QGL MMA fans must be getting excited, never before have I seen such an exciting period in UFC... within 3 weeks the Welterweight championship, the interim Heavyweight championship, the Lightweight championship and the Middleweight championships will all be decided.

UFC Live will be airing within 24 hours.

* Light Heavyweight bout: Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones
* Heavyweight bout: Junior dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
* Heavyweight bout: Cheick Kongo vs. Paul Buentello
* Middleweight bout: Alessio Sakara vs. James Irvin

Very excited for this event, but not the main fight. JDS has been in amazing form and there's a lot of angry fans that believe he should be fighting Carwin for the interim Heavyweight belt... regardless he's got a hell of an opponent in Gonzaga and this will IMO be the fight of the event. With a solid win here, Dana and the UFC could not possibly deny JDS the next title shot at Heavyweight (or at least at Cain for the contender), with 4 wins in a row now and undeafted in the UFC it's really becoming a bit f***ing lame (considering Mir has ONE win over Kongo to get ANOTHER title shot).

Very interested in the Kongo vs Buentello fight, this feels like a matchup where someones going to get seriously hurt... and that someone is Buentello. Kongo is coming off that VERY embarassing loss to Mir's guillotine in UFC 107 and while I respect Buentellos amazing heart as a fighter, I feel Kongos striking has been thoroughly proven in the past and his conditioning is easily better. He will come out swinging for revenge and looking to move back up into the top 10 HW.

UFC 111

* Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St. Pierre (c) vs. Dan Hardy
* Interim Heavyweight Championship bout: Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin
* Welterweight bout: Ben Saunders vs. Jake Ellenberger
* Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
* Lightweight bout:Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek

Then the big event.

GSP vs Hardy for the belt. I've been a big fan of Dan Hardy and I've watched him move up the Welterweight division but I don't believe he's at the level of GSP. He's on a great win streak atm but the only impressive victory so far is over Mike Swick... he hasn't dealt with Koscheck, he hasn't dealt with Rumble Johnson, hasn't stood up with Thiago, I feel he's way in over his head and IMO not the top contender. Dana and the UFC are absolutely pimping this UK fighter and a lot of fans speculate that the UFC primarily decides titleshots and fights in general on ratings (read: money), this feels like a prime example. The last GSP title shot was against Alves (fighting on the same card) who was a specialist striker... we all saw how that ended... now they have Hardy in the same boat. I'm excited for the match and I feel while it's standing Hardy will bang with GSP but ultimately he's not a champion and it's just a smart move by the UFC to grab UK viewers /shrug.

Mir vs. Carwin, I'm very mixed up about. Mir is one of my favourite fighters but even I think this titleshot is in bad taste after his ONE win against Kongo. Carwin is an absolute destroyer but then again Frank Mir is stepping into the octagon at 280-285 vs the 245 he was against Lesnar for the Heavyweight belt... the 50-60 second domination of Kongo wasn't enough time to really tell how this massive weight gain and strength/conditioning program of Mir has really helped, I guess this is the fight.

Alves vs Fitch sounds alright tooooo :D

WE ARE LIVE

Really good analysis CHUB, enjoyed reading.

I'm watching 111 at the Pineapple Hotel on Sunday, should be a treat. Unfortunately we are having ariel problems at home at the moment, so don't think I'll get to see the other event. But yes, have been looking forward to 111 for ages.

BRING IT ON!

GSP!

So UFC live starts at 11:30am, today on ONE HD? The tv guide says the swimming is on.

So UFC live starts at 11:30am, today on ONE HD? The tv guide says the swimming is on.

UFC isn't on FTA is it?

This UFC Live is the debut event for the Versus channel (US), which normally broadcasts all the WEC events.

EDIT: Remember, not results or spoilers till 24 hours after event.

I've never bet on ANYTHING in my life but thought I would put some very small wagers on, that sportsbet.com site is pretty nifty.

