I am really looking forward to the UFC event in 2 days. I am have been a long-time fan of Matt Hughes, as I respect his fighting skill, tenacity, strength, but most of all, his faith in Jesus Christ. I have followed his career for quite some time, and have kept my oldest daughter Morgan (age 7) informed of who he is fighting at a given event. Of particular interest (for me at least) is his opponent at UFC 112 – Renzo Gracie. Interestingly, I am also a long-time fan of the Gracie’s, and have trained with Renzo’s cousin Royce in 2008, and will likely be training with Royce again next month. While this should be an interesting fight, I see Matt winning this fight with Renzo for a couple of reasons. First, Matt has been in the ring with so many amazing fighters, including the likes of B.J. Penn (2x), Georges St- Pierre (3x), Matt Serra (who is actually a student under Renzo), and Thiago Alves to name a few. By contrast, although Renzo has also fought many great fighters, he hasn’t fought in competition for over 3 years. That stated, he did get a big victory over Frank Shamrock in February 2007, and has won his last three fights in a row. Nonetheless, Matt has fought 7 times since 2006 (all of which have been against top notch fighters), compared to only 3 fights since 2006 for Renzo. Second, although Renzo is extremely skilled on the ground and is also a great striker, I don’t see him beating Matt on the ground, as Matt is very strong, and his “ground-and-pound” game I think will be too much for Renzo. I see Matt winning this fight by submission, TKO, or possibly even by decision. In any case, Renzo and Matt are both great guys and very well spoken so it should be an interesting fight.
In the lightweight title fight, B.J. Penn will square off against Frank Edgar. Frank is 11-1, is a great fighter and is also well spoken, and has won his last 3 fights including a victory over Sean Sherk (who B.J. also beat). B.J., in my opinion, has fought much better fighters than Frank including the likes of Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian, Georges St-Pierre (2x), Matt Hughes (2x), Renzo Gracie, Lyoto Machida, and Matt Serra. B.J has never looked better in my eyes, he is in the best shape of his life, and his hand skills are one of the best I have seen in the UFC. When he fought against Diego Sanchez, Diego tried to psyche him out in the “stare down” but B.J. has fought against way too many good fighters to ever be intimidated, and about 1-minute into the first round dropped Diego with a vicious punch to the head. In addition, B.J. has tremendous ground skills, and is a great kicker. I have always admired how B.J. stays so calm during fights, and how good of a counter-striker he can be. I can’t see Frank winning this fight, and predict B.J. will win by TKO or submission if the fight ends up on the ground.
In the main event, with the middle-weight title on the line, I see Anderson Silva taking Damien Maia out relatively early in this fight. Anderson is lightning fast, has great hands and kicks, and is very accurate on his shots with tremendous knockout power. Although Demian has got a great ground game with excellent submission holds, and clearly wants to get Anderson on the ground, I believe that Anderson’s stand-up fighting will be too much for Demian and I can’t see this fight going more than 2 or 3 rounds. As great as Demian is, I believe that Anderson Silva is another class of fighters when compared to Demian Maia.
I am going to take Morgan out to watch this UFC with me. Although she’s young to be watching such fights, she’s seen me fighting full-contact since she was a baby so it’s just a fun time with daddy for her. Who knows, I might even get her some ice cream after….
