Pride 33
Did anyone catch any of the Pride fights? Amazing fight card resulting in a lot of upsets. A lot of people lost money this time around.
Highlights include:
Dan Henderson over Wanderlei Silva by KO
Nick Diaz over Takanori Gomi by gogoplata
Sokoudjou over Rogerio Noguiera by KO

UFC 68
This next UFC fight is also really promising. As for the main fights go I predict:
Tim Sylvia over Randy Couture (although Im really conflicted about this)
Matt Hughes over Chris Lytle
Jason MacDonald over Rich Franklin

Anyone else's opinions regarding these two events?

I don't think Macdonald has a good chance of beating Franklin.

Pretty much the whole Pride 33 event was a highlight.

I didn't catch the Pride and now I wished I had. It sounds like it would have been a great card.

Quote:

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UFC 68
This next UFC fight is also really promising. As for the main fights go I predict:
Tim Sylvia over Randy Couture (although Im really conflicted about this)
Matt Hughes over Chris Lytle
Jason MacDonald over Rich Franklin

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I would have to agree that Tim will win over Randy, though I would love to see Randy win. No doubt that Matt will win over Chris. MacDonald and Franklin; I'm torn. I know Franklin is a tough guy and this will be MacDonald's toughest fight ever. He's working hard in the gym and my Instructor says he ground game is getting tighter. He made a comment about Ed Herman and that Ed must be one tough guy because Jason has a wicked triangle. I'm not sure Jason has the stand up ability that Franklin does but I will put Jason's ground game up against the best. If Jason can get him to the ground quickly and ward off any punches thrown then I think he has got a good chance of winning. Go home boy.

I would like to see Couture win. If you look at some of the factors going for Couture in this fight he does have a chance of winning. Couture is a smart fighter, Im pretty sure hes not going to do what Munson did and shoot from way outside where Tim can easily sprawl. I think hell try to use his stand up skills to get in close enough to tim in order to clinch and take it to the ground from there. Although Tim has strong wrestlers like Matt Hughes to train with, his freakishly large size, power and reach and younger age are the main factors going for him. So honestly I could see this fight going either way. Head says Sylvia, heart says Couture.

While MacDonald lacks the stand up skills Franklin has, I believe his ground game is superior. Franklin's mindset is also called into question after that devastating loss to Anderson Silva. Some people believe that such a loss makes you even more fired up to train and win, but sometimes thats not always the case. (Wanderlei Silva in the last Pride, recovering still from CroCop KO. Chris Lytle losing to Matt Sera) MacDonald is also on fire right now. So to make it interesting I say MacDonald over Franklin.

Franklin didn't have any problems getting back in after his loss to Machida. Bringing up his mindset is more of people hoping Macdonald will win - the fact people are talking about it shows that not many people think he can win under normal circumstances and expect Franklin's mindset to do it for him.

Unless the standup Macdonald showed against Leben was completely out of the ordinary and he's much better than that, I wouldn't be surprised to see Macdonald laid out flat before he can clinch. If he gets the body lock, maybe he can get the fight down and he's got a good chance on the ground, but Franklin's definitely a good wrestler and is no stranger to subs.

Diaz gomi...wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWkZeJbAaiQ&NR

Ha ha I do hope he wins.

Diaz has more losses than he should have. He's got the abilities but it's a coin toss whether he comes in with the right game plan. Against Sanchez he should have used the strategy he used against Sherk, and vice versa. Against Joe Riggs a lot of people felt he deserved the win. Given that he has the ability to be an 18-3 instead of 15-6 with 3 straight losses. He was a bit underrated because of that, so it really wasn't that surprising that he beat Gomi.