Preview – UFC 103: Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort

UFC 103 goes head up against Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez.

Big D, Alan, Duan, Cactus Jim, and myself are back with our thoughts on the top three fights on the card and Stevie J from AngryMarks.com drops by with his thoughts as well.

Frank Trigg vs. Josh Koscheck

Big D: Koscheck by decision
Duan: Koscheck by decision
Cactus Jim: Koscheck by decision
GG: Koscheck by decision
Stevie J: Koscheck by decision

Big D says:

I love Trigg. He is one of the best promo guys in the UFC and it’s sad that he left right before the UFC really took off (and worked TNA no less). I wish he’d win but, I don’t see him stopping the takedown and I don’t see him stopping Kos’ punches.

Duan says:

I see this being one of those situations whereby both guys wrestling cancels each other out, and thus we will see a boxing match. Koscheck has really become quite proficient in the stand up department, and I think he will just edge this as a result.

Cactus Jim says:

Frank’s best days are behind him and on his best day I think Koscheck would still win 9 of 10 times. Koscheck’s wrestling is better and his striking is better. Anyone can be beat on any given day, but unless Frank pulls something out of his ass I don’t see him beating Josh although I’d be happy to be wrong on this one.

GG says:

I hope both guys have a good showing, but I think Koscheck is just the better athlete and fighter these days. I think he could really take Trigg down and do some damage, but I think he’ll stand-up and outbox him for three rounds.

Stevie J says:

It’s really hard to say what Frank Trigg we’ll see in 2009. There’s a Trigg good enough to beat Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller and Kazuo Misaki, and a Trigg who couldn’t beat Matt Hughes or Robbie Lawler with a whole army to help him. It’s hard for me to not be biased towards Trigg since I like him as a commentator, as a fighter, and he’s even a cool guy to follow on Twitter. They’re not giving him an easy road into UFC going against Koscheck though, one of their best wrestlers, and a guy who only seems to lose to fighters named Thiago or GSP. In a wrestler vs. wrestler battle though, I tend to favor the younger and quicker man, so regardless of what I want personally I’m picking Koscheck for a three round decision.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos

Big D: Dos Santos by 1st round TKO
Duan: Cro Cop by 1st round TKO
Cactus Jim: Dos Santos by decision
GG: Dos Santos by 2nd round TKO
Stevie J: Dos Santos by 2nd round TKO

Big D says:

I have a soft spot for Mirko, but I just don’t think he’ll survive Dos Santos power. I think there is more money in him winning, but I don’t see it. Either way – this will be fun because SOMEBODY is going to get DROPPED brother! DROPPED AND LEFT FOR DEAD!

Duan says:

This is a tough one to call. On one hand, we don’t really know where Cro Cop is at right now, but at the same time, Dos Santos is still untested at the highest level. Dos Santos has two good wins inside the octagon, but they were both really quick knockouts, so we really haven’t learned a whole lot about him yet. I expect a first round Knockout just because of the way these two match up, and I will go with Cro Cop.

Cactus Jim says:

This is a tough one. It really depends on which Cro Cop shows up. If we get a motivated aggressive Cro Cop I think he can take this, but I haven’t seen much from him lately to make me believe that this will be any different than his last few trips to the octagon. Dos Santos is strong, fast, and has good hands. I think he’ll bust Cro Cop’s face, but CC will hang in until the end of the fight.

GG says:

I think someone is going to get knocked out. Either Dos Santos gets his head kicked off (before or after an eye poke), or Cro Cop takes an uppercut and drops. Because of their ages, I say Cro Cop is going to be more susceptible.

Stevie J says:

This is another case of wondering which version of a fighter is going to show up. The old Cro Cop could beat Barnett and Silva and give Fedor fits. The new Cro Cop lost to both Kongo and Gonzaga, decent heavyweights but nowhere near the elite, and the guys that Cro Cop can beat now like Al-Turk and Mizuno are below their level. Dos Santos is at or +above+ their level though, and devestating first round knockouts of Struve and Werdum have set him on a path towards Brock Lesnar. Cro Cop may be only one of two men in his way to getting that title shot, so again putting aside who I like personally, Dos Santos has that “younger/faster/stronger/hungrier” edge and Cro Cop has proved vulnerable to a highlight reel KO of late. Dos Santos will provide one in the first ten minutes.

Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin

Big D: Franklin by decision
Duan: Belfort by 2nd round TKO
GG: Franklin by decision
Cactus Jim: Belfort by 3rd round TKO
Stevie J: Belfort by 3rd round TKO

Big D says:

Probably the fight I am least looking forward to. I am sure that it will be a decent back and forth battle, but it really means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Vitor has the allure of being one of the fighters from the pre-boom period heyday and Rich has the 2005/2006 rub.

Duan says:

It seems inevitable that this will be a stand up war. Franklin’s chin has looked particularly shaky in his recent outings, and Belfort is a devastating finisher. I have confidence that Vitor will catch him sooner or later.

Cactus Jim says:

I think Belfort’s power will carry him past Franklin. Not much interest from me in this fight, but maybe a bit more than Franklin versus Henderson in the fact that it isn’t a rehash and there’s no real downside to the UFC as there would be if Henderson were to lose to Franklin. There’s really no upside or reward in this fight and the fact that it’s headlining this show speaks to the need of the UFC to get its champions and top contenders fighting more often.

GG says:

I think Vitor wins the first round decidedly, but Franklin’s conditioning and kicks will tire out Belfort and he’ll win a good three round decision.

Stevie J says:

I’ve already gone on the record as picking Belfort, so now the only thing to answer is why. A lot of people have made their decision on Belfort based on the fact he was overrated early in his career and never lived up to the hype. To me the pendulum has now swung the other way – he’s underrated and being overlooked. His last really bad run was 2004-2005, and he lost to Couture, Ortiz and Overeem – a LOT of people would get skunked by those three fights, and if you look closely his loss to Ortiz was a split decision that could’ve gone either way. He’s been on a roll of late and has only looked stronger dropping down to middleweight, and since Franklin agreed to a catch weight of 195 I think that tends to favor him as well. Before you say “Wanderlei Silva” does any of us think Silva is the same fighter in 2009 we all called The Axe Murderer? I think it’s telling that Franklin’s only option was to outpoint him to a decision, where I honestly believe Wanderlei would have been KO’d or submitted by a Nate Marquardt or Dan Henderson let +alone+ an Anderson Silva. So for the third and final time here, going against the guy I like more personally, I see Vitor Belfort winning with a third round stoppage.

There you have it. We’ll have play by play on the site for UFC 103, though I don’t know if it will be live or not as I’ll also be covering Mayweather/Marquez.

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