UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao

[Egg Shen]

Main Card (on Pay-Per-View):

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)

 

Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao (for interim bantamweight title)

Tim Boetsch vs. Hector Lombard

Shawn Jordan vs. Cheick Kongo

Brian Ebersole vs. James Head

Chris Clements vs. Matt Riddle

 

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX)

 

Court McGee vs. Nick Ring

Roland Delorme vs. Francisco Rivera

Ryan Jimmo vs. Anthony Perosh

Bryan Caraway vs. Mitch Gagnon

 

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

 

Antonio Carvalho vs. Daniel Pineda

Mitch Clarke vs. Anton Kuivanen

 

much troubled card, this is without doubt the most thrown together card in recent UFC history, the Brazil card was too but this one really feels like they've scraped the barrel to fill it up. But hey, fuck it! It'll still be a fun night!

 

Main event could be a classic, people talk about Barao being the most underrated fighter in MMA, now he's been thrust into the limelight to prove it. I can't even make a prediction on this one.

 

I'm most excited about the debut of Hector Lombard. If he KO's Boetsch im pretty sure he's gonna get the title shot, he's a fight promoter's dream. Boetsch can be a spoiler though, i'll never forget Jacob Volkmann's assesment of Lombard, he basically said if you get in his face and get him in the clinch and bully him he breaks, so i think there's the gameplan for Boetsch right there and that's something Boetsch does very well...he certainly doesn't wanna stand and trade with Lombard, or it's gonna be goodnight irene.

 

Ebersole/Head is definitly one that's been thrown together. I think Ebersole has it all to lose in this one, he's further up the rankings and should be lobbying for a big name, James Head is a dangerous fight for him to take at this stage...Ebersole's a guy that clearly doesn't turn shit down though, wonder if he still talks of the move to 155 if he wins (or loses for that matter).

 

If i had some cash i'd be lumping it down on Shawn Jordan to pull off the upset, one of his overhead bombs is gonna crumple Kongo, trust me.

 

Matt Riddle on the main card!! eeeeeesh! I actually think it's just reward for some of the fights he's been putting in on the undercard, he's no world beater but he fights his heard out every single time.

[Egg Shen]

...and before anyone bitches, read the following...

 

Background

 

On April 24, due to a conflict with the UN Conference, the UFC Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, which was originally scheduled to main event UFC 147 was moved to UFC 148 to serve as the new main event.[133] Plans were then being made for Jose Aldo, who at the time was scheduled to defend his title at this event against an undetermined opponent, to headline UFC 147.[151] However it was reported on April 28, 2012, that Aldo would remain on this card and defend his title against Erik Koch.[152]

 

The bout between Michael Bisping and Tim Boetsch, originally scheduled for UFC 148, was moved to this event to help bolster this (the UFC 149) fight card.[153] However, Bisping was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by promotional newcomer Hector Lombard.[154]

 

Yoshihiro Akiyama was expected to face Thiago Alves at this event, but was forced to pull out of the fight due to injury and replaced by Siyar Bahadurzada.[155] Then on June 1, Alves pulled out of the bout citing an injury.[156] and was replaced by Chris Clements.[157]

 

Thiago Silva was expected to face Maur

[wandshogun09]

Yeah this was all set to be one of the best cards of the year on paper. Aldo vs Koch, Shogun vs Thiago, Nog vs Kongo, Alves vs Sexyama. That's PPV of the year potential there. Injuries are a twat.

 

Still, this could turn out to be excellent. Cards have been slagged off before and it's seemed to fire the fighters up and the cards turned out to be great entertainment. UK shows like UFC 138 and 95 for example.UFC 108 was probably the most injury ravaged UFC card to date and it just turned out to be bags of fun on the night.

 

I see Faber vs Barao being a cracking fight. I just can't see how their styles can make for a disappointing fight. Rooting for Barao in that one but it's tough to call.

