Hello again and welcome to another edition of Viperz Venom! This time we will be breaking down UFC 199! What a great card we have here featuring not one but two title fights! So far I've gotten alot of help from you, the community as a whole on what I can do to make my column better with each and every edition and I greatly appreciate it. Now lets get down to it!
Polo Reyes 6-3 vs Dong Hyun Kim 13-7-3
UFC fantasy has Reyes as having 6 wins all by KO but sherdog has him with a record of only 5-2 with 1 submission victory. Not sure what to take away from that other than he isn't well known enough for people to get his statistics right. On the other hand we have Dong Hyun Kim (no relation to the "Stun Gun") coming off of a very nice slam KO of Dominique Steele on short notice. Kim is a pretty big guy for lightweight and will use it to his advantage to get the 2nd round submission victory.
Pick: Dong Hyun Kim via 2nd Round Submission
Kevin Casey 9-4 vs Elvis Mutapcic 15-4
Casey has had nothing but bad luck since breaking into the UFC. His debut win over Bubba Bush was overturned because he was caught using a banned substance. Then he put on a boring performance against IIdemar Alcatara before an accidental eye poke stopped his fight with Antonio Carlos Junior just 11 seconds in. Then in his most recent outing he dropped a TKO loss to Rafael Natal, that being Natal's only win by TKO. Mutapcic also hasn't had the greatest start to his UFC run dropping his debut fight to Francimar Barroso in a less than exciting unanimous decision loss. Unlike Casey, Mutapcic has gotten his UFC jitters out of the way and now can concentrate on doing some damage in the middleweight division. UFC fantasy calls this one a tight match up but it was an easy one for me to pick.
Pick: Elvis Mutapcic via 2nd Round KO/TKO
Jonathan Wilson 7-0 vs Luiz Henrique Da Silva 10-0
2 giant undefeated Light Heavyweights here as these absolute powerhouses face off against one another. Though Wilson seems to be the faster of the two, Silva's predictable right hand is something to behold. He has dropped nearly everyone he has fought with it and he's never been past the 2nd round. Both of these guys are going to march to the middle of the octagon and unload until someone falls over. I've gotta give it to the faster less predictable fighter here.
Pick: Jonathan Wilson via 1st Round KO/TKO
Sean Strickland 17-1 vs Tom Breese 10-0
Tom Breese is an interesting beast. From what we've seen in the UFC most people would be telling Strickland to stay away from his straight left but before making his debut in the UFC every single one of his fights were won by submission. Strickland on the other hand spent nearly his entire career leading up to the UFC in the King Of The Cage promotion where he held their Middleweight championship for nearly 2 years, defending it 5 times in that span. Since vacating his title to debut in the UFC he has went 4-1, only losing his first fight at welterweight due to an inappropriate weight cut. Seems like hes got it figured out though as he's strung 2 wins together since that time most recently finishing Alex Garcia by TKO with 35 seconds left in the 3rd round. This fight will tell us if Tom Breese is the real deal or not. I'm going to say that he is. Candidate for Fight of the Night.
Pick: Tom Breese via Unanimous Decision
Cole Miller 21-9 vs Alex Caceres 11-8
Caceres hops in on short notice for B.J Penn against Cole Miller in his first fight back since what I deem to be one of the worst eye pokes I've ever seen. Two Ultimate Fighter Alumni fight each other on a card neither one of them were originally booked on. Great for us fans but at the same time terrible for Bruce Leeroy. There isn't a single faucet of MMA that Caceres is better than Miller in. Miller has a great jab and a sizeable reach advantage which will basically stifle the unorthodox attacks Caceres brings to the table as some would say his only weapon. The only thing Caceres does have going for him in this fight is that it's extremely short notice, Miller more than likely has very little knowledge of who he is, and he doesn't have to worry about the takedown as Miller has never been known as the takedown type. Miller makes a successful return beating the pants off of Bruce Leeroy for 15 minutes.
Pick: Cole Miller via Unanimous Decision
Jessica Penne 12-4 vs Jessica Andrade 13-5
Penne is coming off of a loss to the current champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Andrade is coming off of a loss to Raquel Pennington. Both fighters have something to prove. Unfortunately in Andrade's case she is susceptible to chokes and Penne is very good at them.
