Full Court Press

Styles make fights and Jackson and Liddell will be a great one...I'm going with Jackson in a 1st round stoppage...Parisyn needs to win or he's out of the UFC...let's go with Iron Mike's look a like with Terry Martin and his a Chicago kid...Keith Jardine is favored but you never know with the UFC (I.E. GSP) and Kalib Starnes should walk though Chris Leban.

I have to go with Liddell. The champions have been going down left and right in the UFC as of late but I don't think ole Chuck will suffer the same fate. Rampage is strong and I have seen him slam dudes to the mat so hard they were knocked out by the blow. But good luck getting a hold of Liddell; he has the best sprawl in the game. Rampage says he can bang with Chuck. If he can go toe-to-toe and survive, then he should be Champ; but I don't see that happening. Liddell has an iron jaw as well and even if he didn't he has the heaviest hands in the 205 class. I don't see Jackson lasting past the second round. Tito got into the third with Liddell before he got KO-ed last time. Tito's conditioning is some of the best in the game, and I doubt Rampage trains like Ortiz.

I think we will see an exciting fight none the less. I doubt Jackson will go down without a fight. I just don't think he has enough for Liddell, and I don't think anyone at 205 does right now. Chuck's at the top of his game right now, and as long as his guest appearance on Entourage didn't interfere with his training I think he will be alright.

I am looking forward to the Starns/Lieben match up myself. I love watching Lieben get beat on. His mouth is bigger than any attack he has.

Roman responds: I agree about "The Crippler." He's more of a character than anything else. I'm looking forward to see Martin.

Thank you Ro!

Here's the card:
Liddell vs. Jackson
Burkman vs. Parisyan
Martin vs. Salaverry
Jardine vs. Alexander
Starnes vs. Leben
T. Silva vs. Irvin
Belcher vs. Salmon
J. Stephens vs. D. Thomas
C. Marrero vs. W. Gouveia

And my picks:
Liddell def Jackson: I want to say via KO in the 1st but I think that might be a bit of wishful thinking. I'll go KO 3rd; but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it went to a dec.
Burkman def Parisyan: TKO early thrid. Karo's judo is world class; and it will give Josh a run for his money. But in the end I think Burkman's G&P are going to give him a "w" against Karo. There's a back story here... Karo's advantage is he works at Legends (Randy Couture's LA Gym) and Burkman started training MMA w/ OR Team Quest; where he would work out with Randy daily. Karo has coily talked crapped leading up to this. Josh is excited to throw him down and just pummel him.
Martin def Salaverry: Martin has proven that he has KO power (see Rivera fight). Ivan is a UFC vet who has been out of the game for clost to two years, I'm taking Martin on this one via KO late second. This psych major's should have an advantage to play mind games w/ the opponent. :)
Starnes def Leben: Most probably wont agree, but Stranes is a Gracie-trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt. Leben's stand up is pretty good, but he still needs work on his ground game. I think as long as Starnes can get on the ground he'll hold dominance over the whole bout. And I admit, I'm a little bias becuase one of Starnes' heros is Noam Chompsky... a fighter with a some sense. Sub mid-late second.
T. Silva def Irvin: I watched Thiago's last fight, he impressed me; and he's a Chute Boxe kid w/ Wanderlei in his corner. Both have BJJ on their side, but I think Silva's Muay Thai/ BJJ mix will prevail in this one. Sub early third, or TKO late second.
Belcher def Salmon: I just like Belcher. TKO early-mid third.
D. Thomas def J. Stephens: Din by KO early second.
W. Gouveia def Marrero: mid thrid... tko?

I agree, Roman. Even though there's been some upsets lately, I don't see Liddell going down right now. I'm not saying he can't be beat. There's no one in the UFC right now at Light Heavyweight who can challenge Liddell. Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, and Keith Jardine are still green (even though Evans has a match against Tito Ortiz coming up and Jardine did beat Forrest Griffin), Stephan Bonnar has yet to come back from his suspension, Forrest Griffin is coming off the loss to Jardine, and Tito Ortiz has shown he can't hang with Liddell. With the UFC buying PRIDE, the Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell match might finally happen, and that would be a good fight.