$20 @ 1.39 for JDS to win
$20 @ 1.25 for Kongo to win

last edited by CHUB at 11:24:16 22/Mar/10

do you train mma chub?

Not really, I trained in Muay Thai through my teenage years and a bit of BJJ.

I train in amateur wrestling atm but beyond that I'm not really doing any striking or fight conditioning.

Northside blows for MMA.

UFC Live was going to be on One HD from memory.

UFC 111 kicks off 12pm Sunday Brisbane time (1pm AEDT). However, I just thought - does daylight saving finish this weekend?

You guys are correct

One HD
9pm
UFC: Vera v Jones

***SPOILERS*** - event is 24hrs old

Dos Santos gets better everytime, poor ManBearPig got touched up. Can't wait to see how santos fares vs Velasquez/Mir/Carwin/Lesnar.

Vera looked like he had a broken orbital bone and/or cheekbone, that was pretty bad. Jones has a f***in 7ft reach, the dude is a monkeyman.

Oh and how funny was it when kongo was beating the s*** out of buentello, and joe rogan goes "paul buentello is being molested". haha . Also that dude who got punched twice after the KO looked rooted.

is it just me or did Vera look weak? As soon as he entered the octagon i knew he was going to lose. And i wanted him to win.

I thought Vera was going to dominate but yeah it ws the other way around.

i thought one thing before the event, however my prediction did not eventuate. Discuss.

Dos Santos gets better everytime, poor ManBearPig got touched up. Can't wait to see how santos fares vs Velasquez/Mir/Carwin/Lesnar.

He really does.

The next titleshot will be either JDS or Cain, whether they make them fight eachother beforehand or give them each a shot... who knows... probably will give Cain a shot first with his undefeated win streak (knocking out Nog really shot him up) but it will be JDS time very soon.

I would like to see Cain take on another top level contender before the titleshot (Ben Rothwell was meh :S) but if he did take the UFC belt with his stats and story... oh god, the bounty on his head would be enormous and the events would be huge.

Oh and how funny was it when kongo was beating the s*** out of buentello, and joe rogan goes "paul buentello is being molested". haha . Also that dude who got punched twice after the KO looked rooted.

As predicted, this was always going to swing in Kongos favour.

A lot of people are down on Kongo because of his losses... but they are losses to some pretty high level fighters.

Paul had a few good wins but it was against duds... seemed like a fair matchup on paper but in reality it wasn't.

last edited by CHUB at 22:25:22 23/Mar/10

Kongo doesn't have the game to beat the top fighters. Mir made him look like a rookie and Carwin/Velasquez/Lesnar would all do the same. Kongo looks good against the mid to lower tier fighters and has established himself as a gatekeeper but will never fight for the title in the UFC.

Dos Santos looked great against Gonzaga, a guy who has an awesome all round game but Dos Santos was faster and used his power to get the KO. While Carwin and Mir are shaping for a shot against Lesnar, I'd like to see JDS take on Velasquez with the winner getting the next title shot, the loser taking on the loser of Carwin/Mir. It's great to see how awesome the heavyweight division is at the moment, only a couple of years ago the lack of depth was a reasonable complaint.

Jon Jones was fantastic against Vera. Compared to his bout against Bonnar, he's taken his striking to another level and dominated which puts him in the top 10 for his division. But he's not ready yet and would struggle against the contenders - Rua, Machida, Jackson, Evans or Griffin. An awesome fight for him would be Little Nog - beat him and the top 5 would need to be looking over their shoulders.

As for this weekend, Hardy will give GSP a run for his money but will be TKO'd some time in the 4th round. I love Frank Mir's work but Carwin will be too strong and he and Lesnar will give us a battle of the Behemoths to unify the title.

Fitch vs Alves should be a good match, but the fight I'm very keen on is Almeida vs Brown. RA has some awesome BJJ that he's ditched in favour of his stand up/take down game in recent fights, here's hoping he shows off some of the more exciting ground skills against "The Immortal".

