UFC 73:stacked

[steve-okneav-o]

who do you thinks going to win?

Nate Marquardt Vs. Anderson Silva

Hermes Franca Vs. Sean Sherk

Rashad Evans Vs. Tito Ortiz

Alvin Robinson Vs. Kenny Florian

Heath Herring Vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Mike Nickels Vs. Stephan Bonnar

Diego Saraiva Vs. Jorge Gurgel

Drew Fickett Vs. Chris Lytle

[CTLaxer]

Silva

Sherk

Ortiz

Ken Flo

No idea, I'm hoping it's a good tough fight

Bonnar (can they both lose? perhaps another No Contest like saturday night...)

No idea

Lytle

I'm too lazy for commentary right now, maybe I'll chime in with some later.

[kleinlax-75]

wen is george st. pierres next fight i think that guy is crazy good along with rampage jackson

[HeadHeartHustle]

wow, i never really got into UFC. It seemed to much like a lame fad (no offense, thats jsut wat i felt it would turn into.)

How many ultimate fighters are there now?

[Lax101]

A tad bit early to discuss, but why not:

Nate Marquardt Vs. Anderson Silva
Marquardt by decision. Nate is one of the smartest fighters in MMA and makes every fighter he faces, regardless of skill, look like crap. He's so versatile that he can change his gameplan to attack any fighter's weaknesses. For Silva, it's his strength and wrestling. Marquardt is big at 185 pounds and is a wrestler by trade. Marquardt will continue the string of upsets this year.

Hermes Franca Vs. Sean Sherk
Sherk is a scary lightweight. His striking is better than Franca's, his wrestling is miles ahead, and his ground game is solid enough to outwork Franca's jiu-jitsu. Franca can nail a crazy punch that can knock out Sherk, but Sherk has a great chin too. He'll be hungry after sitting 6-7 months out with that rotator cuff injury. Sherk by TKO, 3rd round.

Rashad Evans Vs. Tito Ortiz
Tito will get shut up. Rashad is one of the brightest and fastest growing fighters in the UFC. Tito's striking remains stagnant and Rashad is a better wrestler. It'll be decided by whether Rashad can adjust to a step up in competition. Rashad by decision.

Alvin Robinson Vs. Kenny Florian
KenFlo trains at my gym and we have the same Muay Thai instructor. His Muay Thai was flawless against Mishima and he looked great after the Sherk beating. He'll cement himself as one of the LHW elites. KenFlo by TKO, 2nd round.

Heath Herring Vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Awesome fight for a real MMA fan. PRIDE rematches are great and I think Herring will give it a better fight than people expect. But I still think Nogueira will grind it out in a very entertaining decision.

Mike Nickels Vs. Stephan Bonnar
Bonnar got caught with 'roids after the Griffin fight, and this fight is clearly to feed him and regain some confidence in this very popular fighter (or a formerly popular fighter, depending on how people react to the steroid bust). Bonnar will come back looking to impress, definitely. 1st round KO for Stephan.

Diego Saraiva Vs. Jorge Gurgel
Gurgel is overrated. But it's about time he wins.

Drew Fickett Vs. Chris Lytle
This will be the fight of the night for the average fan. Two VERY skilled fighters in arguably the most entertaining weightclass. Lytle is so crafty and resourceful, while Fickett has such a wide array of skills. This will be great on the ground and on standup. This is a last gasp for Lytle, who seems to have lost his fire after losing to Serra at the TUF4 Finale. Fickett, meanwhile, is one convincing win away from stepping into the WW elite. I think Lytle can steal this one and show he still has what it takes, but I don't see him joining a better gym or having any indications that he's going to change his ways. He's happy as he is as a firefighter. Fickett, meanwhile, is hungry and doesn't look as awful on the judges' scoring card as Lytle does. Fickett by decision.

wow, i never really got into UFC. It seemed to much like a lame fad (no offense, thats jsut wat i felt it would turn into.)

How many ultimate fighters are there now?
1) It's been around for 14 years now-nearly as long as you've been alive. Being that the promotion began when you were 4, I don't think you were there to rationalize that it would become one.

2) There is no such thing as an ultimate fighter. It's mixed martial arts, because there's more (and arguably better) promotions than the UFC. In a year, the UFC will probably go through several hundred different fighters on their fight cards, while there's thousands of up and coming fighters in independent promotions.

[EricL]

I'm a very enthusiastic ufc fan but I think stacked is not as exciting as others in term of matchups/people. Anyone else agree with me? The only reason I would pay 50 dollars for it is Rashad Evans Vs. Tito Ortiz in which Evans is going to win =D.

To second poster - You do know that St. Pierre lost against matt serrra for title belt? Its not going to be a while until St. Pierre gets another shot at a belt.

[CTLaxer]

Was a good event I thought. The fights went pretty much as expected with a few exceptions. Evans looked like he was scared of ortiz and wasn't really doing much of anything, meanwhile ortiz was just stalking evans in the cage...had he not grabbed the fence (I hate when he does that crap, or anyone else for that matter), the fight would've deservedly been a win for him.

Holy crap, where did Hermes Franca come from? I've never been a fan of his, seen a bunch of his fights, he always looked out of shape and just lucky. I was very impressed with how he came out against sherk. Those 3 knees that were textbook....man, I have no idea how sherk withstood those. Then the submission attempts that were seconds from complete. I gotta say, well done to franca, he made sherk look less impressive then he is which is no easy task (sherk's dismantling of florian for example...)

Speaking of sherk, I haven't seen him fight much, but was less impressed with him than franca, for reasons listed above. The guy is a tank though, 2 knees into guillotines to start rounds, then a couple of submission misses and another knee right on the button....the guy can take a number of good shots and still over power his opponents.

All in all, pretty good show...I almost freaked out when the silva fight happened and the florian fight was a no show (I'm a big fan), thankfully they didn't shaft us on that one.

Anyone know why fickett was replaced by gilliam? Lytle v Fickett would've been a great match to see (though I doubt they would've televised it last night). Injury? Weight? any ideas?