| 10 January 2010
Monday Night!
Patriot Center
Fairfax, VA
Live and Free on Spike
Starts at 9PM EST
ThatGirlisFunny's Fight Picks
UFC Fight Night Maynard vs. Diaz Monday 1/11/10
It’s gonna be a great night of fights showcasing three winners from The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality TV series. I watched a nice video presentation on UFC.com featuring brief interviews with each of the fighters. No easy fight night for anyone by the looks of things. Some guys are taking fights on short notice. Some weren’t able to find their opponent’s previous fights on youtube. Too late to worry about that now! It’s time to show up and fight. Let’s see who keeps their focus. MMA is as much a mental game as it is physical. I’m predicting scrappy matches with fast-action stand-up. Live and Free on Spike TV starting at 9PM east coast time.
Here's how I see the night going:
Main Event: Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz
Stockton in da house! Love waiting to hear what rude boy Nate Diaz will say next. Lanky Nate faces a tough opponent in Gray Maynard. But I’m expecting Season 5 TUF Winner, Nate Diaz to have his hand raised due to some smooth jiu jitsu moves.
Amir Sadollah vs. Brad Blackburn
I like Amir. I think he’s funny, but I’m picking Brad Blackburn as the winner. Amir, TUF Season 7 Winner, is too laid back for me. Where’s your fast-twitch, son? Obviously, he’s a great fighter. He reminds me of how I felt about Rashad Evans – I always rooted for the other guy in his fights (like 15 or 16 times) – until Rashad knocked out the "Iceman", Chuck Liddell. Suddenly, finally, I’m a Rashad fan. Maybe the same thing will happen with Amir - but not on Monday night. Brad’s been stepping up his strength and conditioning program. Let’s see if he can bring it and stop Amir in his tracks.
Chris Leben vs Jay Silva
The Crippler needs a win. Silva does too, but I think the more experienced Chris Leben will do the most damage. I’m looking forward to watching this fight.
Efrain Escudero vs. Evan Dunham
Season 8 TUF Winner, Efrain Escudero faces Evan who’s been training hard at Extreme Couture in Las Vegas. I’m choosing the wrestler, Escudero, to win.
Tom “Filthy” Lawlor vs. Aaron “A-Train” Simpson
I know, it’s a girl thing, but I can’t sit on the couch yelling, “Go Filthy!”
Thiago Tavares vs. Nick Lentz
At first, I wasn’t sure who to pick. Then I noticed something interesting. Thiago comes from Florianópolis, Brazil. Is that like Flo-opolis? Or maybe Flo-city? Flo-Town? I train with Kenny “KenFlo” Florian and his brother, Keith Florian at Florian Martial Arts or FloMAC as we call it. Combine that piece of trivia with Thiago's strong submission skills and “dangerous” Muay Thai - makes me think I’ll stick with the “home” team.
What? You don’t believe me? A little geography lesson straight from wikipedia
Florianópolis (nicknamed Floripa) is located in southern Brazil on the Island of Santa Catarina (Ilha de Santa Catarina). The city has 42 beaches and is a center of surfing activity. Newsweek placed Florianópolis in the "Ten most dynamic cities of the world" list. Veja magazine, a Brazilian publication, named the city as "the best place to live in Brazil." As a result of this publicity, Florianopolis is growing as a second home destination for many Paulistas, Argentines, U.S. citizens and Europeans. Sounds sexy!
In the spirit of equal time, Nick Lentz is from El Paso, TX. As a locale, certainly not as sexy as Florianópolis, but they are very proud of a Tex-Mex ballad called “El Paso”.
"Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl..."
The song is about a cowboy in the days of the Wild West. He falls in love with Feleena, at Rosa's Cantina. When another man makes advances on "wicked Feleena", the cowboy guns down the challenger, then flees El Paso for fear of being hanged for murder or killed in revenge by his victim's friends. He hides out in the "badlands of New Mexico", but returns to find his lady love. That wasn’t such a good idea.
In the late 1980s "El Paso" became known as the Official Fight song of the University of Texas at El Paso Miners. Maybe Nick will use it as his walk-out song? Let’s hope not…seems to be a song about one bad decision followed by another.
Gerald “The Hurricane” Harris vs. John Salter
Rick “the Horror” Story vs. Jesse “the Ox” Lennox
Mike Guymon vs. Rory McDonald
Kyle Bradley vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Nate Catone vs. Jesse Forbes
Who do you pick to win? Do you agree or disagree?
Hayley's Fight Picks - Ultimate Fight Night 20
Cheryl Ragsdale is passionate about MMA. Keep up with her MMA chat here on SportsChatPlace.com or follow her mad Adventures in Living a Healthy, Juicy Life on or @thatgirlisfunny on twitter
If you would like to submit a guest post on the subject of mixed martial arts, please forward it to Cheryl Ragsdale at mmafemalefans at thatgirlisfunny.com
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