UFC 125 Resolution

[Kris P Lettus]

MAIN CARD

Champ Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
UFC Lightweight Championship
Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann
Thiago Silva vs. Brandon Vera
Takanori Gomi vs. Clay Guida
Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim
PRELIMINARY CARD

Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens
Dustin Poirier vs. Josh Grispi
Mike Brown vs. Diego Nunes
Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares
Daniel Roberts vs. Greg Soto
Antonio McKee vs. Jacob Volkmann

Excellent card from top to bottom..

War Leban

[Next Big Thing]

I always enjoy watching Diaz and Guida fight. Silva and Vera are my pick for fight of the night. For some reason Edgar v. Maynard doesn't do it for me though.

[Kris P Lettus]

Guida/Gomi, Diaz/Kim, Tavarez/NY Bad Ass, Davis/Stephens, Stan/Leban

This is gonna be a top notch card top to bottom..

[What Would Kevin Do?]

Guida vs Gomi is going to be a hot fight, and, assuming it doesn't end quickly, could very well be fight of the night. The whole card, minus the main event, looks really good though.

Sadly, I expect the main event to be very similar to Florian vs. Maynard. Basically, Edgar is better standing, so Maynard will take him down, and keep him down.

[Kris P Lettus]

Edgar is a good wrestler though.. Much better than KenFlo..

[Stickman]

Baroni is still under contract?

[Kris P Lettus]

He signed a new contract in 2009 and lost to Amir Sadollah.. He was supposed to fight again but got injured.. This will be his second fight back in the UFC after his time in Pride, Elite XC, and Cage Rage..

[What Would Kevin Do?]

Edgar is a good wrestler though.. Much better than KenFlo..

Hopefully, as I actually like Edgar, and I'm not a huge Maynard fan.

[Brujesino]

Sorry but iam not looking forward to the main event, neither of those fighters intrest me in the slightest bit.Iam looking forward to hte Nick Diaz vs DHK and Clay vs Gomi.Those 2 have potential KO/Sub/Fight of the night.

Leben always puts on great fights win or lose and Thiago vs Vera should end in a KO.

I have
DHK via split
Gomi via 3rd round tko
Leben via 1st round KO
Thiago vs 2nd round TKO

[KillerWolf]

Frank Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
i was 100% positive that Kenny Florian was going to manhandle Gray Maynard, and Maynard dominated him. Maynard has already beaten Edgar once. Maynard has a considerable size advantage over Edgar. i think Edgar has a definite advantage in striking, but i though that would have made the difference for Florian. i dont know if Maynard is a better wrestler than Edgar, but he still has the size/strength. this should be a tough title defense for Edgar. playing the odds, i'll go with Maynard.

Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann

i have not really followed the career of Brian Stann. he was a WEC light heavyweight champion. if Stann was known to be a pedigreed or even solid wrestler, it would look better for him. he is probably a better technical striker than Leben, but leben is hard to hurt, and hits frickin hard. i just have a feeling that Leben is the one to watch here.

Thiago Silva vs. Brandon Vera

Skillset wise, and on paper, this definitely favors Brandon Vera. and, IMHO, Thiago Silva's technical striking is over-rated. i aint knocking his power though. just sayin' he moves pretty slow. his best technique is to hunt people down, get them on the ground (on the bottom) and utilize his devastating ground and pound. Vera's advantages are that he's like six and a half feet tall, an accomplished Muay-Thai kick boxer Greco-Roman wrestler. all that being said, Thiago Silva has just been much more consistent than Vera. it seems that Vera has been under the gun for quite some time now, and still hasnt been able to put together a string of victories. Silva, i think, is just destined to be a higher level competetor than Vera. on a side note, personally, i always look forward to seeing Thiago fight and i never look forward to seeing Vera fight. so with heart and mind i am picking Thiago Silva on this one.

Dong Hyun Kim vs. Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz all day every day.

