Filed under: UFC
Before every big fight card, I write up a preview and predictions piece. Invariably, some of my predictions are wrong. Here I'll examine where I went wrong and why on my
UFC 114 preview and predictions.
Todd Duffee: I picked Duffee to beat Mike Russow, and I even wrote that the 24-year-old Duffee
could challenge Junior dos Santos for the title of the best young heavyweight in MMA.
For the first few minutes of the fight Duffee looked like he would prove me right. But two things started to happen: Duffee started to run out of gas, and Russow showed off an incredible chin and refusal to go down. Eventually Duffee had punched himself out and started to drop his hands, and then, in the third round, Russow landed a punch right on the money that knocked Duffee out.
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Jason Brilz, john hathaway, Todd Duffee, UFC 114, Where I Was Wrong
Filed under: UFC
The more live MMA events I attend, the more convinced I am that no two crowds are exactly alike. This was probably true in the heyday of the Roman Coliseum, as well. Some audiences heap love on even the most hapless gladiator, while others drink too much wine and boo everything from the lions to the free bread.
The sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand for
UFC 114 seemed especially inscrutable and difficult to please. If two fighters went more than ten seconds without unloading on each other, the boos came pouring into the Octagon.
UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and NBA great Tim Duncan got similar treatment just for appearing on the big screen. Snoop Dogg and Mike Tyson, however, both got a hero's welcome.
And David Spade? He was caught somewhere in the middle, which actually seems about right when you consider that he was in "Tommy Boy," but was also in "Dickie Roberts."
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Dan Lauzon, Dan Miller, diego sanchez, Efrain Escudero, Jason Brilz, john hathaway, Mike Russow, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Todd Duffee, UFC 114
Filed under: UFC
Say you go to a movie on opening night. Just humor me. I swear there's an MMA-related point in here somewhere.
Say it's supposed to be a big blockbuster, something you've been looking forward to since you first saw the trailer in all its explosion heavy, one-liner spewing, ADD glory. Say the movie itself turns out to be firmly mediocre. Say you feel like you've been letdown yet again.
Say you spend the rest of the evening wondering how Hollywood keeps convincing you to drop your money on this stuff.
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Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Jason Brilz, Quinton Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Todd Duffee, UFC 114
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, thousands of fans booed when two out of three judges awarded
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira a split decision win over
Jason Brilz at
UFC 114. Few if any of those fans knew that a few hours earlier in Amsterdam, a different fight promotion had used a different system of judging that might have given Brilz the victory that most fans thought he earned.
That fight promotion in Amsterdam was the It's Showtime kickboxing organization, and the different system of judging was quite simple: The show used five judges instead of three. Maybe two more judges would have gone for Brilz over Nogueira, and a five-judge panel would have given Brilz a split decision win at UFC 114.
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Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Jason Brilz, UFC 114
Filed under: UFC
Jason Brilz was on his way out of the Octagon after losing a somewhat controversial split decision to
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at
UFC 114, and all things considered he was feeling pretty good.
The sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand might have been moaning with indignation on his behalf, but he had a smile on his face. He'd fought well, he'd enjoyed himself, and now he was content to saunter off to the locker room and relax for a minute or two. He got about three steps out of the cage when he heard someone shouting at him.
"So I stopped and I looked over and it was Dana White," Brilz told MMA Fighting. "He said, 'Get your effing butt back in the effing cage, and give your victory speech. You won that effing fight.' I was like, yes sir. Your boss yells at you to do something, guess you've got to do it. I went back in."
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Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Jason Brilz, UFC 114
Filed under: UFC
Last time on Fighter vs. Writer,
Kenny Florian and I battled to an unsatisfying tie at UFC 126. Since I lost so many of these prediction contests early on, I've been pretty happy to get ties lately, but now that feeling is wearing off. It might be time to institute a tie-breaker question, possibly one involving state capitals since that was a strength of mine in elementary school (Pierre, South Dakota, stand up!).
It won't be a problem this time around, as I go head-to-head with UFC light heavyweight
Jason Brilz for
UFC 127 predictions and we find plenty to disagree on.
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Jason Brilz, ufc 127