UFC 118 – BJ Penn Vs. Frankie Edgar
I’ll be posting predictions from folks who are in the house watching the fight. Those of us on the site gave our predictions yesterday, which you can read.
Predictions:
Dave – Diaz by 2nd round submission (guillotine)
Daniel – Diaz by 3rd round submission
Mike L. – Diaz by 2nd round TKO
Mike S. – Diaz by 3rd round submission (triangle)
GG – Diaz by 3rd round submission
1. Marcus Davis vs. Nate Diaz
Diaz looks awful in exchanges, but with his boxing style, he often does. Davis is landing his left hand at will, yet Davis is the one who has the big cut, which came from when he turned Diaz around and had him up against the fence. Davis landed the bigger shots, but Diaz landed more shots. Davis’ face looked heavily swollen at the end of the round. I’d give the round slightly to Diaz. The cut is nasty.
Davis’ eye is messed up. They may stop it after this round. Diaz is just keeping both hands right in Davis’ face. A couple times in the round, he went in for a shot, and once, Davis ended up on top, but Diaz flipped him over quickly. Davis is taking a beating. I’m not sure how he can see the punches coming.
Diaz may have broken Davis’ orbital bone. He has a half golf ball on his eye now. Diaz is punishing him. It went to the ground and Diaz put him to sleep with a guillotine. That was pretty impressive.
Winner: Nate Diaz by way of 3rd round submission
Predictions:
Dave – Maynard by decision
Daniel – Florian by decision
Mike L. – Florian by decision
Mike S. – Florian by decision
GG – Florian by 3rd round TKO
2. Gray Maynard vs. Kenny Florian
It was a nothing round for the most part. Florian caught Maynard with a short right, but Maynard then finally got his takedown and threw some blows from the top. Maynard probably steals the round with the takedown.
Another round for Maynard, and it was close to domination late in the round. He took Florian down and got into side control and was showing how much stronger he is. He bloodied Florian up a bit. I don’t know how fighting this way bodes well for Maynard when it comes to getting a main event fight with the light weight champ, but it’s his style. He did get more aggressive in this round at least.
Maynard’s going to win the round just because he had the top position. One could argue that Florian did more from the bottom, including cutting Maynard with a punch, but Maynard bullied his way to victory. He got two takedowns and threw a couple nice shots from the top.
Winner: Gray Maynard by unanimous decision
30-27, 30-27, and 29-28
I’m not quite sure which round Florian won. Maybe that last one just because he was busy from the bottom?
Predictions:
Dave – Maia by 3rd round submission (choke)
Daniel – Maia by 2nd round submission
Mike L. – Miranda by 2nd round TKO
Mike S. – Miranda by decision
GG – Maia by decision
3. Mario Miranda vs. Demian Maia
Maia got somewhat of a takedown and worked Miranda for his back for over half the round. Miranda finally got loose and on the feet it was just a bunch of leg kicks.
After that last fight, they can’t just have another boring fight. The boxing fans who bought this fight to see the spectacle will never buy another UFC card again. Maia got into the mount pretty easily and was working for an arm bar, but he worked slow for it. Miranda got out of it but couldn’t do anything.
I didn’t think the fight could be more boring than Maynard/Florian, but it was. Maia is clearly better as he was in position to finish Miranda several times in this fight, including twice in this round, but Miranda was able to slip out. Both guys were clearly tired. The boxing writers who are here tonight to cover Couture/Toney are going to write some nasty stuff tomorrow.
Winner: Demian Maia by way of unanimous decision
Predictions:
Dave – Toney by 1st round TKO
Daniel – Couture by 2nd round submission
Mike L. – Toney by 1st round TKO
Mike S. – Couture by 1st round TKO
GG – Couture by 1st round TKO
4. James Toney vs. Randy Couture
Randy Couture shot in for a single leg quickly and Toney went down way too easy. He got the hooks in and is just raining down punches. A big UFC chant has started in the crowd. Couture pushed him up against the cage and almost has him sitting up. Couture got an arm triangle but Toney wouldn’t submit. Couture punched him in the face again and put him back down on the ground and put it on him again for the win. Toney tapped and woke up wobbly.
Winner: Randy Couture by 1st round submission
Predictions:
Dave – Penn by kill
Daniel – Penn by decision
Mike L. – Penn by decision
Mike S. – Penn by 4th round submission (rear-naked choke)
GG – Penn by 4th round TKO
As you can tell, lots of BJ fans in this house.
5. BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar
Very good round for Edgar. Penn hit a clean shot and went for a takedown, but Edgar held his balance and actually took Penn down. He then did it again a few minutes later with a more impressive slam-like takedown. On the feet, just like the first fight, BJ’s punches look stronger, but Edgar’s are sharper and quicker.
Edgar’s up 2-0 now. He’s using his boxing quickness to set up other things like his leg kicks and his takedowns. He took Penn down again. I haven’t seen Penn taken down this easily, with the exception of against George St. Pierre. Edgar is setting him up with short punches and then coming in with the power shots. Penn isn’t hurt at all, but he’s down 2-0. He can’t match Edgar’s quickness.
BJ Penn may be aging right before our eyes. Edgar is landing all the best shots now and for all that BJ said about changing it up, his strategy is exactly the same. He’s waiting to land one big shot and eating many in the process. He hasn’t tried any takedowns, only a few leg kicks, and quite frankly, looks old and slow. Edgar just won his third straight round.
Penn opened the round with a takedown that got the crowd interested. But Edgar got back up and started outboxing him again. He then leg kicked BJ to the ground and got on top of him and landed a huge shot. That may have swayed the round. It’s close right now and the takedown was BJ’s best move thus far.
Penn got two takedowns to start the round and had a shot at Edgar’s back, but because of Edgar’s strength and balance, he ended up on top. Penn looks a little deflated as that was his best shot to win the fight. Penn had a chance to let his hands go with a minute left and he just looked defeated and tired. Edgar landed a knee with about 15 seconds to go and if he wanted to finish it, he might’ve been able to. I have Edgar winning all five rounds.
Winner: Frankie Edgar by unanimous decision
It was 50-45 on all cards. Penn looked ok in the beginning of the fight, but the will seemed to be beat out of him.