As for this weekend, Hardy will give GSP a run for his money but will be TKO'd some time in the 4th round. I love Frank Mir's work but Carwin will be too strong and he and Lesnar will give us a battle of the Behemoths to unify the title.

I feel it will go 5 rounds, I can see Hardy wanting to bang with GSP but ultimately GSP will get him to ground OVER and OVER like Alves and keep the pressure up and ultimately win by an easy decision, Hardy's takedown defence won't stand up in the slightest to GSP. He is pretty durable though but hasn't been tested on the ground so I don't know about that TKO :D... will GSP beat him in a standup war? Na, I don't think so.

What I'm REALLY looking foward to is when Hardy loses and ends up fighting the REAL top of the welterweight division... I would LOVE to see a standup brawl between Hardy and Rumble Johnson, that would be a fight where someones head gets taken off... unfortunately a loss would probably mean he misses a matchup with Koscheck (my 2nd favourite fighter) who will probably get the next titleshot after 1 more win.

I love Frank Mir's work but Carwin will be too strong and he and Lesnar will give us a battle of the Behemoths to unify the title.

Don't put Mir out of the race yet.

There's a BIG difference between weighing in at 245/fighting at 245 and weighting in at 265 and fighting at 280-285.

Look at him, UFC 100 vs Lesnar... no wonder he got f***ing smashed. Lesnar with an amazing wrestling background and such a size advantage, I wonder what was going through Mirs head.

http://cyberaxis.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/lesnar-vs-mir-ufc-81.jpg

Mir was absolutely HUGE in the Kongo fight and newly motivated.

last edited by CHUB at 23:19:59 23/Mar/10

The problem with Koschek vs Hardy would be getting them to shut up :-)

Don't forget to play Pick 'Em on ESPN, their fantasy MMA game, if you're too cheap to put any money on the result...

Can we talk about this yet? Or have people not had a chance to see it.

I caught it live at the Pineapple Hotel this arvo - really good atmosphere!

was disappointing with the fights. only 1 or 2 ko's :(

very surprised at the mir carwin fight.

hardy v gsp went how i expected.

cant wait for brock to come back, will be an awesome fight

Best to give it a day, otherwise tears may be shed.

Decent crowd down at the Kenmore Tavern this time, usually its just me with a couple of mates amongst the few bar regulars.

As always some good fights with the odd boring affair. Someone called Spoiler:
Jon F... no that's too obvious, lets say J Fitch,
I'm looking at you.

Wow, what an event :D

Carwin absolutely SMASHED the s*** out of Mirs face, I couldn't believe it... I think it's official now, Mir, you need to be put back into the thick of things and bash around the middle of the division. That loss really puts him to a different level to Lesnar/Carwin/Cain/JDS.

I can only see good things to come from Carwin, especially Vs. Lesnar who I think has a similar style. I know suits really bulk people up and Lesnar isn't at fight weight, but f*** he's huge and he knows how to cut from his wrestling background so I'm excited to see him try and manhandle Carwin.

GSP vs Hardy, whoever set that up needs an uppercut. As predicted, went 5 rounds with GSP just smoothering him with his ground game. If you took out those 2 submission attempts (which in themself were amazing and some of the most brutal I've seen in the UFC) the fight was a complete snooze and I was dissapointed.

Same old s*** over and over... and I don't mind someone that keeps an opponent on the ground but ffs, at least do some damage GSP, Hardy didn't even have a scratch after 25 minutes.

I felt so bad for that guy that wanted to standup, slipped on his first kick and got caught in a submission and got his knee f***ED UP, seriously sadface.

Sorry CHUB, Mir is out of the race

As predicted, Carwin opened up the can of whoop-ass all over Frank, setting up the Carwin/Lesnar fight. Giddyup.

On the other hand, you called the GSP snooze-fest. Props. Fitch must read the same playbook. Hardy didn't tap to the two GSP submission attempts so although he lost he showed a ton of heart to hang in for five rounds.

