UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[David]

I'll tell you what, Philippou must have found some dodgy photos of Joe Silva or Dana around about September.

 

Decision loss to francis Carmont in the 2nd bout of 165 which saw two judges score the fight 30-27, and one of them score it 30-26. A complete whitewash.

 

His next fight? A main event on a FOX show against Luke Rockhold, which he lost via crushing kick to the body after 2:30 of the 1st frame.

 

0-2 in bouts where he lost in pretty unanimous fashion. The result?

 

A co-main at a Fight Night show!

 

If he gets stopped here he'll no doubt be in line for a middleweight title eliminator or something!

[wandshogun09]

Haha, it's weird. Not only does he never seem to drop down the card despite the losses, he's actually advancing up the card somehow. Contrast that with Dennis Bermudez;

 

6 fight win streak. Including a FOTY contender against Matt Grice that got FOTN honours. Also picked up a Submission Of The Night and Performance Of The Night in there. He's stupidly exciting to watch. Always attacking in all areas.

 

Yet he can't get off the prelims for love nor money. Didn't even make the main card on the last Fight For The Troops show. He's stuck languishing on the prelims on a winning streak while Philippou's career goes from strength to strength with each loss

 

Who's everyone got to win then? Matt Brown or Erick Silva? I'm fancying Silva to win this spectacularly. Just a gut feeling. I think he's got a stronger ground game if it goes there, and on the feet I think he's more unpredictable, probably quicker and might be slightly more powerful as well. You never know with Matt Brown though. I just think Silva has a couple more tools. They're both so aggressive I'll be surprised if this fight reaches a third round. I'll have Silva by KO in two.

[Egg Shen]

i think its Silva early or Brown down the stretch...it aint going 5 though.

[David]

Haha, it's weird. Not only does he never seem to drop down the card despite the losses, he's actually advancing up the card somehow. Contrast that with Dennis Bermudez;

 

6 fight win streak. Including a FOTY contender against Matt Grice that got FOTN honours. Also picked up a Submission Of The Night and Performance Of The Night in there. He's stupidly exciting to watch. Always attacking in all areas.

 

Yet he can't get off the prelims for love nor money. Didn't even make the main card on the last Fight For The Troops show. He's stuck languishing on the prelims on a winning streak while Philippou's career goes from strength to strength with each loss

I'm telling you, he must have photos of Dana jacking off to Jenna Jameson or something!

[weevil]

I don't understand your point about Philippou. He main evented a Fight Night against Rockhold, now he's in the semi main of a Fight Night. How is that not a step down?

 

Also, the losses were to high ranked guys (Carmont #9, Rockhold #5) so they shouldn't hurt him that much. Remember, before the Carmont fight he was on a five match win streak that included beating Tim Boetsch, right after Boetsch's wins over Okami and Lombard.

[Rey_Piste]

But why would losing to the number 9 guy get you a main event fight with the number 5 guy. Most people of the guys with that sort of record would be an opening fight or end up on a facebook prelim fight.

[weevil]

But why would losing to the number 9 guy get you a main event fight with the number 5 guy. Most people of the guys with that sort of record would be an opening fight or end up on a facebook prelim fight.

 

Because Rockhold was also coming off a loss, and the standard for Fight Night main events is quite low. I mean Erick Silva is 2-2 in his last four fights and has never beaten a top level opponent. Matt Brown is at least on a win streak but he's never beaten a ranked fighter either.

[Rey_Piste]

At least Erick Silva is really entertaining whether he wins or loses and that's because he goes out to win every time, he really puts it all out there. Brown is another good up and coming fighter this will be a fight that could propel either one into that top 10 contender spot. Phillipou is nothing spectacular, I was surprised to see he was ranked number 10.

[wandshogun09]

i think its Silva early or Brown down the stretch...

 

That basically sums it up for me. I think Brown is the type who gets stronger as the fight goes on, bit like Carlos Condit. Silva will just come out guns blazing and try to knock heads off from the off. It's going to be a wild one.

 

it aint going 5 though.

 

I don't know. I mean, I'd be surprised like I said, but we've thought that before and been wrong. No fucker expected Mark Hunt vs Bigfoot Silva to go five rounds. No-one expected Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva to go three. Or Kimbo vs Houston Alexander (ugh). The smart money is on this ending within two rounds, three rounds tops. But at this point I won't be hugely shocked if we get a 25 minute war. I'd love that actually.

