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UFC on FOX 5: 'Henderson vs Diaz'


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?  

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The one aspect of the Penn fight that has me interested isn't really if he'll win or not, as I don't think he's anywhere near big enough to handle a legit welterweight like MacDonald, but how he actually performs when the pressure is poured on him.

 

Following his fight with Diaz he didn't sound like a guy who's heart is in it anymore. He didn't look like the same fighter in his two bouts with Edgar, where he looked old and slow. I'm not even considering his fight with Hughes in 2010, because Hughes has been long past his best for years now. The draw with Fitch didn't really do either guy any favours.

 

He's 33 now, been doing this for over ten years, hasn't looked great recently at 155lbs, and looked like a beaten man after his last fight where he made noises that made me doubt his hunger. I have no reason to believe he'll do anything other than lose to MacDonald.

 

Rory's 23, he's a legit welterweight and has looked impressive in his last three bouts. This is tailor-made to be his coming out party I feel.

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At the time though most on here were picking Hughes in the rubber match. Remember, he was having a pretty good spell with a 3 fight win streak and coming off choking out Almeida. That was a good win for Penn at the time.

 

Against Diaz he got beat and beaten up but he fought well. He didn't quit and was still going for it in the 3rd. For a guy who is fighting in the wrong division he has been very competitive with some top 170lbers like Diaz and Fitch.

 

I mean I'm picking Rory as well but it's not as cut and dry for me. I think his size and wrestling will decide it but even when you mention Rory's last 3 wins - Mills, Pyle, Nate Diaz - Mills was considered a mismatch and still rocked him, Pyle is good but kind of a journeyman and Nate is a lightweight with poor wrestling.

 

He's looked great but BJ even at this stage is Rory's toughest test since Condit.

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I'll start off by saying I can see the argument for Nate here. I see the logic, Frankie had Benson figured out in their second fight. Frankie beat him to the punch and outworked him for the majority of the fight. Despite what the scorecards said. So you'd think Nate also being a very good boxer but also being a lot taller than Frankie would give him a clear route to win.

 

Here's my problem with that. Frankie had one thing Nate doesn't. Frankie had/has excellent wrestling. This is a man who despite being a natural featherweight, was able to take down Benson, take down Penn repeatedly (a man known for his legendary takedown defence) and produced highlight reel slams on Gray Maynard. These are men capable of fighting at 170 and in Penn's case he has been a champion there. So Frankie can wrestle his arse off. This is Nate's weakest area.

 

 

When predicting this fight I just can't shake the image of Diaz being stifled against the cage, or on the ground, pretty much every time he's faced a strong wrestler with tight BJJ defence.

 

I'd love to see Diaz win because I'm a fan of him and his brother. Two of the most exciting fighters in the sport. But my head tells me the bible thumper takes this on points. It's been shown numerous times that the way to beat a Diaz is by staying close to offset the reach, wrestling a lot, taking them down and as long as you have the skills to stay out of danger you can shut them down en route to a decision. Easier said than done but that's the way I see it.

 

Henderson by decision for me.

Good breakdown, even if I do not agree alltogeather. Here is my case for Diaz

 

I think the loss to Macdonald is irrelevant to this fight, Rory is a massive 170lbs and Nate is a lanky sized lightweight. The Jim Miller fight also proved he has improved his TDD and strength since the Stevenson mauling.

 

Also, Kim who is a very good 170lbs grappler, beat Nate, but most thought Nate won. He dealt with Kim very well considering the size advantage. Simply put, I can see Nate winning on points, submission or TKO. Whilst Nate is not a one-punk knockout fighter, his relentless combos wear down foes. Nate is a very different striker than Pettis and Edgar, but no less effective with his style. I would go as far to say that Nate is the best boxer at 155lbs.

 

I do not see Nate subbing Bendo in a grappling match, but he may daze Bendo and choke him out like he did with Miller. It would be much harder for Bendo to defend if he is dazed and Nate with his boxing can achieve this. Watch how he jumped on Gomi when he had him hurt, he is not afraid to take chances and is a very good finisher.

 

On points, Nate can win also. Like I said Nate does not have KO power, so if it turns into a boxing/K1 match Nate may just get the best of it like he did with Cerrone.

