UFC 61 Tito v. Ken tomorrow!! Here's Dave Meltzers preview:
Also a funny Sylvia story from Dave...--Notes on tomorrow night's show:
*Kurt Pellgrino vs. Drew Fickett. It's Pellegrino's UFC debut. He's had quick submission wins most of his recent fights, as well as a 38 second win over Kazuki Okubo. Fickett has been in several UFC's, and holds wins over Josh Koscheck and Josh Neer via chokes. In the Koscheck fight, he was losing the entire fight but caught Koscheck with a knee on a shoot that stunned him and then won via choke. On paper, an interesting test for both. Fickett has far more experience but Pellegrino's on a winning streak.
*Cheick Kongo vs. Gilbert Aldana. I haven't seen Kongo fight. He's a heavyweight from France whose main claim to fame is wins over former pro wrestlers Joop Kastell and Hans Nijman. Aldana is a slugger who had an entertaining low level fight losing to Paul Buentello. Because the fight was good, he's being brought back. Certainly if Kongo is any kind of a prospect, he should win here. It's booked to be the undercard heavyweight slugfest.
*Anthony Perosh vs. Jeff Monson. Monson is in line for a shot at the winner of the heavyweight title match, and Perosh is not expected to have a serious chance of winning.
*Joe Jordan vs. Hermes Franca. Jordan was a late replacement for an injured Roger Huerta. He's a good, but not great, wrestler. Jordan has had a lot of fights, but Franca has tasted tougher competition and with the advantage of more training time, should (keep in mind that's not necessarily going to be the case) have more gas in his tank.
*Joe Stevenson vs. Yves Edwards. Stevenson is a takedown guy who wants it on the ground. He's moving down from 170 to 155, and had a strong record at 170. Edwards is the better stand-up fighter. Stevenson was hurt before his last fight, where he was upset by Josh Neer, when he got tired early and lost the decision. Edwards is entertaining and is the listed favorite. The question is how Stevenson adapts to the lower weight class. Will he be too strong, or will he lose strength in cutting too much weight? Stevenson, if he's in top shape at that weight, is going to have a good power edge and could conceivably win.
*Dan Christison vs. Frank Mir. Mir is a former heavyweight champion who was given Marcio Cruz in his last match as a foe he should have destroyed standing as a way to get back in the title Hunt. Instead, he was taken down and destroyed. Christison is a giant, about 6-8 and 265. He's by no means a tough fighter and his role is supposed to be to lose to Mir. But there are real questions as to what Mir has left as he looked that bad against Cruz. Everyone knows Mir is supposed to win, but I wouldn't bet this fight.
*Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz. Ortiz will probably win by ref stoppage due to ground and pound. I know a lot of people think the hatred on TV is all pro wrestling hype, and some of it probably is, but legitimately, these guys don't like each other. I do know it has been suggested to Ortiz that the ultimate way to humiliate Shamrock is to make him tap, which only Royce Gracie has done and that was 13 years ago. Ortiz has submission knowledge but never uses it. Shamrock first came up as a submission fighter. Shamrock hasn't submitted anyone of note since he left to be a pro wrestler, but he did break Don Frye's ankles and only Frye's ridiculous toughness saved him, and he did put Rich Franklin on crutches for a week after their fight even though Franklin was never close to tapping from the ankle lock and did escape. I can't conceive of Ortiz not winning, and a win by Shamrock would be considered the biggest high profile upset of the year. Shamrock being competitive and lasting into the second round would constitute a good performance for him in what should be his last high profile fight. Then again, you'd have thought after quick losses to Rich Franklin and Kazushi Sakuraba, that he had no high profile matches left. Shamrock is no longer the powerhouse he was in the mid-90s. This is a big ticket selling match but almost everyone knows the eventual outcome.
*Josh Burkman vs. Josh Neer. Burkman has been one of Ortiz's training partners the past month at Big Bear. This could go either way. I'm leaning toward Burkman. He lost his last fight to Jon Fitch, but Fitch is a superior wrestler, and that's the kind of opponent Burkman doesn't match up well with.
*Andrei Arlovsky vs. Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight title. It will probably be a knockout, the only question is who gets knocked out. First fight saw Arlovsky deck Sylvia and tap him out. Second fight saw Arlovsky deck Sylvia, who got back up, and clocked Arlovsky in the jaw and knocked him out. Arlovsky is quicker and more skilled standing, and both will want it standing. Sylvia does have a reach advantage. Both have one punch knockout power. Both can be taken out with a punch. It would be surprising for this to go five rounds, and may only go one, as the first two did. I still say that they fight ten times, Arlovsky wins eight. Or maybe seven. If Arlovsky gets it to the ground, he should finish Sylvia, but Sylvia is hard to take down so that's not happening right away.
My tips for tomorrow for the televised fites - Arlovsky, Ortiz, Edwards, Monson, Burkman.Yesterday's Las Vegas Review-Journal had an unintentionally funny story on Tim Sylvia. Sylvia is mad because the UFC has promoted Shamrock vs. Ortiz as a bigger deal than his match. He claims Shamrock being pushed hurts UFC's ability to go mainstream and that he shouldn't be fighting because he's too old. "He's a has-been. The only reason he's fighting is because he's got a mouth and he likes to do that wrestling, that WWE stuff. He talks a lot of (trash) and pretends to fight. Tito beat (him) so badly the first time, I can't even fathom why he'd want to fight him again. It's a joke." He doesn't believe in the promos and believes they should be marketed strictly based on talent. The comedy portion, even though there is truth to at least some of his complaints, is that the show is sold out and they've opened up three closed circuit locations in Las Vegas because of the overflow of demand. The fight will be broadcast to the MGM Grand Garden Hotel, The Luxor and the Primm Valley Resort. And Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovsky has exactly zero to do with that.
Bas Rutten will be on Dave's Wrestling Observer Live radio show on Monday (our time too) promoting his fight v. Kimo on the upcoming WFA show.
@ Tito.