 

But, Silva by KO in two is how I see it going.

[Egg Shen]

Silva's already proved he can go through the ringer and keep battling (see the Jon Fitch fight), if it does go past 3 rounds it's surely going to be a FOTY contender, when two aggressive guys go that long it always ends up being a classic.

[Carbomb]

I don't know. I mean, I'd be surprised like I said, but we've thought that before and been wrong. No fucker expected Mark Hunt vs Bigfoot Silva to go five rounds. No-one expected Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva to go three. Or Kimbo vs Houston Alexander (ugh).

 

Or Mir vs. Overeem. First time I bet on MMA on what seems to be a cert, and the fucker decides to play it cautious and not gas for once.

[wandshogun09]

Oh yeah, I would've bet both bollocks on Overeem vs Mir ending within two rounds tops. I'm so glad I didn't put that bet on.

 

Weigh ins are done

 

MAIN CARD

Matt Brown (170.5) vs. Erick Silva (170.5)

Costas Philippou (185) vs. Lorenz Larkin (185.5)

Erik Koch (155) vs. Daron Cruickshank (156)

Tim Means (170) vs. Neil Magny (170.5)

Soa Palelei (263) vs. Ruan Potts (244)

Chris Cariaso (125.5) vs. Louis Smolka (126)

 

PRELIMINARY CARD

Ed Herman (185) vs. Rafael Natal (185.5)

Kyoji Horuguchi (126) vs. Darrell Montague (125)

Yan Cabral (170.5) vs. Zak Cummings (169.5)

Eddie Wineland (136) vs. Johnny Eduardo (136)

Manny Gamburyan (145.5) vs. Nik Lentz (145)

Justin Salas (155.5) vs. Ben Wall (155)

Anthony Lapsley (174)* vs. Albert Tumenov (170.5)

 

*Has two hours to cut the 3lbs

 

 

Brown talking about Silva;

"I don't think he can take my punches. If I punch him I'm gonna hurt him. I don't think he'll be able, but who knows? Hopefully I can punch him before he punches me, we can find out about his chin before he finds out about mine."

 

"He hasn't really fought anybody that good. The best guys that he fought, he lost to. It depends on what you consider impressed. To be in the UFC is impressive, he has knocked some guys out pretty bad, but he has lost a couple of times which wasn't impressive. I don't really look at it like that. Everybody is good and everybody has a lot to offer. Everybody is going to bring something to the table that's dangerous."

 

Oh and this was nice...

 

 

Lorenz Larkin's tribute to the Ultimate Warrior at the weigh in.

[David]

I don't understand your point about Philippou. He main evented a Fight Night against Rockhold, now he's in the semi main of a Fight Night. How is that not a step down?

 

Also, the losses were to high ranked guys (Carmont #9, Rockhold #5) so they shouldn't hurt him that much. Remember, before the Carmont fight he was on a five match win streak that included beating Tim Boetsch, right after Boetsch's wins over Okami and Lombard.

Jesus Christ, could you not tell from my post that I was kidding? Obviously it's circumstances that have led to Philippou being in the position he's been in the last few events. I just thought it was kinda funny that he lost one fight rather comprehensively and got a main event slot out of it, then lost that fight by crushing stoppage and has now got a co-main from it.

 

Wait, are you Philippou? Is that what this is about?

[Egg Shen]

i'm rooting for Larkin just for the Warrior tribute.

 

I've been a fan of Larkin since Strikeforce but he just hasn't really delivered in the UFC. There was always complaints in Strikeforce about Larkin fighting above his weight cause he was a 205lb'er. Look-wise a move down seemed the right idea, but he's never look as explosive at 185 and he's toned back the flashiness of his style...i accept the level of his opposition has gone up greatly, but Larkin at one point was one of the most exciting prospects in the sport.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, Larkin reminded me of a chubby Melvin Manhoef at 205 in Strikeforce. He does seem to have lost something in his explosiveness or whatever. Although saying that, now more than ever he probably shouldn't go back to 205. With the monsters at that weight now he'd be at a pretty big disadvantage size-wise. Like Jim was saying in the MMA News thread, 205 is a bigger man's division now with Jones, Gustafsson, Cormier, Rumble, Glover, Manuwa etc.

 

I'd love to see Larkin vs Maldonado at some point though.