It's MMAzing: November 2012

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Undisputed UFC Welterweight Championship
Georges St-Pierre (c) v. Carlos Condit (ic)

Doctor Law: He’s finally back. Georges St-Pierre returns to the cage for the first time since him and Jake Shields bored 70,000 Canadians for 5 rounds 19 months ago. To recap: GSP was supposed to fight Nick Diaz in October 2011 at UFC 137, but Nick got pulled from that fight because he got high and lost in Stockton. Condit stepped in for Diaz, but GSP had to pull out due to a hamstring injury (you owe us all $80 GSP). Then, Diaz called him a bunch of mean names after whooping BJ Penn’s ass and GSP decided he wanted to fight him at UFC 143. However, injured hamstring was actually torn ACL so GSP pulled out of that fight and Condit was given a decision over Diaz for the belt. Condit then sat on his ass for 9 months. Alright, let’s be real folks; if GSP wasn’t coming off of injury, no one would give Condit a chance and quite frankly…I still don’t think he has one. On the Countdown show they were talking about how “elite” Condit’s BJJ is. Please note that when Nick Diaz got him down it took him all of 8 seconds to take his back. GSP takes this and it won’t be close. GSP by 4th round TKO.

Kid Presentable: Why did Condit get an interim belt? Like they say, you aren't really the champ until you've defended it, oh wait... that's right Mr. Condit. Clearly no fan of the Natural Born Killer since his fight with Nick Diaz, I see this fight going for the returning champion. The Prime Time show has served to focus on GSP's road to recovery from an ACL tear and how GSP might be a shell of himself. GSP is one of the hardest working fighters in the biz though, and my guess is that he will return and look as strong as ever. Hype this fight however you need to, but in my mind I see this fight so clearly in the favor of GSP. People forget how good Georges can be on the feet, and that it is exactly what he made his name on. GSP's aptitude for wrestling made most people forget about what his background really is, but that is OK because Condit has very porous takedown defense. I think GSP will not only return to form, but I think GSP finally will have the drive to pursue the finish here. I expect and hope for a thrashing. But more importantly, the corners will both be Greg Jackson free. GSP by TKO round 3.

DJ Mark with a “K”: It’s hard to pick against GSP at this point in his career. His two loses are now faint memories that have more or less been replaced with dominating decisions. The one thing you can look at and maybe spot some weakness is in his last fight were he struggled to win a stand up war against Jake Shields (granted an eye point seemed to really take the fight out of him). If GSP fights the same way against Condit It’ll be a rough night for the rightful champ. Personally I don’t see that happening, I think GSP will be able to stand with Condit enough to set up and take down and work from the top to get the victory. GSP - 5 round decision.

Lavender Gooms: It's great to have GSP back in the octagon. He is a martial artist in every sense of the word and normally everyone would have no problem picking him to beat Condit handily. But this fight isn't happening in a vacuum and GSP is returning from a year and a half lay off because of a knee injury. So the question on everyone's mind is how will GSP look in his first fight back? Has a chink appeared in armor of the Canadian GOAT? Personally I think GSP attacked his rehab with the same dedication he shows his craft and he'll be better than ever. His game plan for this fight will be similar to his fight against Alves, who was also a very dangerous striker. He'll keep out of the way of any dangerous strikes, secure the takedown when he can and control the stand up. GSP by Unanimous decision.

Picking St-Pierre: All of us
Picking Condit:

Image via bleacherreport.com

Martin Kampmann v. Johny Hendricks

Doctor Law: The winner of this fight is going to be #1 contender of the welterweight divison. Well…kinda. If GSP beats Condit, most signs point to him taking on Anderson Silva in a superfight in early to mid-2013. Also, there is this guy coming back from suspension in February named Nick Diaz who may have something to say about who gets the next shot. My guess is that the winner of this fight has the honor of being the guy Nick Diaz fights while everybody waits for GSP to come back from fighting Anderson. Anyways, this is a pretty interesting matchup. You have Kampmann, who does everything pretty well, against Hendricks, who does exactly two things well. If you stop Hendricks from taking you down and from hitting you with the big overhand left, you’re probably going to win. Unless your name is Koscheck and Doctor Law has money on you (Hendricks owes me $462.75). Martin is really the whole package and I think he finds a way to get it done here. Kampmann by 3rd round TKO.

