After a brief excursion overseas no later than last week, the Ultimate Fighting Championship continues to push the pace for its competitors by returning to Las Vegas to showcase its 106th event. After multiple changes to the card originally announced on Sept. 14, including the one that forced currently ailing HW champion Brock Lesnar out of the Octagon for an indefinite period of time, match-ups and the resulting PPV schedule were confirmed only yesterday.
The main event will feature the return of Tito Ortiz, back from a year and a half long hiatus from the Octagon, facing former LHW champion Forrest Griffin. Whether that return coincides with the end of Ortiz’ exclusivity clause in his previous contract with the UFC (June 2009. Re-signed in July) or with UFC President Dana White and Ortiz’ recently mended relationship, MMA fans won’t mind as they should be treated to a good fight between two top athletes.
Ortiz, who claims to be in his best shape, has undergone back surgery about a year ago, stating having been bothered by that injury for over five years (the fight with Randy Couture). His last fight pitted him against Machida for a three round affair that saw Machida do enough to earn himself a unanimous decision. Though Ortiz is close to retirement and his skills have waned over his twelve years spent in the UFC, he still enjoys a large fan base and appeared the best short-notice ‘replacement’ for the scheduled main event, the indefinitely postponed HW Lesnar (illness) v. Carwin championship bout. Added to this, the fighter originally slated to face Ortiz at UFC 106, Mark Coleman, had to pull out of the engagement due to an injury. That prompted an exceedingly eager Forrest Griffin to leap at the chance to avoid an existential meltdown and do what comes naturally, fight.
Griffin’s logic is best summed up like this: the searing pain of having some memory of his last fight can only find relief through a huge physical expense that, he hopes, makes him forget that he exited the Octagon literally running, following his KO last summer to a LHW Anderson Silva. Of the many unexpected surprises that impacted the UFC 106 original card, the LHW Ortiz v. Griffin bout is a pleasant one. Betting lines on this fight stand at Ortiz +115 and Griffin -145, making Griffin a slight favourite. Impressive cardio from both fighters, so it won’t shock fans if the engagement goes three rounds.
Unpacking another surprise, though this one disappointing, is the very late cancellation of the fight between Karo Parisyan (-110) and Dustin Hazelett (-120), due to Parisyan (undisclosed reasons). The UFC announced it would bump the WW undercard bout between Paulo Thiago and Jacob Volkmann but hasn’t added another fight to fill that cancellation. Two BJJ guys then filling up the PPV card, and it should prove a technical bout on the mat, at least on paper. It should nevertheless finish there, to the advantage of Thiago.
The second of three WW bouts scheduled on the main card will pit Amir Sadollah (-210) to another returning UFC veteran, Phil Baroni (+160). This bout constitutes the UFC’s offer to Sadollah to get back on track after his lackluster performance during his last appearance in the Octagon. Baroni has a solid set of hands, but his cardio, grappling, chin, etc. His last fight saw him be on the short end of a unanimous decision to Joe Riggs. It either allows Sadollah to stay on track and deliver on the promise he showed previously and/or Baroni gets a few more fights before a well earned retirement as he doesn’t pose a (serious) threat to the champion St-Pierre.
The third WW fight featured on the card will have Josh Koscheck (-110) face Anthony Johnson (-120) for what is expected to be an exciting stand up match. It would be surprising if Koscheck, an accomplished wrestler, brought this willingly to the ground. And there is enough of a buzz around ‘Rumble’ Johnson’s KO power that Koscheck will probably need to test him on that front to truly make a statement and put him back in contention for a title shot. Hopefully Johnson successfully reaches the 170lb mark, a standard he did not meet for his lightning quick last outing, KO’ing Yoshida in 41 seconds, weighing in at 176 for that one.
The LHW bout opposing Luiz Cane (+140) to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (-170) should provide an exciting fight between two fighters that hone similar skills. Cane has Muay Thai and Kickboxing, and Lil’ Nog has really solid boxing. Both have excellent BJJ. UFC fans will finally get to see this much overdue addition. Nogueira is awarded a UD after an intense battle evenly distributed on the mat and standing up.
All betting lines refer to betus.com odds on Nov. 19th 2009. Photos from Sherdog.com
2 Comments
Ok here goes…my picks:
Griffin TKO 2nd via kicks to the face and punches to the groin. Ortiz likely gets distracted by Griffin’s constant glances toward Jenna’s surgical mammies.
Koshcheck 2nd – TKO punches and a body slam.
Thiago by UD
Baroni by UD
Cane by TKO 3rd punches to the head. kicks to the groin. and licks to the face do lil nog in.
that’s it??? whats the undercard?
Respective scores for the past *main card* only (though my predictions were mostly in my head, and not on paper…! that honour system again):
Szuto: 6 pts, winners 3/5
Drinkability: 9pts, winners 5/5 (for the record: I had Griffin UD, Kos TKO in the 2nd, Thiago UD, Sadollah SUB 2nd, Nog UD) The rest of the card was not-so great prediction-wise: I had Larson (who didn’t?!), Camoes winning by SUB, Sotiropoulos by SUB (didn’t specify the round though), Rosholt by UD and Davis by TKO in the 2nd. Hence, for the whole card, ended up with 11pts (incl. Sotiropoulos, though only 2pts) and winners 6/10. And a good time was had by all. As always.