What it comes down to is, I do not think Bendo can control Nate enough, I do not think he is that much of a ring general akin to GSP and a Matt Hughes in his pomp. For example, Clay Guida was able to neutralize Pettis to grind out a win, Bendo was unable to do this. Bendo was also unable to control Edgar in their second fight as well. He did do well against Guida, but Guida at that point was a different style than Pettis and Nate that concentrated on grappling and not exclusively keeping it standing.

 

Nate may not have much strength but he knows how to fight to his advantage now, look how he dealt with Miller and Cerrone. He knew what he had to do, and he did it. It is also forgotten by most that Bendo beat Miller when Miller had the flu.

 

I get the other side of the argument, but I really think this is Nate's time.

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Hey guys.

 

Looked forward to this show since the top three fights were announced. I haven't enjoyed 2012 as much as 2011 because the latter had better fights and I don't remember the injury bug messing things up like we've seen this year. Not long to go now for this show. I like Benson Henderson but he shouldn't be the UFC Lightweight Champion, I thought he clearly lost the second fight against Frankie Edgar. Still I like him for his fights and hope he beats Nate Diaz. I don't like the Diaz brothers but I've got more time for Nate. I'll pick Benson by decision. Haven't thought much about Shogun/Gustafsson and Penn/MacDonald.

 

Encouraging Shogun and Penn look good. Wish Penn would stay in the Lightweight division.

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I think the loss to Macdonald is irrelevant to this fight, Rory is a massive 170lbs and Nate is a lanky sized lightweight. The Jim Miller fight also proved he has improved his TDD and strength since the Stevenson mauling.

 

Also, Kim who is a very good 170lbs grappler, beat Nate, but most thought Nate won. He dealt with Kim very well considering the size advantage.

 

Yeah fair point. But I wasn't using the loss to Rory as an argument for Bendo so much, I said even at 170. It was just an additional point. It is a different beast fighting guys who outweigh you so I agree with you on that.

 

But I was just raising the point that even at 170 it was the same style that he struggled with. He beat the strikers handily but if a guy can muscle Diaz (and this goes for Nick as well) and neutralize him on the ground or in the clinch, while also staying out of his submissions, he'll likely win. That was the case at 155 and 170.

 

I wouldn't say most thought Nate beat Kim. It wasn't that much of an outrage was it? Most of the backlash I remember from that decision was from Diaz fans which is the case every time they lose a decision. I'm a Diaz fan as well but it seems a lot (not aiming this at you specifically) of Diaz fans will argue forever that their guy got robbed no matter what actually happened.

 

I don't remember the fight in great detail. I thought Nate did well on bottom and when they were standing he had his moments. But I also remember thinking Kim did surprisingly well on the feet as well. Nate didn't enjoy the usual reach advantage with Kim also being lanky and Kim was able to land some good strikes.

 

Whatever the case, the fact is he didn't get the decision. Whether people agreed with the decision or not is irrelevent, it just shows that under the way fights are currently judged, you can win the points game against Diaz by using this gameplan. We've seen time and time again that if you're on bottom, right or wrong, you're likely losing the round in the eyes of the judges. The only way to combat this is to submit the guy or get out from under him. And Diaz wasn't able to do this with the guys who employed those tactics (Stevenson, Guida, Kim etc).

 

Nate is a very different striker than Pettis and Edgar, but no less effective with his style. I would go as far to say that Nate is the best boxer at 155lbs.

 

I'd agree he is the best boxer at 155. But does that matter if Benson puts him on his back? The reason Frankie was so successful against Benson is because he had his wrestling base to keep it standing if he wanted and also to threaten Benson with his takedowns. This would have not only made him less predictable but also made Benson more gunshy.

 

Nate has excellent boxing but it will mean nothing if he's on his back. Which is where I think Benson will try to put him often. He might start off testing the waters in the stand up but I think he'll look to exploit the one Diaz weakness as often as possible as the fight goes on.

 

I do not see Nate subbing Bendo in a grappling match, but he may daze Bendo and choke him out like he did with Miller. It would be much harder for Bendo to defend if he is dazed and Nate with his boxing can achieve this. Watch how he jumped on Gomi when he had him hurt, he is not afraid to take chances and is a very good finisher.

 

He could daze Benson and catch a choke. It's possible. But it's not likely. And when predicting a fight it's what's likely that you base it on. Benson has been submitted once, very early in his career (brilliantly, to a man named Rocky Johnson). But he's a different fighter these days.

