubbed the ”Showtime kick” on Ben Henderson. However his entrance in the promotion was spoiled at the hands of UFC stalwart Clay Guida who used his wrestling to stifle Pettis’ offense en route to a win via unanimous decision. That shouldn’t be a problem for Pettis this time around as he squares off against Stephens who likes nothing more than to square up and go toe to toe which comes as no surprise being as he’s one of the most powerful punchers in the division.   916Chris’ pick – I favor Pettis whose striking game has more dimensions than Stephens. Lil’ Heathen has the power to put just about any 155 pound fighter away but I see Pettis striking from a distance and outlanding Stephens and winning a decision and hopefully showing once again why he earned the nickname “Showtime”. Duc’s pick – Pettis is gonna beat the living crap out of Stephens.  I predict Pettis off the cage 720 back fist for a KO.  They will call the move, “Puerto Rican Swan”.  It was perfect……   In a rematch Nam Phan takes on the wild swinging Leonard Garcia. These two first faced off last December in an entertaining slugfest that many felt Phan deserved the nod.  Unfortunately for Nam 2 of the 3 [...]

  Upon doing research for the recent episode of The Science Of Violence radio show I realized that including last weekends UFC 130 there are six consecutive weekends featuring “major” MMA events. As a fan of the sport it goes without saying that I was excited to learn of this as I’m sure are most fans. I imagine now that th site is up and running I, along my cohorts will be discussing some of these events as they draw near so for the moment I’ll just give a quick glimpse on some of the fights that are most intriguing to myself in the upcoming weeks.   First up is this Saturdays Ultimate Fighter season 13 finale which is headlined by former WEC Lightweight Champion Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis making his UFC debut against lightweight stalwart Clay Guida. Pettis enters this fight with a ton of momentum coming off his title winning effort over Ben Henderson in one of the best fights last year highlighted by what has been dubbed the “Showtime kick”. For those who have yet to see it Pettis launched himself off the cage and landed a kick to Henderson knocking him down in the final round of a back and forth fight. The kick has since been shown on numerous sports and even non fight related shows which along with Pettis’ appearance on Mtvs reality show World Of Jenks has signifigantly boosted his profile. Pettis was awarded the next UFC lightweight title shot but since champion Frank Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard fought to a draw that opportunity has since been delayed.   As for this matchup, though Guida has shown technical improvements since joining Greg Jacksons camp I favor the more dynamic Pettis in this one. I do anticipate an entertaining bout as Showtime has earned his moniker on numerous occasions and 2 of Guidas more exciting fights, [...]

  The GOOD Demetrious Johnson vs Miguel Torres: Regardless of what you thought of the result of the fight, which was awarded to Johnson via unanimous decision, it’s hard to deny it was one of, if not in my humble opinion the best fight from UFC 130. It is rare in todays mixed martial arts landscape that you get a fight in which the majority of it takes place on the mat yet features so much sustained action but that was the case here. This match up figured to be one of wrestler versus grappler and that’s exactly how it played out as Johnson effectively used his wrestling and speed advantages to repeatedly take Torres down. Likely expecting such the former WEC bantamweight champion flexed his ground game with numerous submission attempts, sweeps, and transitions. Unfortunately as has become habit the judges favored the fighter who spent more time in top position rather than the active guard of Torres. I can’t say I was shocked by the decison but was surprised it was unanimous in Johnsons favor. There’s an old adage in fight sports that says, “There were no losers in that fight.”, and while unless a draw or no contest that’s usually not the case, this was the kind of loss that shouldn’t hurt Torres too much in the standings and definitely not in the eyes of fans. And of course congratulations to ‘Mighty Mouse’ who took another big step in the 135 pound division with the win.   Rick Story: Riding a 5 fight win streak wasn’t enough for Rick Story so he requested the UFC brass give him top tier welterweight Thiago Alves to which Alves was more than happy to oblige. Story said that he had seen Alves quit in fights when faced with adversity and planned on doing the [...]