MMAVu

Shortly after learning that his original opponent, Mark Coleman, had to drop out of their Nov 21 fight, the returning Ortiz must have had a pleasant surprise when Forrest Griffin stepped up on short notice to fill the void.

Coleman suffered a leg injury during training and had to pull out; Coleman asked for the fight to be pushed back to January, but the UFC apparently had other plans. No offense to Coleman, but this bout dramatically increases the drawing power of this card. The main event is Brock Lesnar making his first title defence against Shane Carwin.

Griffin last saw action on Aug 8, at UFC 101 when he took on the freakishly fast and strong Anderson Silva. Griffin was a step behind Silva the whole fight, and was soon stopped by a fade-away left handed jab by Silva. Griffin looked bad that fight, and is now 2-2 in his last 4 fights. He’ll be looking to rebound and get back in the title mix.

Ortiz on the other hand, last fought Lyoto Machida in May 2008, losing by decision. Ortiz then left the UFC and had back surgery, flirting with several other promotions during that time.

The two first met what seems like a lifetime ago, at UFC 59, where Ortiz pulled out a controversial split-decision win. Griffin was fresh off of his TUF 1 win, but has improved by leaps and bounds since that time. With a win, both guys would put themselves in the mix for a crack at the 205lb title.

I wonder if it was by coincidence that the UFC matched the recently under-performing Anderson Silva up against Forrest Griffin in Philadelphia? In Philly, where they have some of the most rabid and fanatic fans on the entire planet.

Anderson can expect a near-riot if he puts in another uninspired performance like at UFC 97 or UFC 90. He won those fights, but did little except avoid losing, that he lost some of his aura with those two wins. Granted, his opponents did not engage with Silva, but you can’t fight “to not lose” like Tim Syl…what’s-his-name, you have to push and put your opponent away, like Silva did in all his previous fights.

Griffin will not just stand back like Patrick Cote, or flop on his back like Thales Leites did before him. Griffin will engage, take a few shots, and likely get put away by Silva, if he isn’t successful in taking Silva down and grinding on him a bit. Griffin isn’t known for his shot or his wrestling, but if Travis Lutter can take Silva down and mount him, so can Griffin. Expect this fight to end in the first or second round via TKO, in Silva’s favor.

Main event:

UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian – BJ by TKO.

Main card:

205 lbs: Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva – Silva by TKO

170 lbs: Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks – Sadollah via arm bar

185 lbs: Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida – Almeida via rear naked choke. Speaking of which, I’d like to get that new ring girl in a rear naked choke myself.

155 lbs.: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Josh Neer – Neer via decision

Under card (May not be broadcast):

170 lbs: John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory – Tamdan, by sub

170 lbs: Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer – Riddle via decision

155 lbs: George Sotiropoulos vs. George Roop – George by TKO

170 lbs: Danillo Villefort vs. Jesse Lennox – Who?

185 lbs: Alessio Sakara vs. Thales Leites – Expect Thales to be booed like crazy, but he’ll win via submission

155 lbs: Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley – Riley, because Nelson is a bit of a punk. There you go; I’m expecting a cut of your winnings.