MMAVu

The weigh-ins are in the books for UFC 104, and there were apparently some guys who sat in for an extra round or two at the buffet table.

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson weighed in at a whopping 176lbs, for his welterweight contest. This is worse than when Thiago Alves came in at 174lbs at UFC 85 for his bout with Matt Hughes. His Opponent, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, accepted the bout anyways, and Johnson forfeited 20% of his purse $15000. 10% went to Yoshida, and 10% went to CSAC…which I’m not sure why. I don’t think Johnson is going to use that extra 6lbs to pound the CSAC’s face in; Yoshida on the other hand…

Two lightweight fighters also had problems making the 155lb limit, both Josh Neer and Gleison Tibau were over. Neer came in at 156.5lbs, while Thibau was 157lbs. Both guys agreed to take the fight with the overages, with neither guy receiving any penalties. Hogwash. I say mmavu.com should receive 10% of each fighter’s purses. Pfft.

Anyways, the main event fighters had no problems making weight, with Machida coming in at a tiny 202.5lbs, and Shogun at 204.5lbs. Co-main event guys Rothwell came in at 265lbs, while his opponent, the much hyped Cain Velasquez, weighed in at 238lbs. It’s safe to say that “Big” Ben Rothwell will carry about a 30-something pound weight advantage come this evening. Below are the rest of the weigh-in results, along with the predictions.

Main Event:

Lyoto Machida (202.5) vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (204.5)

Machida is too elusive and fast for Shogun, who has not shown much in his UFC career thus far. He gassed fighting Forrest Griffin, eventually tapping out to a choke, gassed badly against a 44yr old Mark Coleman, and was only saved because Coleman was even more gassed than him, and looked better in making short work of an over-the-hill Chuck Liddell at UFC 97. Machida wins by TKO in R2.

Cain Velasquez (238) vs. Ben Rothwell (265)

The UFC has big things in store for Cain, and it’s not Rothwell. Rothwell will be a step too slow and he’ll run out of gas, leading to a UD win for Cain.

Joe Stevenson (155.5) vs. Spencer Fisher (155)

Joe Daddy is back on track with his fight career, and Fisher will be helpless to stop his takedowns, even though both fighters know exactly what the other is going to do. Stevenson by UD.

Anthony Johnson (176) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (170)

The extra 6lbs will come in handy for Johnson, who will turn Yoshida’s lights out in R2.

Josh Neer (156.5) vs. Gleison Tibau (157)

Tough to call this one, I like Neer, but only if I was sure he can stop Tibau’s takedowns…which I’m not sure he can. Tibau by UD.

Preliminary Bouts:

Ryan Bader (205) vs. Eric Schafer (205.5)

Darth Bader will be too much for Schafer, Bader by TKO in R1.

Pat Barry (237) vs. Antoni Hardonk (249.5)

Uh, who is Pat? Hardonk by TKO, R1.

Yushin Okami (185) vs. Chael Sonnen (185)

I definitely like Okami in this one, as Sonnen is only a legend in his own mind, with grandeur thoughts about taking on Anderson Silva after beating Damien Maia…It didn’t happen, and the guy who beat Sonnen lost to Marquardt, who got smashed by Silva. MMA math works in this case. Okami by UD.

Jorge Rivera (185) vs. Rob Kimmons (185)

Rivera has gone through so much lately, it’s hard not to root for the guy. Rivera by R1 TKO.

Kyle Kingsbury (205.5) vs. Razak Al-Hassan (204.5)

We see Al-Hassan about 10 months after he had his elbow hyper-extended by some WEC guy, whose name escapes me….Cantwell. Al-Hassan has an awkward style, and it was hard to get a read on him during his last bout. Kingsbury by UD.

Chase Gormley (262) vs. Stefan Struve (243.5)

Wow…I pick the tall, lanky, string-bean, Struve.

Thales Leites (right) tries to prevent his knee cap from being booted off by Anderson Silva at UFC 97 in Montreal. Leites ended up losing a dull, dull decision.

 Both are giants in their own fields, and each company is a hype-generating, money-maker. If you’re not there, really, you’re nowhere. There are only a select few guys who transcend the two big monopolies, Kimbo Slice and Fedor Emelianenko in MMA and Hulk Hogan and the Rock in wrestling. Without the companies behind them, average performers don’t stand a chance.

Thales was hyped and hyped, but in the end, he refused to engage with Anderson Silva in his (I’m going out on a fairly sturdy limb here) only UFC title shot. Though he’s still a young guy at 28, his career is all but downhill from here. It’s too bad one bad fight (see Starnes, Kalib) can ruin your entire career. Of course, it didn’t help matters that he lost to Alessio “Glass Jaw”Sakara in his next bout, but I hope he does well in is next fight, reportedly against Bryan Baker.

Reports also say that Dan Henderson is done with the UFC. Try as they might, the UFC pushed the hell out of Hendo, but he just lacks that “it” factor, and despite his solid record, he just doesn’t draw the crowds like a Michael Bisping, whose face he crushed in his last fight at UFC 100. Hopefully Hendo ends up back in the UFC, as he’s truly a great talent.