Roman responds: I don't know if you saw my story last Sunday, but Bonnar is going to fight on July 7 on the undercard of Evans-Ortiz, which should be a good one. In fact, I'm picking Evans. We'll see about Chuck. He has been living large lately. Does he still have the hunger? I think so.

this is a tough one, rap has look really bad in his last few fights(exp eastman) but do have to agree chuck has been fighting fighters who hit him, but cannot hurt him, jermey h was really a middle weight, who stepped up, who hit chuck many times, chuck has no def, but could not hurt him, tito actually does have a decent right hand, he wasted to much energy trying to take chuck down, he hit ch with a good right hand to the chin, but what did tito do, he backed off, instead of moving foward and flw it up with more punches like holyfield would have, babo\lu, make me ashamed that he is from my country, he is a great grappler, but his chin is as soft as butter, randy well, i think he is to old, in his 2nd fight agst chuck, chuck slapped him and he went down for the count, RAP SHOULD NOT SPEND USLESS energy trying to take chu down, last time he landed the right hand and actually hurt him, i think he should maybe work on his counter left, barnard H used that punch against tarver

I'll be rooting for Chuck but I think this is a bad matchup for him and I see him losing the title Saturday. Rampage really did a number on him in their last fight. Karo Parisyan is going to destroy Josh Burkman.

Sorry, but Chuck is losing his title Saturday. Everyone says he has an iron jaw, but who has he fought that can actually throw like he can? Horn... not a chance. Tito...has one decent punch per fight. Sobral...I dont even know why he got a second shot at Chuck. Randy... he has worked on his stand-up but not near Chucks. I dont understand why everyone keeps brushing Rampage off. Not only did he beat Chuck, he straight up dominated him. I have Rampage with a KO in 2nd.

Roman responds: I'm really looking forward to it. I think Rampage has a good shot, but he didn't look very good against Eastman.

Dont worry about Jacksons first match against Eastman. First time in the UFC, just some jitters. Getting use to the octagon as opposed to the ring is huge. Personally, I am a huge fan of Chucks, but looking at this match-up, its definantly in Rampages favor. He beat Chuck before, dominated him in the fight, can take a punch better then any other fighter Chuck has fought, younger, definantly stronger. Has taken Chuck down before, and dropped bombs on him. Just dont be too suprised when there is a new champ on Saturday

Roman responds: Like I said, I just watched Shogun DESTROY Rampage, who basically quit. I see Chuck knocking him out in the first round.
BY THE WAY UFC FANS, I was on a conference call with Dana today and he said they were going to announce Diego Sanchez's retirement the day before his last fight because he tested positive for Hepatitis C. Then he tested negative afterward and fought and lost. Then it turned out he had a staph infection. So that's why he looked so bad. Or at least part of the reason.

Chuck's sprawl was no where near as good the last time he fought Rampage as it is now. His overall defense has improved also. He hasn't fought any one who can throw like he can because there is no one right now that can throw like he can if there were, they would be on the card.

Rampage is a much better fighter than he displayed against Eastman for sure. I am sure he is training differently for this one but he is not better than Liddell. Chuck is older but not to old to win. He has a couple of years left in him. I think that experience will play in his favor as well. Rampage will be where Chuck is in several years no doubt. But not at this time.

Look for a rubber match.

I am looking forward to Jardine's fight too. See if he is for real after his domination of Forrest.

Also there is supposed to be a bloody fight in the house on TUF tonight that might be the best fight of the week. No Big John? Sounds like fun to me.

Any predictions about the TUF winner? I like Diaz. I have always liked watching his brother fight.