 

On the Gomi point, Gomi has always been susceptible to submissions. Even at his peak as Pride lightweight king he was getting choked out by Marcus Aurelio. Before that Joachim Hansen tapped him out. He's always struggled in that area. Benson is lightyears ahead of Gomi on that front. He's become notoriously hard to put away, even when he's appeared hurt.

 

Guys like Mark Bocek (excellent BJJ and solid wrestling), Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller had no luck with some pretty deep submission attempts on Bendo. His grappling game is as tight as a 15 year old schoolgirl before her Maths teacher has had his way. Hard to penetrate.

 

On points, Nate can win also.

 

Sorry Jim, even Nate disagrees...

 

"I don't think I've got a chance of winning any type of decision, so...I gotta go out there and do what I can do to try and finish my opponent; try to be the better fighter and try to win the fight. But, umm, either way - If it goes to decision, I'm gonna to be the one out-scoring, out-pointing. I'm gonna do what I can."

 

What it comes down to is, I do not think Bendo can control Nate enough, I do not think he is that much of a ring general akin to GSP and a Matt Hughes in his pomp. For example, Clay Guida was able to neutralize Pettis to grind out a win, Bendo was unable to do this.

 

MMA math doesn't work though. If that's how it worked then...

 

Phil Baroni beat Ryo Chonan + Chonan beat Anderson Silva = Phil Baroni could beat Anderson Silva.

 

It doesn't work. I know you didn't mean it like that and sorry for being a sarcastic cunt :laugh: but just because Guida was able to do it and Benson wasn't doesn't mean much in the grand scheme. Many factors go into that. Guida chose to fight Pettis using a low risk strategy of almost exclusively wrestling. Benson took more risks against Pettis and went for the finish more.

 

And just like you might point to Nate's recent improvement, Benson has come on in leaps and bounds since the Pettis fight. That was as close a fight can be going into the 5th, the Showtime kick is likely what swung it for Pettis. It wasn't like Benson was ouclassed. It was neck and neck. And since then he's stepped up his game.

 

If Bendo and Pettis rematched now it could be a different story. Benson has improved a lot in my opinion, plus he's been in with some true top flight lightweights and knows the pressure of being a UFC champion and main eventer.

 

It is also forgotten by most that Bendo beat Miller when Miller had the flu.

 

To flip that around you could argue that Nate was fortunate to catch Cerrone at a good time because Cerrone had already fought 4 times in 2011 before the Diaz fight. Possibly was overtrained and not as effective in the fight as a result.

 

I don't buy that but just pointing out that excuses can be made for every loss. If it was that bad Miller would surely have pulled out. Flu wouldn't fuck you up that bad, especially once out there and the adrenaline kicks in. It would be nothing compared to the usual injuries and bumps every fighter picks up in training. And he still had his moments. Dropping Benson and almost catching him in a kneebar. He can't have been that ill.

 

I still say that the Miller fight isn't enough to declare Nate's takedown defence significantly improved now either. He did a great job in that fight but one fight where he showed solid takedown defence vs 5 or 6 where he was shut down by wrestling. I think the jury's out on the Diaz sprawl.

 

I get the other side of the argument, but I really think this is Nate's time.

 

I hope you're right. Despite my argument for Benson, I'd rather Nate win. I just think if you look at their styles and weigh up the likely scenarios it's more likely a Benson Henderson points win. I just think a finish will be hard to come by for Nate and in a points game I favour Benson's style.

 

Fucks sake I've rambled on.

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Bloody hell Wand :p at 7am as well.

 

Where do I start.

 

The Kim fight I should have not used the word "most" I should have said myself and the Sherdog play by play.

 

Regarding Gomi, my point was more about how well he swarms and finishes when someone is hurt. Gomi is suspect to being subbed but Jim Miller is not, he is a better example. I doubt Nate will sub Bendo, but its possible. With the Edgar point, his wrestling helped no doubt, but also his footwork and speed. It seems that Bendo has problems controlling strikers, as Pettis and Edgar have shown. I know Nate is not as good a wrestler as them though.

 

I think we both agree that the winner will be the one that comes forward the most and becomes the ring general. Neither of them are going to be countering or fighting of their back foot akin to Liddel. It comes down to I think Nate will pile on the pressure and Bendo will fold, it would seem by Nates attitude he thinks he needs a finish so he will push Bendo.

 

I could be wrong but as impressive as Bendo has been the past few years and do not think he is that much of a ring general, he wins convincingly at times but some of his wins he does not shut guys down.

