Friday, December 10, 2010

UFC 124: St. Pierre/Koscheck II

Tomorrow night, we get to see GSP perform. He takes on Koscheck, whose wrestling credentials and power currently pose the biggest threat to GSP's awesomeness. The card lacks a solid Co-Main Event but the Main Card is filled known fighters and what looks to be some exciting fights.

In the Main Event, Georges 'Rush' St. Pierre defends his title for the 5th consecutive time against #1 contender Josh Koscheck. Both have already fought before. Koscheck didn't think GSP could take him down. GSP proved to be the better wrestler and outstruck in the few instances the fight was on the feet. Both have gotten better since then, but GSP seems to still be both the better wrestler, striker, and just overall MMA fighter, with only the power advantage going to Koscheck. The biggest factor of the outcome of this fight is going to be whether Koscheck can stop GSP's takedowns now that he knows how good of a wrestler he is. In their first fight, Koscheck was so sure of his wrestling, he didn't really train wrestling and focused mostly on his striking. People smell upset, but GSP always dominates and has no holes in his game. Koscheck has a puncher's chance but is just too good at everything to be beat right now.

For the Co-Main Event, it's battle of the giants the two tallest guys in the UFC, Stefan Struve and Sean McCorkle, duke it out. McCorkle's UFC debut saw him break Mark Hunt's arm in a straight arm bar, though this was after ending on his back due to a crappy takedown attempt. Stefan Struve has 6 UFC fights, 4 wins and 2 losses, under his built but always gets beat up in his fights, so he hasn't proven to be too dominant at anything. It's a pretty even match but I say Struve has the slight advantage and takes it by TKO.

The rest of the card has awesome match ups. Thiago Alves takes on fellow striker John Howard. Both are skilled fighters but Alves has fought tougher opponents and should be able to outstrike Howard. Jim Miller takes on Charles Oliveira. Miller is 8-1 in the UFC with his only loss coming from the current #1 contender, Gray Maynard. He's an alright striker but is pretty good at controlling the fight on the ground. Oliveira is fairly new to the UFC. Both of his wins have been submissions, one coming withing the first minute of the first round and the other in the third round. Both are really good fighters but Oliveira's skillset is bound to either drop Miller or submit him. Ultimate Fighter winners Joe Stevenson and Mac Danzig also fight on the main card. Danzig is a pretty good striker and is an alright grappler but Stevenson is just more powerful and will probably take him down and either submit him or TKO him. This card is a good way to end the year.

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