Clay Guida vs. Takanori Gomi

wow. this one is probably going to be sold as "fireworks." TBH, i dont look forward to seeing Guida fight like i used to, nor do i often root for him. to play the odds on this one, i'll say that Gomi most likely will not be able to knock Guida out, and eventually will get smothered by Guida - allowing Guida to grind out a victory. who knows.

alright. so there's my picks. pretty decent card, btw. i think that all cards should be of at least this quality.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Edgar is a good wrestler though.. Much better than KenFlo..

[Reavant]

yea but where did that wrestling take him last time he fought maynard?

[IC Champion]

Not very far, but Edgar is miles better than in than in their previous encounter, this whole fight depends on whether or not Maynard can get this thing to the ground, if not Maynard is in for a long night of eating combos.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

He doesn't need to outwrestle him, he just needs to use his speed and range to avoid the takedown.

[The Naitch]

Maynard has Edgars' number just like how Edgar had BJ's number

[Kris P Lettus]

How can you say that based on ONE decision win that happened almost three years ago??

[IC Champion]

No Respect

[Reavant]

in edgars defense, he beat sherk who is probably one of the best and biggest wrestlers in the division. However sherk didnt even go for a takedown until the third round where he did end up getting them.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Didn't Edgar get right back up though?

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Also don't get rattled over any of Naitch's posts, he is fucking terrible in everything he talks about.

[Kris P Lettus]

The Naitch is an amazing poster and human being..

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

You are greatly misrepresenting his abilities. Seriously I wanna stab myself in the knee whenever I accidentally read one of his thread titles.

[CSL]

Not a fan of that punch on a clearly out Marcus Davis

[CSL]

Only Chris Leben could get whooped in no time and still look like a warrior.

[Next Big Thing]

Damn @ the Edgar/Maynard decision. That was a close fight.

[alvarado52]

Gonna have to say Maynard should have gotten that W

[Favre4Ever]

Maynard got whored. How could Edger possibly have gotten a 48-46?

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Edgar/Maynard/Pettis MMA triple threat

DO IT

[Krimzon7]

IN A CAGE!!! wait a minute....

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I think the draw was the right call personally, I had rounds 1 and 3 for Maynard, round 1 being 10-8 and the rest for Edgar. Edgar deserved to keep the title, the way he recovered from that first round, but Grey didn't necesarilly deserve to lose. Thus, it was a draw.

[Mr. C]

Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard III next (http://mmajunkie.com/news/21939/ufc-boss-has-change-of-heart-frankie-edgar-vs-gray-maynard-iii-up-next.mma)

[Impact!]

I agree with Dale.

[What Would Kevin Do?]

As do I. First round is obviously 10-8. But after that, Edgar looked great. At best, Maynard gets the 3rd.

With that said, this fight was WAY more entertaining than I expected, so major major props to both fighters.

[NoJabbaNoBogRoll]

While watching it, I scored it as a draw. When the scores were being read, I was worried that somebody would win a split decision.

[Kris P Lettus]

Leban :'(

I knew Stann was a beast and him dropping down after the Davis loss will be good for his UFC run.. I see him getting a title shot in the next year..

[IC Champion]

I thought Edgar won the last 4 rounds.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I thought Edgar won the last 4 rounds.

I can see why you'd think that, but to me the third round was a pick'm. Frankie landed more shots, but Gray landed the heavier blows and got that key takedown at the end. It killed me, but I knew he stole the round.

[IC Champion]

Edgar landed more shots, and had a couple takedowns in the third round as well I believe.

I hate the whole, "he landed the harder shots" argument, I can see if the striking numbers are close than it's good to use, but when you are being cleanly outstruck volume wise, unless you knock the other guy out the harder shots don't mean shit, it just means you like to plant and throws hooks and over hands, of course Maynard landed the harder shots, all he does is try to knock your head off with every punch, and even after rocking Edgar on numerous occasions couldn't put him away.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Also Randy Couture is the fucking man, LOVED him in Maynard's corner. So fucking badass.