 

Lombard/Boetsch and Kongo/Jordan should be fun to watch. Both will probably end with a bang. Lombard's debut has been long talked about, it's time for him to show he can deliver on the big stage.

 

Nice to see Riddle on the main card, he's been having some exciting prelim scraps for ages now. MFC vet Ryan Jimmo debuts aswell.

[pryko]

The main card hs Barao, Faber, Lombard's UFC debut, Ebersole and Kong. I'm still looking forward to it, and will be staying up watching live as per usual

[wandshogun09]

 

Been reading stories about Hector Lombard's reputation in training for a long time and thought I'd post some up. Now, some of this stuff, who knows if it's true but there's enough of it about that you think there has to be some fire to go with the smoke.

 

These are the rumours/stories I've heard over the years regarding Lombard, like I said take some of this with a pinch of salt because there's no actual proof for some of these, but thought people would be interested to read them;

 

Here's a few that are pretty well documented

 

Josh Barnett

 

This one's probably the most well known Lombard/training incident story going about. Lombard even called out Barnett, a man two weight divisions above him, in a post-fight interview in Bellator a while back. People at the time laughed it off and thought it was a joke but there's some backstory to it.

 

Basically, Lombard used to train at CSW years ago. A gym where Barnett has been a mainstay for most of his career. Barnett and Lombard sparred, Lombard wanted to go hard and things got heated. On one occasion they ended up going 30+ minutes of boxing sparring in what was supposed to be a 5 minute round.

 

Then a bit after that and in response to that incident, Barnett took Lombard down in the gym and mounted him and wouldn't let him up to kind of teach him a lesson. Lombard didn't like it and left CSW and went to ATT. And he's held a grudge against Barnett ever since.

 

Here's Erik Paulson on the Barnett/Lombard incident

 

Jacob Volkmann

 

Jacob Volkmann visited the ATT gym and grappled with Lombard after being warned off sparring stand up with him by others in the gym. Volkmann's tricky grappling got Hector flustered and frustrated and he went a bit mental and bloodied 'Christmas' up as the story goes.

 

Volkmann's version of events

 

"I was just rolling with the guys; we were getting ready for grappling practice, and Hector asked me to wrestle with him. He

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Never actually seen Lombard fight, might look up the Ebersole fight to see what he's like against UFC level competition. I just know there's a boatload of hype behind him.

 

Can't hold it against UFC for this card, considering they were ass-raped by injuries. Out of the scrapped match-ups, I was most looking forward to Alves vs. Akiyama. Hopefully that gets rescheduled down the track. I'll still check this event out, but no buying for me. They got my PPV dollars with 148 and probably again for 150.

 

Barao proved he was legit in beating Jorgensen IMO, he can hang with the absolute top tier of BWs. Faber will bring out the best in him, and vice versa. Could be a FOTY?

[The Natural]

Barao proved he was legit in beating Jorgensen IMO, he can hang with the absolute top tier of BWs. Faber will bring out the best in him, and vice versa. Could be a FOTY?

 

Hope so, the UFC Bantamweight Championship is 2/2 with a great fight, one of the top five fights from 2011 (Cruz/Faber II) and a good one (Cruz/Johnson). I'm picking Faber by decision.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Just watched Lombard fight Te Huna (a LHW) and Ebersole (a WW) and he kicked their asses equally (actually, the Te Huna fight was a lot faster). After seeing that, I don't think Boestch can last a round with him, first round KO/TKO, that power and speed is just crazy!

[wandshogun09]

I'm picking Faber by decision.

 

That's the logical pick to make I think. But Barao could very well just be the man, he could be the champion in waiting. Faber's gotta be the slight favourite I think, just because he's got experience in five round fights and he's fought top competitiion more consistently than Barao has.

 

There's a lot of comparisons between Barao and Aldo aswell but the fact is just because Aldo schooled Faber, doesn't mean Barao will. Barao's badass but he has a more wild striking style than Aldo and I also think he's more liable to fade late. Just a feeling I get. But I think he can tweak his training for five rounds and pace himself better.