Roman responds: Hasn't this been a great TUF season? Good stuff. But Jens needs to cover up that cold sore. Sheesh. Wear some makeup or something.
And as far as Rampage, I just saw a tape of him losing to Shogun. He quit. Chuck's going to kill him.

Nick and Nate Diaz just need to go away. They are little hoodlums who have gotten lucky... they scrap and that's about it. Nick just tested postive for "THC"... you know you're going to get tested, go w/o the stuff for long enough before your fight to at least clear the damn test.
I like Gray Maynard or Joe Lauzon. Even if they don't win I think they will be ones that are brought up just for their hard work and ability to prove that they do deserve to be part of the come-back UFC LW class. I was glad to see BJ step up last week and "re-assign" Andy Wang to Team Pulver -he's their headache now.

Roman responds: I couldn't believe Wang balked at going to Team Pulver. They should have kicked his crying butt to the curb.
I disagree with the Diaz brothers. I think they're both talented and tough.
I think Lauzon will win, although I was pulling for Cole last night. I have a feeling Dana will give him another chance because of the illegal blow.

Rampage or Chuck? Chuck or Rampage? No contest Rampage wins. With every good it HAS TO END. Chuck has had his time in the spotlight and it was well deserved, he is an amazing fighter who can destroy must in the ring. Rampage is a fighter that is unpredictable. You never know what he is going to do. Overall it is going to be a great fight but Rampage wins in the 3rd. Hoorah.

Rampage seems to have lost his edge ever since he was beat down by Wanderlei Silva twice. if Rampage comes to fight it will be a very tough match for Chuck. he is as due for a win as much as Chuck is due for a loss. the first fight Rampage dominated Chuck. he beat him in a similar way that Couture did, with straight punches staying inside and out of range of Chucks looping haymaker punches. if he can repeat he has a chance to win. Chuck has improved his ability to control the space between him and his opponent. Chuck has to be careful of getting to comfortable with easy wins over mediocre opponents. Roman you seem to have watched all of Rampages loses, have you watched the war between him and Chuck? that is more reflective of the fight on Saturday (hopefully). I am really enjoying all of the upsets in the UFC. losses in MMA are inevitable and make the possible outcome tougher to predict. Dana should get some credit for creating good match ups. I would prefer to see less of him in front of the camera unless he is going to fight.

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell is in for a hughe meltdown. Jackson has way too much brute power,quickness and athletisism at this stage of the game for The Iceman to contend with. Outside of a slight standup striking advantage for Liddell, Jackson has the edge in all major areas. Ground and pound, wrestling, even submission game all favor Rampage. It will be a battle but look for Rampage to get the job done in the third round.

Roman responds: One big problem, as Tito found out (although I won't put Tito and Rampage on the same level), and that's you have to get close to Chuck to take him down. And few are willing to get that close. Tito kept taking shots from too far away, and Chuck's sprawl is too good. We'll see.
I know Rampage beat him up before, and he may do it again. But my money is on Chuck.

Nice tip on Diego Sanchez Roman. I knew there was something wrong with him in that last bout. He should have should have beat Koscheck no problem it shouldn't have gone to a decision. It was probably hard to shake off a mistake like that.

Nick Diaz tested positive for THC? LOL. Is that a performance enhancing narcotic? Well, maybe for rock stars it is. Nick should lay off it before fights I am sure it mellows his aggression.

TUF has been a great season. Dana should sign those two idiots who had the 1/2 drunken brawl (I don't know what the other guys excuse was) to the Penn vs Pulver card. I admire a man who won't tap out, he is not long for the game with that philosophy, but its fun to watch!

Rampage might be younger, quicker and more powerful than Liddell but he lacks discipline. Kenpo will win out over um... how does he describe it..oh yeah Rampagness. Having said that he sits on Chuck's chest and pounds on him again he might win I just don't see that scenario tonight.

Whatever happens people I am glad this fight is keeping my mind off the Cubs right? Which reminds me, I have to go, I don't want to sit in traffic on the 110 ;0

GO CUBS please!!!!