This is one of those main event fights where you legitimately feel like "these 2 are the motherfucking best in the world." I mean Maynard's striking while a little rudimentary and reliant on his brute power, is VASTLY improved especially from the Nate Diaz fight, where I though he looked fucking terrible. You mix that with insane conditioning (to recover from not putting Frankie away and shake off the "adrenaline dump" shows what he's all about) and top class wrestling, and you have an absolute fucking machine.

Then you have Frankie Edgar, who is just a freak. He's undersized and other than that poor first round, he was not getting bullied by the bully. He's pure class, he moves so quickly, his conditioning makes me cry, and he proved his wrestling is the tops of the division, and he outstruck bj fucking penn.

I think watching the fifth round, where both guys were shrugging off one anothers takedowns and pretty much were forced into striking was one of the coolest things I've seen. Just top class stuff all around.

Seriously, people love to talk shit that the UFC doesn't have the best fighters in light weight blah blah blah. Well... Gil Melendez, Eddie Alvarez, Kawajiri and Aoki have NEVER EVER been in a fight like both of these guys. Don't get me wrong, they've seen some wars, but this was just a whole other level. They've never even fought guys close to the level of a Maynard or Edgar.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Edgar landed more shots, and had a couple takedowns in the third round as well I believe.

I hate the whole, "he landed the harder shots" argument, I can see if the striking numbers are close than it's good to use, but when you are being cleanly outstruck volume wise, unless you knock the other guy out the harder shots don't mean shit, it just means you like to plant and throws hooks and over hands, of course Maynard landed the harder shots, all he does is try to knock your head off with every punch, and even after rocking Edgar on numerous occasions couldn't put him away.

I don't think Frankie got the takedown in round three. It was at the end of round 2, and then he got 2 in round 4.

Edgar was outlanding Maynard but it wasn't like GSP outlanding Koscheck in the round. And Maynard HURT Edgar with his shots more in the round, doing more damage. I'm pretty sure he wobbled him. He then finished the round in dominant position.

Now I'm not saying I disagree with you, if I was at ringside judging the fight I probably would have given the round to Edgar as he landed most of the strikes and was just better than Maynard, BUT I knew they'd give it to Maynard based on what I said. Also I was biased towards Frankie so I figured the reason I'd have given the round to him was because of that, I had to back off of that and see the round for what it was.

[KillerWolf]

Edgar is amazing! i've got Edgar in the rematch.

tough break for Leben.

Thiago Silva looked absolutely brutal and slides into the position of #2 favorite @ 205. 2nd or 3rd. wanna see more of him. Silva/Rampage; Silva/Bader; Silva/Jones - all would be huge IMO. as for Vera, personally i would give him one last shot, after all, it was an entertaining fight, though Vera didnt show too much intensity in the 2nd or 3rd rounds. Griffin, Bader, Phil Davis?, somebody like that would make a solid last chance fight for Vera. although vs. Griffin or Bader sounds potentially really boring.

nice finish for Guida, though it seems like a win for Gomi would have done more (career/rankings-wise) than this win for Guida. i guess Guida/Stevenson? has Guida fought Florian?

Kim/Diaz: the better man lost. i have no problem with the Judges decision, but Kim for damn sure was the only one who looked beat up and gassed at the end. Diaz should have done more, earlier. win or lose, it was a somewhat lackluster performance by Nate - meaning that Kim shut him down with his wrestling, so props to Kim. strong wrestlers are probably Diaz's Achiles heel. Kim wants GSP? what a slaughter that would be.

very exciting card. best in recent memory. next one looks really good too. the one after that, meh. though i do like to see (the much improved) Chris Lytle in action.

[Krimzon7]

This was a VERY FUN card! Guida's cardio was intense, his movement was like Kieth Jardine on Cocaine. and the Jits that finished the fight was good.

Stun Gun/Diaz- the better man won. Kiss my ass if you think Diaz should have won. That's just you going for a name. That yellow bastard took diaz down AT WILL, and kept that ass there.