The rest of the card was solid, Miller vs Bocek was entertaining as was Hamman vs Wallace. Rousimar Palhares vs Tomasz Drwal was the mad submission bout - poor Drwal will be visiting the hospital to get that knee fixed up. Ouch.

GSP vs Hardy, whoever set that up needs an uppercut

Joe Silva is the UFC matchmaker.

Dan Hardy only got a title shot because GSP has cleaned out the rest of the division and he probably wasn't ready for some one on the level of GSP yet. That being saud man Hardy is a warrior and I have a lot more respect for him after he battled his way through the submission attempts from GSP.

The problem with GSP now is that he knows his takedowns and wrestling are so much better than everyone else that he dosn't take chances anymore and its all about this legacy of being the best of all time.

The rest of the card was solid, Miller vs Bocek was entertaining as was Hamman vs Wallace. Rousimar Palhares vs Tomasz Drwal was the mad submission bout - poor Drwal will be visiting the hospital to get that knee fixed up. Ouch.

I dont have source but I read on another forum that Palhares has coped a 90day ban for holding onto that sub for too long. Which reminds of the time that BJ Penn held onto a RNC too long but nothing came of that (I think it was against Jens Pulver).

Sherdog have backed up the Palhares ban story. Not a big shock there.


last edited by neimad at 20:58:14 30/Mar/10

Has anyone else watched the trailers for UFC 2010?

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/ufc-undisputed-2010/12431

It looks like a huge step up from last years edition and I can't wait for the demo as it's supposedly going to have 8 heavyweights and 8 welterweights.

Anyone going to watch UFC Fight Night?

My favourite fighter Kenny Florian is taking on the Pride superstar Takanori :D

GO GO KENNY!

Also worthwhile to watch Roy Nelson (all round f***tard/winner from Ultimate Fighter Season 10) taking on the lankiest f*** in MMA, 6 foot 11 Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve.

I don't know how Struve is going to holdup to that fatass gut of Nelson lying on top of him... but Nelsons s***ty IFL fame won't standup to the UFC Heavyweight division and eventually someone will smash him... and that day will be glorious :D

Will download it and watch it on the plane on the weekend. I am a Florian fan too, seems to conduct himself very well. And yeah, the Struve fight will be a classic - two completely different body shapes.

UFC 111, memorable for Diaz moving up to welterweight and kicking ass.

Although Hardy obviously stood little chance I was really hoping he would win, in the end he was lucky not to have a broken arm or two. Unfortunately the fight was only on the feet for about 1 minute of the 25. People should just try to knee GSP in the head when he takes you down, defending his takedowns are futile for most.

Carwin basically did what I thought he would. Mir initiated the clinch with both Lesnar and Carwin, seriously dumb tactics against wrestlers like that. He needs to box and then maybe pull guard when guys like that are controlling him, his wrestling is nowhere near theirs. I'd like to see him fight JDS next, I see Mir turning into a gatekeeper for the top HW's.

Can't wait for Lesnar vs Carwin, f*** that will be exciting.

I like struve, and hope he wins, but I think hes in a little trouble. That fatty Nelson is pretty experienced and underrated cause of his gut. Would be great to see thai head clinch with knees to finish fatty.

Maybe get to see Florian use his sharp elbows again.

Does anyone know what channel UFC Fight Night will be on, I assume it's Fuel or One?

WE ARRRRE LIVE!

Good fights and card all round.

lesnar vs carwin
lesnar vs dos santos
carwin vs dos santos
will be f***in sick

How does JDS fight them without beating cain first...

I don't think JDS will fight Cain soon... at least I wouldn't put them against eachother, it's not good marketing.

2 exciting fighters that will both have strong runs towards the title, if you make them fight eachother then it's only 1.

what we need is Fedor Emalienenko to come visit the UFC and shake them up!

Fedor is the man

24 hours since:

Woah, Nelson f***ED Struve up :S

My main man Kenny and the kickass Brit Ross won me good money :D

Very good fight night! :D

Poor Struve , he seems like a nice guy :(.