Ultimate Fight Night-On Spike TV

It's that time once again, free UFC! On Thursday, April 6th, the UFC will put on a full fight card free to the public. Well, that is if you have cable tv and receive the Spike channel. Ultimate Fight Night will take place in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel and from the looks of the line-up, it should be an entertaining night. There's not much in the way of A Class fighters on the card, but the match-ups should be fun and some of these talented fights could be on their ways to becoming A class fighters. The UFC has done a good job at taking fighters from the Ultimate Fighter tv show and given them opportunites to grow with the sport. My Ultimate Fight Night Predictions: I will not predict every fight as I am not familar with ALL of the fighters on the card. Most, but not all. Stephan Bonnar vs. Keith Jardine Jardine is the heavier fighter but hasn't looked overly impressive in the UFC Heavyweight division. If he is allowed to fight at his listed weight of 220 he will have a distinct advantage. Bonnar is one of the most fun fighters to watch because he always put everything out there on the line, e.g. Bonner vs. Griffen. If Jardine has to come down in weight to Light Heavyweight, Bonner wins this easily. Bonner by TKO Rashad Evans Vs. Sam Hoger Rashad (The Ultimate Fighter Heavyweight winner) is an extremely gifted athlete as well as a fighter. My biggest gripe with him is that he can also be a boring fighter who just fights to barely get the win. He is not an explosive fighter who tries to end fights but good enough to win. Hoger isn't one of the most exciting fighters either. This could make for the most boring fight of the night. Rashad is quick and crafty and Hoger hasn't shown anything too inspiring in the octagon. Rashad by decision Joe Stevenson Vs. Josh Neer Joe Stevenson won the Ultimate Fighter competition and did so some what easily. He's a very strong and quick fighter with great ground control. If he is in the same form as he was on the tv show, Neer could be in for a long night. Stevenson by ground and pound Chris Leben Vs. Luigi Fioravanti The Crippler, Chris Leban. The guy you love to hate. I always pick this guy to lose, but he has shown me time and again to not bet against him. The guy has a head like a bowling ball and is savvy enough to no get caught in a submission. If Luigi tries to hang and bang, he'll get the short end of the stick. I see Luigi bringing the fight to the ground with Leben on top. We'll have to see what Luigi's ground defense is like. Leben by TKO Luke Cummo Vs. Jason Von Flue I think Cummo impressed the vast majority of Ultimate Fighter fans with his performances on the show. The guy is a nutjob, but surprising well rounded and intelligent in the ring. It must be all the meditating he does. Von Flue showed the heart of a lion during the same season and is no push over by any means. He had good hand, but so too does Luke "I am your father" Cummo. Von Flue is not a gound expert and will keep it on their feet. Luke will bring it to the mat only if he gets in trouble in the stand-up game. Cummo is too well rounded to be beat by a somewhat one dimensional fighter. Cummo by decision Josh Koscheck Vs. Ansar Chalangov Everyone knows who Koscheck is and no one knows who Chalavgov is, including myself. I won't predict a winner, but I'll predict the activity in the ring. Josh is an incredible athlete, stong, and is always in tip top shape. He'll probably stand with Ansar and if Ansar has any game whatsover standing, he'll get the better of Josh. Josh will take it to the ground, reverting back to what he knows best, wrestling. He'll control Ansar on the ground, unless Ansar is a submission expert, which I do not know. I'm not a fan of Josh as he does not represent the evolution of the sport or a complete mix martial artist. I hope he shows otherwise, but if he goes back to his bread and butter, I hope he loses and the UFC moves on to a more dynamic and versital fighter. For the rest of the guys on the fight card, I either an not familar enough to make a decision on or I'm just not interested enough to care. I've left out a few fights, but the ones I called you can take to the bank, or better yet, the sportsbook.

Shamrock vs. Gracie

The trash talking fued between Frank Shamrock and Caesar Gracie has finally been settled. The long awaited "Super Fight" between Shammy and Gracie went down on Friday. Anyone who thought Caesar had a legit chance against the former UFC star was smoking crack. Here is a guy with his first reall MMA fight going against King of Pancrase and UFC champion. Sure Caesar has a great ground game, but as we all know, ground game isn't good enough these days. Put Gracie against a pure striker 10 years ago and he submits him easily. Not any more. Oh, in case you didn't hear, the fight when all of :21 or :24 seconds ending with Gracie rocked with his ass on the canvas. My thoughts: First off it is a shame that we weren't treated to a better fight. I would have loved to see these guys scramble on the ground, transistion to transistion. Second, it is great to see Shamrock back in action. I can only pray that he will have another go in the UFC and compete in the middleweight division. More editorial about that in the next few days. Third, why the hell did Caesar try to stand up with Frank? Caesar is not a striker. He's a grappler, an amazing one that that, not a striker. Now Frank on the other hand is a world class striker. How can you think you can walk into a ring as a stiking novice and even come close to holding your own with someone like Frank? It would be like Alistar Overeem trying to choke out a ju-jitsu guy. Oh, what, he did (Belfort)...bad example. It would be like Liddell trying to submit Royce Gracie, a terrible game plan that would only lead to failure. Caesar, at least you had the ball to fight a living legend in your first MMA fight. Shame on you for talking so much trash over the years, you obviously had no right to. Stick to your game and stay out of MMA.