On November 2^nd, 2008, I blogged my analysis and fight predictions for November 15^th’s UFC91… Seems I was right on the mark with the fights that remained on the main card after last minute changes…

Nate Quarry Vs. Demian Maia (from Nov 2^nd’s blog)

Quarry has a lot of heart and great conditioning, but I don’t think this fight will last all that long… If Maia can take the fight to the ground, Quarry doesn’t have an answer for the various submissions that’ll be thrown at him…

Demian Maia by submission

This fight was a no brainer for diehard fightfans… Nate Quarry was a nice guy on TUF season 1, and has legitimate skills, but as Maia clearly displayed last Saturday, they are not in the same league and I don’t believe Quarry would make it out of the 1^st round vs the current division champ, Anderson Silva…

Gabriel Gonzaga Vs. Josh Hendricks (from Nov 2^nd’s blog)

Gonzaga is yet another bigger, stronger, younger, faster opponent that has faced Randy Couture and lost, but other than that setback and the decision Werdum barely edged out over him, Gabe Gonzaga is almost a seemingly unstoppable force as long as he has a good night…

Gabriel Gonzaga by TKO

Gonzaga showed both his power and superiority on Saturday night and the quick knockout of Hendricks was all arm, he didn’t even throw his hips into the short right hand that dropped him…

Amir Sadollah Vs. Nick Catone (from Nov 2^nd’s blog)

I don’t really know anything about the newcomer Catone, but despite his undefeated mma record, I’m positive the UFC won’t put Amir in against someone they think even has a chance at beating him with this being his 1^st fight in the Octagon since winning last season’s Ultimate Fighter…

Amir Sadollah by TKO

Of course, this matchup was cancelled due to a staff infection to Sadollah sadly postponing both Amir’s triumphant return as well as Nick Catone’s UFC debut…

On another note, I just want to point out that I’m tired of watching Jorge Gurgel stand toe to toe only to lose decisions when his BJJ is so good its ridiculous! I understand he wants to put on exiting fights and that he feels he’s “been there, done that” in the world of BJJ, but this is Mixed Martial Arts and he should fight with his head a little more instead of trying to prove he isn’t one dimensional every single fight… We get it Jorge, you’re a tough guy, you can take a punch as well as deliver a head kick, but your BJJ is so far above almost every opponent you’ve faced, WIN some fights! You’re frustrating to watch!

Kenny Florian Vs. Joe Stevenson (from Nov 2^nd’s blog)

If this fight stays standing up, Kenny Florian will pick Stevenson apart and if it goes to the ground, Florian is a much more dangerous submission fighter as well, BUT… Stevenson is a great wrestler and if he can take Florian down and avoid being submitted, he’s strong enough and has a good enough base to avoid being swept and keep the top position winning him a 3 round decision…

Kenny Florian by TKO

On Saturday night, KenFlo proved that dispite one of the worst nicknames in MMA, he does indeed disserve another title shot… That might’ve been the deepest rear naked choke I’ve seen in a long time and Joe Daddy held on as long as humanly possible, but if he’d waited even 5 more seconds before tapping, he would’ve been out cold and dreaming about being beat down by Kenny Florian… I don’t think BJ Penn is too worried about Florian though even though he should be, cuz Kenny’s been finishing fights almost every time in a division where many matchups go the distance…

Main Event:

Randy Couture Vs. Brock Lesnar (from Nov 2^nd’s blog)

I think Lesnar is too big and too strong and could possibly overwhelm Couture because both of their main strengths is wrestling… Lesnar is younger, bigger, stronger, AND faster, BUT… I won’t ever bet any money AGAINST Randy Couture cuz he’s made an entire career out of upset victories…

Brock Lesnar by TKO in the early rounds

I hate to say it, but I think that The Natural is just simply too small to defeat the MUCH larger Lesnar’s takedowns and ground and pound…

This was an unfortunate prediction for me being that I myself am a HUGE Randy Couture fan… I’m glad that Randy’s not planning to retire again quite yet…

The 1^st round was an awesome spectacle of athleticism, strength, will, and determination… Back and forth it went, with Brock shooting in for the take down and Randy stuffing the seemingly indestructible attempt… I was surprised at how Couture seemed to control the clinch against the much larger opponent and had Lesnar backed into the fence for much of the round… The Natural’s boxing was on point too as he peppered Brock with shots from unorthodox angles… Lesnar did surprise this fight fan as well though, he’s obviously been working extremely diligently on his standup cuz he was catching the much more experienced Couture, who boxed while in the army before starting his hall of fame MMA career, with stiff jab after stiff jab… All in all, the 1^st round seemed neck and neck, with both men holding the top position on the ground as well… Lesnar did look powerful and of course MUCH bigger and stronger, but Couture showed that his skills are far superior… At times it looked like a David and Goliath scenario, but round 2 proved what I’d been feeling since predicting this fight at the start of the month…

Round 2 started much as the 1^st, but Brock surprised the world catching the champ with an overhand right elbow of all strikes, wobbling the better striker in Couture… Lesnar then charged in for the finish only to be caught in the clinch while Randy seemed to recover… 30 seconds later though, the inevitable was realized as Brock fainted the jab, and caught the champ right behind the ear with his XXXXL straight right… Couture dropped to the canvas and Lesnar immediately pounced to finish the fight with an impressive barrage of quick powerful hammer strikes followed up by a few forearms and elbows before the ref stepped in…

I really think Couture should drop back down to 205, even at 45 years of age, he’s still been improving in almost every aspect of his game and I believe he has the tools to beat most of the light heavyweight contenders… We can only hope that 2009 will see possible matchups between Captain America and Forrest Griffin, Jardine, or maybe Rashad Evans… Imagine Couture catching Machida in the clinch, pushing him up against the fence and basically giving Lyoto the beating that eluded him thus far in Machida ’s career… How interesting would a fight between Randy and Rampage be? How about Wanderlei? There are so many possibilities for amazing matchups for Randy Couture at 205 before father time does finally catch up to him… 2009 should be an interesting year…

The views and opinions posted do not reflect that of Combat in Effect.