 

Nate seems to have a new found confidence with how urgent he pushes forward with his boxing, Cerrone and Miller were pushed back and beaten. If Nate can defend a few takedowns (I know we disagree if he can) I think the fight will swing Nates way enough for him to win. When he gets going with his boxing the volume and pressure is very hard to overcome.

 

His style is not like any other MMA fighter other than his brother. I dare say Nate's game is maybe a bit better at this stage.

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Ha, yeah my sleep's well cocked up lately. Been doing overtime at all kinds of funny hours and my body clock's all bollocksed. I'm off today and I was still up at 6.30am. Was hoping for a morning leg over but my girlfriend shunned my advances. "Get off...I've gotta get ready for college you twat" was here exact words. Bad timing.

 

Aaanyway...

 

Yeah I agree that Diaz has seemed to gain in confidence the last year and it's showing in his fights. If Diaz has found a way to deal with wrestlers he'll be hard to stop because that's been his only flaw.

 

Your last sentence is a good point also. Diaz is a different style to prep for. Especially when Bendo's last 4 opponents have been in the 5'6"-5'8" range. Diaz is a lot different in frame.

 

We'll see. I just think there's a higher probability of a Bendo win. I've gone against that logic a few times lately and backed underdogs on gut feelings (Condit/GSP and Belfort/Jones) and been wrong. I'm going back to logic. Can't wait for this fight though. Should be a belter.

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Sorry Jim, even Nate disagrees...

 

"I don't think I've got a chance of winning any type of decision, so...I gotta go out there and do what I can do to try and finish my opponent; try to be the better fighter and try to win the fight. But, umm, either way - If it goes to decision, I'm gonna to be the one out-scoring, out-pointing. I'm gonna do what I can."

I don't think he's making a serious point about him not taking a decision, and more making a backhanded comment about his brother getting the short end of the stick against Condit. It's also more than likely him paving the way for a crying session if he does lose via decision.

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If Benson wins it will be on points.

 

His last 6 fights have gone to points, he is not much of a finisher. When he has finished it has been by submission, which is highly unlikely to happen with Nate being a BJJ whiz.

 

I am really looking forward to this, but not the humble pie I will have to eat on here if Bendo wins.

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Today's UFC on FOX 5 Conference Call,

 

Here's the notes.

 

B.J. Penn: I was just hanging out and the itch to fight again and it was better than staying home and sitting on the couch. I realized I can't do this forever so I wanted to do it while I can. As far as fighting Rory, he's an up-and-comer and everyone says he's gonna be a champion soon. It wasn't a tough decision. I wanted a tough fight against Tristar again. They are a great club. I think it's a great fight all around.

 

B.J. Penn: I'm not gonna sit here and get into that with everybody right now. I'm sure there are people in all sports that bend the rules, so I'm not gonna point the finger. As far as doping, it's a painstaking thing for the UFC and I don't want to put them through that. If I was gonna make a comeback I wanted to make it as safe as I can. I'm not saying Rory MacDonald is using steroids. That's all it is. I'm protecting myself.

 

Dana White: I don't have any details on GSP-Anderson Silva. Georges St. Pierre went on vacation. He's not even back from vacation after the fight so we haven't talked to him. We haven't talked to anyone yet.

 

Dana White: The guys come up through The Ultimate Fighter. Nate Diaz has been fighting for years. He's fought everybody. The guys that come off The Ultimate Fighter. It's our Triple A, to introduce our guys but Diaz and Swick and a lot of these guys have been around for a long time.

 

Eric Shanks: We're not looking to announce anything today or in the near future. We continue to look at options. We have a lot of great network properties. Regardless of what network channels are called, the UFC is a great commodity. The UFC will play a huge role on the broadcast network and cable. UFC will play a bigger and bigger role as time goes on.

 

Dana White: We're gonna shake up the industry again, just like the last 15 years with the stuff we're working on. These are the guys I want to be with forever.

 

Benson Henderson: I think the first two Frankie fights, the first one was close and everyone was hoping the second would be more decisive but it was even closer. As far as beating Nate, I'm just looking for a victory. If he slips on a banana peel, I'll take it. If it's even closer than the second Frankie Edgar fight, I'll take that too. Getting the W is very difficult in the UFC and we all fight to be as decisive as possible but sometimes when you're fighting the best guys on the planet, it's almost offensive to say you'll finish your opponent no problem. I'll try to get my hand raised as much as possible.

