UFC 106
Following a few last minute changes due to Brock Lesnar's illness, the rematch between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin was bumped to main event slot. Filling in for co-main event of the evening is a showdown between two welterweight contenders in Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson. Throw in a little Phil Baroni and Amir Sadollah, some free prelims on Spike and yo have a great MMA evening planned to cap off a week that was full of MMA action.
UFC 106: Ortiz vs Griffin II is tonight live on PPV.
Luiz Cane will face a stiff challenge as he welcomes 'Little Nog' Antonio Rogerio Nogueira to the octagon. Cane has been impressive in his four fights with the UFC. His only blemish came with an illegal knee to the head of a grounded James Irving. Cane is a strong striker who has won eight of his ten wins by either TKO or KO. Cane trains with a good camp in American Top Team, however the experience of 'Little Nog' will likely cause him problems.
Nogueira will be making what has been a long awaited UFC debut. He is on a five fight win streak with four of those five being finishes. Nogueira is a member of the famed Black House camp that includes UFC champions Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida as well as his brother Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Jacare Souza and Junior Dos Santos.
Cane is a threat with his stand up, however, look for Nogueira to use his experience to work the clinch and get the fight to the ground to test Cane's ground game. Despite Nogueira winning four of his last five fights by TKO or KO this fight should be a grind-it-out kind of fight with Nog getting the win.
Amir Sadollah wasted no time getting back into the cage following a controversial stoppage loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 101. His opponent, Phil Baroni, is making his return to the UFC following a lop sided decision loss to Joe Riggs in Strikeforce his last time out.
Baroni is a powerful striker and could catch Amir if given the chance. Baroni will also have a strength advantage. Look for Amir to use his speed and circle Baroni moving in and out with his strikes. Of course if it goes to the ground Amir has shown in the past that he can pull out submissions even when it looks like he is on his way to being stopped.
Anthony Johnson returned to the cage following an injury to score huge 41 second KO victory over Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104. While he missed weight by an embarrassing six pounds, Johnson will be looking across the cage at UFC vet Josh Koscheck. Koscheck recently defeated Frank Trigg at UFC 103 here in Dallas.
Koscheck will be a huge step up in competition for Johnson. The question is what will be Koscheck's strategy be in this fight. In his last few fights it seemed he has looked to be more of striker as opposed to using what his strength which is his wrestling. If Koscheck chooses to stand up and throw with Johnson it could be a short night for Koscheck.
Johnson is a solid wrestler but not at the level of Koscheck. Expect Koscheck's ego to get in the way in this fight. He will try to stand up with Johnson which will result in a Johnson KO or TKO victory.
In the main event of the evening, Forrest Griffin will be looking to spoil the return of Tito Ortiz and avenge a loss in the same night. Ortiz is returning to UFC following back surgery and a feud with UFC head honcho Dana White. Griffin is looking to rebound following a first round loss to Anderson Silva.
Ortiz last outing was a loss to current light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida at UFC 84.
Tito says he is healthy for first time in years and that we should expect the 'TIto of old.' These two men's styles will make for a great fight. Griffin is a different fighter than he was when they first met. The big questions will be, is Tito really as healthy as he says and how will the time off affect him?
Ortiz is known for his brutal ground and pound set up by his wrestling. Griffin is a powerful kicker with a good ground game. If Ortiz is where he says he is you have to give the edge to him. Another question to be asked is how will Griffin rebound from the Silva loss mentally?
At the end of the day Ortiz will have his return spoiled by Griffin in the form of a decision loss. Griffin will work his kicks and stand up, avoiding the take down.
Overall the night will be a good one. At first glance when the Lesnar versus Carwin fight was pulled you may have thought the card was weak, however the UFC has delivered with a great main card.
Here are my picks for the remainder of the card:
MAIN CARD
* Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz
* Anthony Johnson vs. Josh Koscheck
* Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah
* Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
* Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)
* Marcus Davis vs. Ben Saunders
* Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt
PRELIMINARY CARD (un-aired)
* Brian Foster vs. Brock Larson
* Fabricio Camoes vs. Caol Uno
* Jason Dent vs. George Sotiropoulos
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