UFC 66 Predictions

[Gufbal1982]

My predictions.

Chuck Liddell Vs. Tito Ortiz: This is going to be a great fight. I'm in agreement with Odin with the comments on the stand up and ground. I like both of them, but I'm going with Chuck.

Keith Jardine Vs. Forrest Griffin: Griffin

Andrei Arlovski Vs. Marcio Cruz: Arlovski by KO.

Jason MacDonald Vs. Chris Leben: Leben

Eric Schafer Vs. Michael Bisping: Bisping

Tony DeSouza Vs. Thiago Alves: Alves

Carmelo Marrero Vs. Gabriel Gonzaga: Don't know enough either one, but I'll take a guess and say Gonzaga.

Yushin Okami Vs. Rory Singer: Okami

Anthony Perosh Vs. Christian Wellisch: Again, don't know enough to comment, but I'll guess and say Perosh.

I agree with almost all of these except for Arlovski vs. Cruz. If it goes to the ground, Arlovski is going to have a run for his money. Marcio Cruz is a world class BJJ champion black belt. He's very underestimated as far as I'm concerned. If he's worked on his takedowns then it should go to the ground. Otherwise it's Arlovski.

I think Leben and MacDonald will be a good fight too...after all, MacDonald beat Leben's teammate Ed Herman.

 

[MJS]

I havent seen any of the other fights yet, due to my being at work, but I made it home in time to see Tito and Chuck. Chuck was the winner by ref stoppage in the 3rd round. As I said in the beginning, I like both fighters, but the Iceman took this one, with his usual signature punching!

I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the fights!

 

[mrhnau]

Found the Chuck/Tito fight Here on Google video. Enjoy! Good fight!

 

[Makalakumu]

Found the Chuck/Tito fight Here on Google video. Enjoy! Good fight!

Thanks for posting that fight! Tito gave a pretty good go at Chuck. I think the ref stopped it too early though. Maybe he saw that Tito had had enough though...

 

[FearlessFreep]

My initial take was that because Tito was over on his side and Chuck was positoned over him, that Tito pretty much had no move to escape, which is why the ref called it when he did. In the first round in a similar situation, Tito was at least still in a position to manuever and was attempting to get out and the ref honored that by letting him work through it. In that third, though, it looked like Tito was stuck in a position of barely able to defend with his hands but couldn't really improve his position.

However, on replay it looked like at the very last instant Tito tried to spring iit, but that may have been because the ref had already called and Chuck had relented a bit with his knees that gave Tito that opening.

Good fight.

 

[Sensei Tom O'Brien]

Here is a link with some of the other fights on that same card & maybe a couple more: http://groups.myspace.com/JoeDaddyMMA. I hope everyone has a great year.
Thanks,
Sensei Tom

 

[Odin]

My initial take was that because Tito was over on his side and Chuck was positoned over him, that Tito pretty much had no move to escape, which is why the ref called it when he did. In the first round in a similar situation, Tito was at least still in a position to manuever and was attempting to get out and the ref honored that by letting him work through it. In that third, though, it looked like Tito was stuck in a position of barely able to defend with his hands but couldn't really improve his position.

However, on replay it looked like at the very last instant Tito tried to spring iit, but that may have been because the ref had already called and Chuck had relented a bit with his knees that gave Tito that opening.

Good fight.

To be honest though as much as i wanted Tito to win i thought Tito losted the fight in the st round...if that was any other ref the stoppage would have been given then, you could tell after what had happened during the tito shamrock fight that the ref was very nervous of an early stoppage.

wow i thought Tito lookd good though! his punch defence was on point I saw so many knockout shots from liddel blocked at will by Tito...but then i guess he couldnt defend them all.

I have a new conclusion after seeing that fight...its not that I think liddel has amazing takedown defence anymore.....I just think everyone he fights is too scared to get close enough to attempt a decent take down!!!Tito's takedown attempts where from way way way out there I think my granma could have seen them coming!
Tito=warrior

 

[Blotan Hunka]

I thought that match was a yawner.

 

[zDom]

I came to my own conclusions:

Effective striking can keep a fight from turning into a ground fight even against a very skilled "grounder—pounder."

I thought it was a little unfair to Tito that they called the fight when they did as Tito was still defending himself... kinda. I've seen fighters in similarly dire straights in Pride matches turn things around and even manage to win.(Then again, he got a break earlier in the fight when the ref let him make it to the bell rather than call it...)

But then, it IS better to err on the side of caution. Tito DID take a beating from Chuck in that fight.

IMO, I think Chuck went beyond his "usual signature punching" in this fight.

Chuck was throwing a lot of combinations, was doing a better job of not overextending his shoulders out too far past his hips, was keeping his eyes locked on his opponent, and even kept Tito guessing by throwing occasional body shots.

Tito definately needs to improve his stand-up game. Throwing single "over the top" crosses isn't likely to work against a good striker. I'm thinking if he improves his standup, it will give him more opportunties to get those takedowns.

It WAS nice to see somebody shut Tito up (for the moment, at least ) Ortiz seems to like the word "punishment" and it was a case of him getting what he likes to dish out.

Then again, Tito DID earn some respect from me for that fight: he was getting beat on and still managed to keep his head in the fight for the most part. I hope it ends up being a character-building experience for him.

 

[Odin]

I came to my own conclusions:

Effective striking can keep a fight from turning into a ground fight even against a very skilled "grounder—pounder."

I thought it was a little unfair to Tito that they called the fight when they did as Tito was still defending himself... kinda. I've seen fighters in similarly dire straights in Pride matches turn things around and even manage to win.(Then again, he got a break earlier in the fight when the ref let him make it to the bell rather than call it...)

But then, it IS better to err on the side of caution. Tito DID take a beating from Chuck in that fight.

IMO, I think Chuck went beyond his "usual signature punching" in this fight.

Chuck was throwing a lot of combinations, was doing a better job of not overextending his shoulders out too far past his hips, was keeping his eyes locked on his opponent, and even kept Tito guessing by throwing occasional body shots.

Tito definately needs to improve his stand-up game. Throwing single "over the top" crosses isn't likely to work against a good striker. I'm thinking if he improves his standup, it will give him more opportunties to get those takedowns.

It WAS nice to see somebody shut Tito up (for the moment, at least ) Ortiz seems to like the word "punishment" and it was a case of him getting what he likes to dish out.

Then again, Tito DID earn some respect from me for that fight: he was getting beat on and still managed to keep his head in the fight for the most part. I hope it ends up being a character-building experience for him.

I think your right but I think it was a bad thing not a good thing, chuck wasn’t as fast this time as he has been, chuck liddel is a counter puncher with long reach and a bombs for hands that is a deadly combination!!, before I've seen Liddel manage to ''pull the trigger at will'' with his punches, if there was an opening BANG!! he would take advantage of it immediatily..where as this time he took to long to counter there were times when Tito was open just the way chuck liked it but he just didn’t seem to have that speed to catch him….the body blows were there to set up that overhand right which missed, he a little of frustration maybe?Chuck doesnt like long brawls you know ….i don’t know just seemed that way to me….as for tito's over hand rights I think it seemed in theory a good plan, from a fighters prospective tito's takedowns are fearable, those overhand rights were suppose to be hidden behind fake takedowns, a good plan I thought…..it just didn’t work that way…maybe be if he could just get that little bit closer he could have sold them better!
Fear is liddels edge...fear of getting close.