 

B.J. Penn: I'm just focusing on this fight. I've got no more plans after this. Once I do have plans, we'll call Dana and talk after that point. I've got no plans after December 8th. I put my whole life into that.

 

Dana White: The strategic idea is to put the best fights we could put on Fox. It's tough to put a fight card together. I want to say to all the guys on the call, tone your training down a little bit. Let's not get injured in the last week and a half. As far as title fights, this is the way it lined up. The same with the Johnson-Dodson fight. At the end of the day, we're a pay--per-view company. You showcase these guys on free television and it helps build the sport, the fighters and we've got the Road to the Octagon this Sunday and it tells the stories of Nate Diaz, Ben Henderson, Shogun, Gustafsson, Penn and MacDonald.

 

Nate Diaz: I've been training the best way I can. Train hard with all my teammates and being as ready as I can be.

 

B.J. Penn: I think super fights are great. It causes a lot of hype and Dana knows that. Look at the name itself, super fight. It's what this sport was about, it's what it's build on. You get the two best fighters in the world and put them in the cage. Dana White, you're the man.

 

Dana White: Being on one of the biggest networks is huge. Fox is a global media company and Eric Shanks is a young, aggressive, smart guy that we love to do business with. I feel like we have a great relationship with this company and we're all talking about big long-term projects. It's impossible for this sport not to get bigger and bigger and bigger.

 

Eric Shanks: This thing will be one of the top sports in the US on television.

 

Dana White: We're still working on TUF with the guys on FX.

 

Dana White: It's always a pain in my ass when I talk about deals before their done (concerning women in UFC)

 

Rory MacDonald: I don't care. I just want to fight more often. Quality or whatever, I don't care. After this fight with B.J. I'll be ready to fight by March as long as I keep my weight in check. It won't be a problem for me to take a fight on short notice now. As far as how I changed things up with how I'm training, it'll work out with me fighting more.

 

Dana White: There's a lot of hype behind [Rory MacDonald] and you never know until you see a guy. This is a big fight for Rory. The one thing you know about B.J. Penn is you're not going to run over him. B.J. does not cut, he's never been knocked out. He's got good stand-up, great submissions and wrestling. He'll be a big test.

 

Dana White: GSP delivered again. It was a great weekend for us.

 

Rory MacDonald: I'm being a little bit more smart with my training in terms of taking days off. Before I never took days off even if I was hurt. If I feel my body breaking down a bit, I'll take a day off. It's been keeping me healthy and I think for me, health is the most important. I know how to fight. I'm in shape all year round and if I'm healthy, I can fight on a minute's notice. I just need to be healthy, that's all.

 

Rory MacDonald: No, Georges St. Pierre won't be in my corner, I don't think so. I didn't really ask him anything. I watched his fights and he told me a few things but I'm not the kind of guy that wants to know everything about somebody. I really don't care. For all I know, B.J. could have changed his training and he's a muay thai fighter now. I just get better as a martial artist and I react to what's in there. He told me a few things that are interesting but that's about it.

 

Mauricio Rua: It's important to take it step by step. Right now, I'm focusing on Gustafsson and everything is changing one day to another. Right now, I'm focused on Gustafsson.

 

Mauricio Rua: I tried to train everything. MMA right now is very competitive. You have to be ready for everything.

 

Mauricio Rua: I told Lorenzo that I needed six weeks. It wasn't enough time in advance. They offered me two weeks and it wasn't enough time to make good preparation. I made a wonderful camp for the Gustafsson fight. Everything is okay, no injuries. I'm ready for this fight. I think it's the fight everyone wants to see because we both look for the knockout. We're strikers and the fans will have a wonderful show. Let's see what's gonna happen.

 

B.J. Penn: I got back to my old trainer that trained me for the jens pulver, Joe Stevenson and Sean Sherk fight. I started this training camp at 40 percent body fat and I was going to go in there and give it my best effort but Rory pulled out 10 weeks before the fight. He said he saw me and I looked fat and he'd end up killing me. I'm down under 10 percent now. I'm ready to go. I'm expecting the best B.J. Penn I've ever seen. We'll see how it plays out.

 

B.J. Penn: Fighting is still not a sport for me. I don't know if I should still be saying that. I'm not a great athlete that can play any sport. I can't do much different sports but one thing I could always do is I could always fight back. I go into the fight, this is a fight. this isn't putting a ball in a hole. It's always been a fight for me. I love it when it's that way. I love it when my opponent says things to me. it's wonderful. I couldn't ask for me.