Leben....wow.

Title Fight: the only loser is Showtime. Maynard looks like a badass for taking Fankie to a dark place he's never been. Frankie looks like a true champ for coming back from what very well could've been a 10-7 round and got in the fucking fight! Please find it in your miser hearts to give the kid that credit he so richly earns. It just sucks to know that Showtime Anthony Pettis is around 6-8 months out of fighting the winner of the immediate rematch, and that's considering that they rematch in 3 months and the fight is 4 months after that...and we know how the injury bug can strike.

I was throroughly entertained, and I watched two of the three NYE cards

[KillerWolf]

Stun Gun/Diaz- the better man won. Kiss my ass if you think Diaz should have won. That's just you going for a name. That yellow bastard took diaz down AT WILL, and kept that ass there.

i dont think Diaz should have gotten the decision. i thought i made that clear. and me going for a name? kiss MY fuckin' ass. that's me going for a guy who i've met personally and have always found entertaining dispite the fact that he is kind of UNpopular. he lost the fight. IN MY JUDGMENT, Diaz lost the fight. i'm just saying he COULD HAVE won. like i said, he should have done more, ealier. at the end of the fight, Kim was beat up and spent, Diaz still had plenty left.

[Krimzon7]

i dont think Diaz should have gotten the decision. i thought i made that clear. and me going for a name? kiss MY fuckin' ass. that's me going for a guy who i've met personally and have always found entertaining dispite the fact that he is kind of UNpopular. he lost the fight. IN MY JUDGMENT, Diaz lost the fight. i'm just saying he COULD HAVE won. like i said, he should have done more, ealier. at the end of the fight, Kim was beat up and spent, Diaz still had plenty left.

Sir, if I was responding directly to you, as I am in this post, I would have quioted you.

And I will not knock who you decide to root for as it's completely your judgement. Did the thought ever occur to you that Kim was 'spent' was because he spent 14 minutes 15 seconds controlling, punching and dominating Him?

As far as what Diaz could have done...I don't see much there bro. There was the armbar/triangle sub catch that he had in the first, and the thrid round where he finally got his jits going. and that was on a tired Kim.

[Next Big Thing]

I think Kim won the fight, but according to fight metric Diaz landed more punches and while watching the fight Diaz definitely made Kim work throughout that fight despite Kim having the dominant position so there's something to be said for that. If the decision had gone Diaz's way I wouldn't have been too surprised/upset about it.

I kind of wished Nick was in there instead of Nate. Nick would have beat him black.

http://blog.fightmetric.com/2011/01/kim-vs-diaz-official-ufc-statistics.html

Despite that, I think we can all agree that the yellow bastard has no business saying GSP's name or thinking he's ready to fight against him.

[Next Big Thing]

What do you guys think is next for Nate at 170? Would him fighting the loser of Penn v. Fitch intrigue you guys as a match up?

[Kris P Lettus]

Every Diaz fight, Nick or Nate, intrigues me..

[Crimson]

Every Diaz fight, Nick or Nate, intrigues me..

:y:

[KillerWolf]

Diaz/Lytle would be a good fight.

[Kris P Lettus]

That would be a banger..

I'd see Diaz taking it, if it went to the ground..

[Next Big Thing]

Do you guys think Vera would benefit from switching coaches or is he done? Maybe someone like Jackson could turn him around?

[Krimzon7]

While Greg Jackson is Good, he is not the answer for every fighter. He could benefit from a visit to Sityodong for his stirking, or ATT for a better all around game. Truth (pun intended) of the matter is he was owned on the ground by Thiago and Bones. He needs to regroup, run thru SF, and try again.

[Reavant]

Any change with a good coach wsho can get him to buy into a philosophy will get him back on top.

[Next Big Thing]

Vera got cut. Think he pops up in Strikeforce?

[Kris P Lettus]

I watched him destroy Mir earlier tonight..

:'(