Pick: Jessica Penne via 1st Round Submission
Beneil Dariush 12-2 vs James Vick 9-0
Dariush is coming off of a surprising submission loss to Michael Chiesa halting his 5 fight win streak. Vick who fought roughly 2 months ago did pull out a unanimous decision win over Glacio Franca but that fight really showed alot of holes in Vick's game. Though Vick is the much taller fighter here he just doesn't have the credentials a hungry Dariush has. I expect to see a ton of leg kicks and top control by Dariush to either take hold of a limb before the end of the second round or take home the 30-27 unanimous decision.
Pick: Beneil Dariush via 1st Round Submission
Brian Ortega 10-0 vs Clay Guida 32-16
Brian Ortega got off to a rocky start with the UFC quickly dispatching of Mike De La Torre within 2 minutes of round 1 with a RNC just to have the win striped due to testing postive for a banned substance. After nearly a year lay off he returned to show he was just as dangerous on the feet as he is on the mat knocking out Thaigo Tavares in the third round and then most recently tapping Diego Brandao at UFC 195. Clay Guida is looking down the barrle of the end of his career and though he is a fan favorite and is very entertaining to watch he has done nothing but drop fight after fight to name opponents since hugging Anthony Pettis for 3 rounds all the way back in 2011. He has become susceptible to the submission as well being tapped in 2 of his last 3 fights and the last one was in under 40 seconds of the first round. Sorry Clay, I know you still sell tickets but your declining rapidly. I'm hoping this is his swan song.
Pick: Brian Ortega via 1st Round Submission
Dustin Poirier 19-4 vs Bobby Green 23-6
For all purposes I just can't see Green winning here. Since returning to lightweight Poirier has won 3 in a row with 2 out of those 3 earning him an extra 50,000 bonus cheque for performance of the night. He looks like a completely different fighter than we saw enter the UFC as a young kid in 2011 at just 21 years old. Green is coming off of a decision loss to Edson Barboza in a fight where in my opinion he didn't win a single round. Poirier breaks Green somewhere in the middle of round 2 and pounds on him for the remainder of the fight taking home a nice decision victory.
Pick: Dustin Poirier via Unanimous Decision
Dan Henderson 31-14 vs Hector Lombard 34-5-1
Henderson steps into the cage for possibly the last time after losing 6 of his last 8 fights to put the gloves on one last time against Hector Lombard. Henderson will look to lean off to his right side with his right hand cocked like a rocket like he always does and Lombard will charge him like a bull who has seen red and end this fight with a 1st round KO. Unless of course Henderson lands that right hand flush before he goes unconscious. Don't blink!
Pick: Hector Lombard via 1st Round KO/TKO
Max Holloway 15-3 vs Ricardo Lamas 16-4
Here's the problem with the Featherweight division. Everyone deserves a shot but the champ won't defend the belt. Holloway is the only fighter in UFC history to win 8 consecutive fights under their banner and not recieve a title shot. Ricardo Lamas is no slouch either only dropping fights to big name talent like Chad Mendes & Jose Aldo in the past 5 years. Truthfully Lamas is live in this fight if he can get it to the ground but with that 8 fight win streak and the guarantee of getting the winner of Aldo/Edgar vs McGregor whenever it happens, I don't see Holloway dropping this fight to Lamas.
Pick: Max Holloway via Unanimous Decision
Dominick Cruz 21-1 vs Uriah Faber 33-8
These two have went back and forth at each other for nearly a decade. Unfortunately I disagree with this fight being made as I had the Cruz vs Dillashaw fight scored for Dillashaw as Cruz didn't "take" the title from him at all and even though the 1 in Cruz's 21-1 record is a loss to Faber we all know what happens when Faber makes his way to a title shot. He can't pull the trigger and have the perfect fight. Which is exactly what he will need to do to beat Dominick Cruz. In all likelyhood it will be a 49-46 Unanimous Decision victory for Cruz. Though there have been way stranger upsets.
Pick: Dominick Cruz via Unanimous Decision
Luke Rockhold 15-2 vs Michael Bisping 29-7
Is there anything that can be said about this fight that hasn't already been said? If your a Bisping fan you can tell me that Rockhold beating him down and tapping him the first time was a fluke and you could even tell me that Bisping wasn't out cold at the end of the 2nd with Anderson after that flying knee. Either statement would make me laugh in your face. Even on one leg Rockhold is the better fighter and he will prove that by stopping Bisping before the end of the 3rd round, MCL Sprain and all.