 

One area I think Barao might edge Aldo in is his grappling. The glimpses I've seen of Barao's grappling he's looked phenomenal. It's a tricky fight because I think Barao is more dangerous than Faber in all areas but Faber is a great all rounder and has proved he can keep the pace up over a long fight.

 

Fuck knows? But I'm leaning towards Barao. I just think it's his time and I think he can edge Faber anywhere the fight goes. Won't be surprised if Faber wins though. It's one of them fights which is seriously tough to call.

 

Just watched Lombard fight Te Huna (a LHW) and Ebersole (a WW) and he kicked their asses equally (actually, the Te Huna fight was a lot faster). After seeing that, I don't think Boestch can last a round with him, first round KO/TKO, that power and speed is just crazy!

 

For sure, Lombard is a fucking killer. He's absolutely wrecked a lot of good, tough, experienced fighters. Guys like Trevor Prangley, Joe Doerksen, Jesse Taylor have all fallen and been stopped in brutal fashion. And on the rare occasions someone can survive against him, like Shlemenko in Bellator did for 5 rounds, Lombard can keep up the beating. He slowed down but he was still murdering Shlemenko the whole 25.

 

He's a savage. The question on Lombard is can he do the same to, or even hang with top level guys? I think he should beat Boetsch. But Boetsch is no cakewalk either. And we've seen tons of guys come in with a shitload of hype and falter when they fight in the UFC for the first time.

 

If he wrecks Boetsch like he's wrecked everyone else then he will get a big step up against a Belfort, or maybe even Anderson Silva. That's when we'll really find out what he's about. I'm really intrigued by what will happen with him. People have talked about him for years and one way or another we're finally about to get the answers.

[David]

Any chance of a poll, Ebb?

 

I'm going for Barao to finish Faber. I see him getting him in the third or fourth frame at some point. Faber's been on the slide since he lost twice to Mike Brown I feel, and having gone 5-4 I'm looking for him going 5-5 after the Barao fight.

 

As for Hector Lombard, there's a shitload of hype behind him, and matching him with someone like Boetsch is either going to further that reputation, or see it completely crumble. There'll be no middle ground.

 

I can see him getting past Boetsch to be honest, as he's faster on the feet, which is where this fight will take place.

 

However, I have absolutely no doubt that the Lombard hype train comes to an abrupt end the first time he goes up against someone like Weidman, Munoz or Sonnen. Those stories above all simply confirm what I had always suspected about him. His ground game is shite.

 

Not only is he seemingly piss poor on the ground, but he also get's frustrated and loses his cool when put there, which will result in a top level wrestler being able to hold him down until he flaps, then slap on a submission or pound him out.

 

The UFC would be smart to manoeuvre him straight into a bout with Anderson Silva if he wins impressively at the weekend, and take advantage of the hype and interest before the guy runs into a wrestler who pisses on his fire.

 

If he wins on Saturday but they don't want to put him in against Silva right away then a fight against Belfort is the only logical move. Putting him in there with a top level wrestler will more than likely see his hype killed.

[Egg Shen]

I'll get one up later!

[Magnum Milano]

I'm with David on this and fancy Barao to stop Faber. I've also got Lombard, Jordan and Ebersole winning off the main card. I didn't care for James Head at all when I watched him on the Sweden card and thought he came off as a bit of a tit, so will be hoping for Ebersole to KO him with the cartwheel kick.

[Egg Shen]

Noticed the UFC Countdown mentioned Lombard has been calling Anderson Silva out for years, sounds like they are sewing the seeds. Interestingly, the Lombard-Boetsch piece was longer than the Faber-Barao piece.

[Egg Shen]

poll added

[wandshogun09]

Gone with a Barao decision and a Lombard KO. Was going to vote Barao by KO but settled on the points.