Kid Presentable: This fight is for the interim... wait I mean #1 contendership. So really, WHY did Condit get a belt exactly? Hendricks was initially wanting to simple wait out for his earlier promised title shot, but I think at least somewhere along the way Dana realized this entire division shouldn't just take the year off. Hendricks star mostly comes from his immediate Kraken unleashing on Jon Fitch, but I really don't buy into it yet. Hendicks is basically the new, well more like version 1.2 of Josh Koscheck. Good wrestler, strong overhand. Kampmann has long been one of the most underappreciated guys in the division, possessing a complete MMA game. Terrible judging is the only thing keeping Martin from having an even more impressive run right now. Sure Kampmann has a tendency to get hit, but with a far superior technical standup and very strong takedown defense, Kampmann will find his spots throughout this fight. I look for Kampmann to drop Hendricks, take the fight to the ground and finish with a choke. Kampmann by submission round 2.

DJ Mark with a “K”: Personally I’ve been pretty high on Hendricks and have downplayed Kampmann but I think I’ll finally turning around on Kampmann. While Hendricks has all the momentum in his favor I think Kampmann is a really tough fight for him. If Hendricks can’t get Kampmann down he’s going to have a tough time on his feet. Factor in Kampmann’s cardio and I think he has enough factors in his favor to get the W here. Kampmann TKO 3rd round 2:12

Lavender Gooms: Crazy implications for this fight. If there's no superfight for GSP, whoever wins gets the next shot at GSP. If there is a superfight...well this is just another fight isn't it? This is a hard fight to pick. While Kampmann has superior striking technique, Hendricks has wrestling and a distinct edge in power. I love Kampmann's polished technique, he has shown a penchant for getting hit and that is not a flaw you want to have when fighting someone with gorilla strength like Hendricks. While I can see Kampmann taking this fight to decision, it's completely possible Kampmann gets caught early. Even so I think Kampmann has learned his lesson (i.e. the Thiago Alves fight), will keep his hands up, not get his bell rung and earn a decision. Kampmann by decision.

Picking Kampmann: All of us
Picking Hendricks:

Here are a few things in life we all saw coming from a mile away. Liberace being gay, Ross ending up with Rachel, the 4th Hokage being Naruto's dad and we can't forget when we learned that bears DO in fact go twos in the woods. We have one more nugget to add to this list. On Friday it was announced that after their January card, Strikeforce would shut its doors, with many of it's fighters (hopefully) joining the UFC.

If there was any surprise or shock to be had from this news was that it took so long for this to happen. As soon as it was announced that Zuffa had purchased the San Jose based promotion, there wasn't a person on this planet that didn't think it would go the way of Pride after it was purchased. BUT...we were told SF would NOT be folded into the UFC and would remain a separate promotion. A fairy tale on par with the Tooth Fairy and Sasquatch.

Even as they fed us this story, many of their top fighters defected to the UFC, leaving the roster so depleted they had to cancel two separate cards on account of a lack of quality fights. If the writing wasn't plain to see on the wall in March 2011 when they were purchased, a fat lady with a megaphone singing your favorite hits was added during the last two months. You're all listeners of the podcast, so you likely already know about how we've talked ad nausea about how if managed properly, SF could have been operated as a "minor-league" promotion for the UFC, where young fighters could grow. However, we all know there's no crying over spilled milk or wondering about what soon to be defunct fight promotions could have done.

However, from the ashes of a once proud (-ish?) promotion comes the possibility for intriguing (well I do at least) story lines in the next year and a half:

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UFC 154 Predictions

Nov 12, 2012

Strikeforce announces it will fold. In related news, the sun will rise in the East tomorrow

Nov 11, 2012

It's MMAzing Radio - Episode 27

Nov 4, 2012

It's MMAzing Radio - Episode 26