Mike Dear is a member of Big John’s McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy Fight Team With a history in Muay Thai, Wrestling and Jujitsu. His views do not necessarily reflect those of COMBAT-IN-EFFECT. Thank you, in advance, for your understanding.

Rich Franklin Vs. Dan Henderson

Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson is an interesting fight and very hard to predict. Both fighters are seasoned veterans of the sport and both are extremely well rounded. Dan Henderson is a world-class wrestler, competing for the U.S. in both the1992 and 1996 Olympics. He has heavy hands, with a great clinch. Rich Franklin was the UFC champ at 185 that seemed to be unbeatable. He has a great stand up game with a descent ground and pound. Franklin appears to go into the fight with more of a game plan in mind, while Henderson seems to feel out his opponents, and brawls a little more. I’m not comparing myself to Dan in anyway, but I know that I have a brawling style, and while it suits him well, I’ve experienced in practices I have been picked apart by technically superior, strategic fighters, that are even smaller than me. So in saying that, I think if it goes the distance I give Franklin the win because of his consistency of being able to strategically beat his opponents. If the fight ends early, Henderson takes it in the early rounds by TKO

Final Prediction:

Henderson TKO in early rounds

Mark “The Hammer” Coleman Vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

This fights going to be awesome. As most of us know Mark Coleman and Mauricio Shogun Rua fought once already in Pride and had an ending that I thought was more entertaining than the actual fight. Shogun, after attempting a couple different submissions, stood up as Coleman grabbed a double leg. As Shogun was falling to the ground he tried to soften his landing by putting his arm out and broke it. Now who knows what was really going on in Coleman’s head, maybe he was caught up in the moment, maybe he really didn’t see shoguns arm, maybe he had a couple extra hormones going through his body, WHO KNOWS. What I do know is the ref got thrown to the ground quicker than me making fun of the MC Hammer pants that Big John used to wear (TRUST ME DON’T DO THAT). I’m going to give this fight to shogun. REDEMPTION TIME