Pick: Luke Rockhold via 3rd Round KO/TKO
Well I hope as usual you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing and please feel free to leave me any comments, questions, concerns, criticisms, etc down at the bottom or through private message as I answer each and every person who takes the time to read my column. Thanks again and enjoy the fights!
Polo Reyes 6-3 vs Dong Hyun Kim 13-7-3
UFC fantasy has Reyes as having 6 wins all by KO but sherdog has him with a record of only 5-2 with 1 submission victory. Not sure what to take away from that other than he isn't well known enough for people to get his statistics right. On the other hand we have Dong Hyun Kim (no relation to the "Stun Gun") coming off of a very nice slam KO of Dominique Steele on short notice. Kim is a pretty big guy for lightweight and will use it to his advantage to get the 2nd round submission victory.
Pick: Dong Hyun Kim via 2nd Round Submission
Kevin Casey 9-4 vs Elvis Mutapcic 15-4
Casey has had nothing but bad luck since breaking into the UFC. His debut win over Bubba Bush was overturned because he was caught using a banned substance. Then he put on a boring performance against IIdemar Alcatara before an accidental eye poke stopped his fight with Antonio Carlos Junior just 11 seconds in. Then in his most recent outing he dropped a TKO loss to Rafael Natal, that being Natal's only win by TKO. Mutapcic also hasn't had the greatest start to his UFC run dropping his debut fight to Francimar Barroso in a less than exciting unanimous decision loss. Unlike Casey, Mutapcic has gotten his UFC jitters out of the way and now can concentrate on doing some damage in the middleweight division. UFC fantasy calls this one a tight match up but it was an easy one for me to pick.
Pick: Elvis Mutapcic via 2nd Round KO/TKO
Jonathan Wilson 7-0 vs Luiz Henrique Da Silva 10-0
2 giant undefeated Light Heavyweights here as these absolute powerhouses face off against one another. Though Wilson seems to be the faster of the two, Silva's predictable right hand is something to behold. He has dropped nearly everyone he has fought with it and he's never been past the 2nd round. Both of these guys are going to march to the middle of the octagon and unload until someone falls over. I've gotta give it to the faster less predictable fighter here.
Pick: Jonathan Wilson via 1st Round KO/TKO
Sean Strickland 17-1 vs Tom Breese 10-0
Tom Breese is an interesting beast. From what we've seen in the UFC most people would be telling Strickland to stay away from his straight left but before making his debut in the UFC every single one of his fights were won by submission. Strickland on the other hand spent nearly his entire career leading up to the UFC in the King Of The Cage promotion where he held their Middleweight championship for nearly 2 years, defending it 5 times in that span. Since vacating his title to debut in the UFC he has went 4-1, only losing his first fight at welterweight due to an inappropriate weight cut. Seems like hes got it figured out though as he's strung 2 wins together since that time most recently finishing Alex Garcia by TKO with 35 seconds left in the 3rd round. This fight will tell us if Tom Breese is the real deal or not. I'm going to say that he is. Candidate for Fight of the Night.
Pick: Tom Breese via Unanimous Decision
Cole Miller 21-9 vs Alex Caceres 11-8
Caceres hops in on short notice for B.J Penn against Cole Miller in his first fight back since what I deem to be one of the worst eye pokes I've ever seen. Two Ultimate Fighter Alumni fight each other on a card neither one of them were originally booked on. Great for us fans but at the same time terrible for Bruce Leeroy. There isn't a single faucet of MMA that Caceres is better than Miller in. Miller has a great jab and a sizeable reach advantage which will basically stifle the unorthodox attacks Caceres brings to the table as some would say his only weapon. The only thing Caceres does have going for him in this fight is that it's extremely short notice, Miller more than likely has very little knowledge of who he is, and he doesn't have to worry about the takedown as Miller has never been known as the takedown type. Miller makes a successful return beating the pants off of Bruce Leeroy for 15 minutes.
Pick: Cole Miller via Unanimous Decision
Jessica Penne 12-4 vs Jessica Andrade 13-5
Penne is coming off of a loss to the current champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Andrade is coming off of a loss to Raquel Pennington. Both fighters have something to prove. Unfortunately in Andrade's case she is susceptible to chokes and Penne is very good at them.
Pick: Jessica Penne via 1st Round Submission
Beneil Dariush 12-2 vs James Vick 9-0
Dariush is coming off of a surprising submission loss to Michael Chiesa halting his 5 fight win streak. Vick who fought roughly 2 months ago did pull out a unanimous decision win over Glacio Franca but that fight really showed alot of holes in Vick's game. Though Vick is the much taller fighter here he just doesn't have the credentials a hungry Dariush has. I expect to see a ton of leg kicks and top control by Dariush to either take hold of a limb before the end of the second round or take home the 30-27 unanimous decision.
