UFC 59 - April 15th

[Chris D]

Suprised that Kuri didn't have this up sooner so I'll get it up. My picks in bold.

- Tim Sylvia vs Andrei Arlovski
- Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin - Probably the best fight of the night...IMO
- Pay De Pano vs Jeff Monson - Huh?
- Evan Tanner vs Justin Levens
- Nick Diaz vs Sean Sherk - Not sure on this one.

Preliminary Fights
- David Terrell vs Scott Smith
- Karo Parisyan vs Nick Thompson
- Thiago Alves vs Derrek Noble
- Jason Lambert vs Terry Martin

[getgot211]

no way forrest beats tito.

[kuri]

Good call Dorr, I'm slipping.

- Tim Sylvia vs Andrei Arlovski (Mr T. predicts "pain")
- Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin
- Marcio "Pe De Pano" Cruz vs Jeff Monson (both monster grapplers but Pe De Pano might be better overall
- Evan Tanner vs Justin Levens
- Nick Diaz vs Sean Sherk

Preliminary Fights
- David Terrell vs Scott Smith
- Karo Parisyan vs Nick Thompson
- Thiago Alves vs Derrek Noble
- Jason Lambert vs Terry Martin

As much as I want Forrest to win I doubt he'll be stopping Tito's takedowns. Though it might be a bloody three rounds.

And I do hope doofus Sylvia lasts more than 20 seconds before Arlovski removes one of his appendages.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=4256

[Chris D]

I think Forest and Tito is going to be a brawl...it's a hard pick for me, but I always go for the under dog in these cases. yeah it doesn't pay off, but I think that Forest has got something to show case. I think he'll find a way to weather Tito's takedowns. Unless Tito has DRASTICALLY improved since his last fights he's not the man he used to be when he was younger. One other thought on this one is what about Tito and Shamrocks fight in July(??) If Tito gets busted up pretty good by Forest, which is very possible, that fight won't happen in July due to the sanctions...I believe, but I could be wrong.

Regardless I'm thinking it's going to be a good fight. The rest of them should be okay.

[kuri]

I think Tito is 29. Not exactly an old timer there Dorr Up until now the only 2 guys that could stop his takedowns are named Randy & Chuck. Wanderlei couldn't, Vitor couldn't, and I doubt Forrest will have improved that quickly.

That said I'm hoping Forrest lays some serious leather on Tito's face.

At least 3 of the other fights have the potential to be very entertaining. Scott Smith loves to bang, as does Jason Lambert. Diaz & Sherk should be a classic jiujitsu vs wrestling powerhouse match.

[Chris D]

Hummm...some of us were wrong on the Sylvia and Arvloski fight!

Kuri - I thought Tito was older than that...but having said that he doesn't seem to be as dominant as he once was. Another 3 round grinder it sounds like it was.

[kuri]

Can you believe doofus beat Arlovski? I'm still in mild shock here I thought Andrei had him when he floored Sylvia off that overhand right.

Then again it'll be fun to watch Andrei come back and take apart a couple guys on his way up to Sylvia (or whomever beats him in the meantime). The UFC really needs to pony up and start paying to get some better HVW8s in there.

So who thinks Forrest won that fight?

I thought for sure he was gonna get that decision - being Dana's boy n all. That said you've gotta give Tito props for finishing the fight with a torn ACL

[getgot211]

just posted this on MH

"Ortiz vs. Giffin:

1st: tito COMPLETELY dominated, start to finish. could be a 10-8 rnd.

2nd: slow round, little action. forrest

3rd: slow, little action. tito
-forrest threw a lot, didnt land a lot. tito gets a take down. tito was never in any danger, took very little damage.

Tito wins, right decision.

Arlovski vs. Sylvia

crazy crazy fight, totally unexpected outcome. AA drops tim with a HUGE right, it was 1 move from being an exact replay of the first fight. but AA(now soft and ghey, all shaved) doesnt capitalize. tim recovers, AA goes for another big right, catches a perfectly timed uppercut. tim on top of him, AA with just his hand defending blows to the head. fight needed to be stopped, he wasn't doing anything but getting punched on the side of the head."

i believe tito is 31 or 32, and yeah, fighting with a torn ACL and bulging disk? that cant be fun. hopefully he'll be able to recover fully.

[kuri]

I need to watch the Tito/Forrest fight again with the sound off. Often the commentating leads to biased viewing, and I think Bonnar going off on how great Forrest is the whole time might've lead to some of that.

I agree that Tito dominated rd 1, Forrest took rd 2, but 3 was close. Tito's takedown gave him the slight edge, even though Forrest escaped - which leads me to question the UFC's scoring system. Escaping/reversing a position probably isn't scored the same as a takedown, though this should be thought thru. If one is able to escape a bad position and regain a position from which scoring blows are landed they should get as much credit as the initial takedown in my opinion.

In any case a healthy Tito would have probably gotten a rd 2 TKO.