 

B.J. Penn: I never lost my old mentality. I lost the ability to prepare properly. I won't be able to do this the rest of my life and I want to give it a good shot.

 

Nate Diaz: I think it's good. My whole team has been champions somewhere down the line. Maybe it's my turn to represent for my team.

 

Dana White: It was a good show. The king of pay-per-view is back. That's what we'll say about it.

 

Eric Shanks: We don't do ratings projections. It's not a game we like to play. The demographic make-up for these fights is off the charts and this one will be as well.

 

B.J. Penn: No one says my name when they talk about the greatest fighters anymore and that really bothers me. I know that's my fault. My name was always in the mix. I told Dana I had a real problem with that. That was part of my motivation to come back and look strong on December 8th....I'm a glass half empty kind of guy. I don't want to be known as being good back in the day. I want to be one of the best. I still think I have something left to accomplish.

 

Nate Diaz: If you're not in the UFC already, TUF is a good shortcut and way to go about it. I don't like sitting in a house with all those dudes.

 

Benson Henderson: I just need to continue doing what I'm doing. It doesn't happen overnight. If you want to be the best MMA promoter and build your company up, it takes time. You have to lay the groundwork, stay on that grind, stay at it and eventually you get those big, huge national deals. If you put the work in, it will fall into place. I have huge shoes to fill and I'm excited to take that chance.

 

Eric Shanks: We would love to. We think that super bowl week in New York will be like anything else. We're gonna own that week and there's nothing better we can think of than a big fight that week. We'd love for that to happen. We'll see if they can put that together.

 

Eric Shanks: We think so. The thinking there is that FX is in a lot more homes than Fuel. It's a funnel. The more people you have watching the prelims, the bigger the fight will be. We want the funnel to be as big as possible.

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B.J. Penn: No one says my name when they talk about the greatest fighters anymore and that really bothers me. I know that's my fault. My name was always in the mix. I told Dana I had a real problem with that. That was part of my motivation to come back and look strong on December 8th....I'm a glass half empty kind of guy. I don't want to be known as being good back in the day. I want to be one of the best. I still think I have something left to accomplish.

 

This quote really grabbed my interest. With this, I think Penn has a tangible motivation to really sink his teeth into. Based on the pictures, video and now this quote, he has really prepared properly and is ready to really go. I thought the concept of coming back to face Tristar and Firas Zahibi was a bit of a weak reason for returning, and when I heard that, I thought maybe it was just a case of him missing the spotlight ala' Matt Hamill. Penn's look backs up his words, and I'd be interested to see a training video to really cement his standing right now. If he fights as well as he's prepared, Penn could be a force in the UFC still. So many years in the sport and he's only 33, I don't think the sport's taken the toll on his body the way it has a guy like Shogun, who for some reason, maybe with his recent wars combined with the multitude of injuries, seems a couple of fights away from retirement in my eyes.

 

Also, Penn looks a better 170 than he has in the past. He's built up his muscle and not just gotten fat. At UFC 127, he weighed 169 with his jeans on. I think he could be a good looking 171 at the weigh ins here.

 

That said, Rory shouldn't be taken lightly. I've heard the criticism of him not beating top flight competition, but if the timer had gone for a couple of more seconds, he would have won a clear decision over Carlos Condit. And top flight competition or not, he has completely dismantled his opponents since. Also in the "coulda/woulda/shoulda" pile is the Penn vs. Fitch fight. Had that third round been scored a 10-9 for Fitch, Penn would have had a big victory on his WW resume. If both guys bring their best, potential late FOTY.

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I hear you on Rory vs Condit, he would have won the decision but the fact still remains he got his arse handed to him in that 3rd round. Even if he'd survived it was a bad beating he took at the end. Condit was the first guy who was able to weather Hurricaine Rory and look what happened. Look what happened when Condit didn't go away, Rory got smashed.

 

People always use the 'if Rory lasted a few seconds he'd have won', imagine if it had been a 5 rounder? Rory's night would have got a lot worse.

 

I'm not knocking him, he was very young when he fought Condit, he'll have improved, but it could be a sign that he's a frontrunner who folds when the opponent doesn't go away.

 

I like to hear BJ talking like this. The postponing of this fight will have been good for BJ as well as he said, it gave him more time to get in shape.

 

Still picking Rory but I wouldn't write off BJ.

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