Pick: Beneil Dariush via 1st Round Submission
Brian Ortega 10-0 vs Clay Guida 32-16
Brian Ortega got off to a rocky start with the UFC quickly dispatching of Mike De La Torre within 2 minutes of round 1 with a RNC just to have the win striped due to testing postive for a banned substance. After nearly a year lay off he returned to show he was just as dangerous on the feet as he is on the mat knocking out Thaigo Tavares in the third round and then most recently tapping Diego Brandao at UFC 195. Clay Guida is looking down the barrle of the end of his career and though he is a fan favorite and is very entertaining to watch he has done nothing but drop fight after fight to name opponents since hugging Anthony Pettis for 3 rounds all the way back in 2011. He has become susceptible to the submission as well being tapped in 2 of his last 3 fights and the last one was in under 40 seconds of the first round. Sorry Clay, I know you still sell tickets but your declining rapidly. I'm hoping this is his swan song.
Pick: Brian Ortega via 1st Round Submission
Dustin Poirier 19-4 vs Bobby Green 23-6
For all purposes I just can't see Green winning here. Since returning to lightweight Poirier has won 3 in a row with 2 out of those 3 earning him an extra 50,000 bonus cheque for performance of the night. He looks like a completely different fighter than we saw enter the UFC as a young kid in 2011 at just 21 years old. Green is coming off of a decision loss to Edson Barboza in a fight where in my opinion he didn't win a single round. Poirier breaks Green somewhere in the middle of round 2 and pounds on him for the remainder of the fight taking home a nice decision victory.
Pick: Dustin Poirier via Unanimous Decision
Dan Henderson 31-14 vs Hector Lombard 34-5-1
Henderson steps into the cage for possibly the last time after losing 6 of his last 8 fights to put the gloves on one last time against Hector Lombard. Henderson will look to lean off to his right side with his right hand cocked like a rocket like he always does and Lombard will charge him like a bull who has seen red and end this fight with a 1st round KO. Unless of course Henderson lands that right hand flush before he goes unconscious. Don't blink!
Pick: Hector Lombard via 1st Round KO/TKO
Max Holloway 15-3 vs Ricardo Lamas 16-4
Here's the problem with the Featherweight division. Everyone deserves a shot but the champ won't defend the belt. Holloway is the only fighter in UFC history to win 8 consecutive fights under their banner and not recieve a title shot. Ricardo Lamas is no slouch either only dropping fights to big name talent like Chad Mendes & Jose Aldo in the past 5 years. Truthfully Lamas is live in this fight if he can get it to the ground but with that 8 fight win streak and the guarantee of getting the winner of Aldo/Edgar vs McGregor whenever it happens, I don't see Holloway dropping this fight to Lamas.
Pick: Max Holloway via Unanimous Decision
Dominick Cruz 21-1 vs Uriah Faber 33-8
These two have went back and forth at each other for nearly a decade. Unfortunately I disagree with this fight being made as I had the Cruz vs Dillashaw fight scored for Dillashaw as Cruz didn't "take" the title from him at all and even though the 1 in Cruz's 21-1 record is a loss to Faber we all know what happens when Faber makes his way to a title shot. He can't pull the trigger and have the perfect fight. Which is exactly what he will need to do to beat Dominick Cruz. In all likelyhood it will be a 49-46 Unanimous Decision victory for Cruz. Though there have been way stranger upsets.
Pick: Dominick Cruz via Unanimous Decision
Luke Rockhold 15-2 vs Michael Bisping 29-7
Is there anything that can be said about this fight that hasn't already been said? If your a Bisping fan you can tell me that Rockhold beating him down and tapping him the first time was a fluke and you could even tell me that Bisping wasn't out cold at the end of the 2nd with Anderson after that flying knee. Either statement would make me laugh in your face. Even on one leg Rockhold is the better fighter and he will prove that by stopping Bisping before the end of the 3rd round, MCL Sprain and all.
Pick: Luke Rockhold via 3rd Round KO/TKO
Well I hope as usual you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing and please feel free to leave me any comments, questions, concerns, criticisms, etc down at the bottom or through private message as I answer each and every person who takes the time to read my column. Thanks again and enjoy the fights!
