Hot on the heels of tonight's PPV event, we get this gem of a free card Wednesday the 31st on Spike, leading into the new season of The Ultimate Fighter - Liddell vs. Ortiz. Here is the card:
Kenny Florian vs. Takanori Gomi
Stefan Struve vs. Roy (Big Country) Nelson
Nate Quarry vs. Jorge Rivera
Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver
Andre Winner vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Jacob Volkmann vs. Ronys Torres
Rob Emerson vs. Nik Lentz
Caol Uno vs. Gleison Tibau
Yushin Okami vs. Lucio Linhares
Gerald Harris vs. Mario Miranda
Charlie Brenneman vs. Jason High
Florian vs. Gomi - Been a long time coming, but glad to see Gomi in the Octagon finally. In his Pride days, he has looked both on top of the world and terrible. Hopefully he will be taking this seriously and show up in shape and ready to go, because we all know Florian will. The best Gomi vs. KenFlo is an awesome matchup. Florian asked to be Gomi's welcoming committee. Gomi has the big power and decent technique on the feet. Florian has the awesome technique on the feet. Gomi is a better wrestler, but Florian has quite the BJJ edge. Should be a great fight no matter where it goes. I want Florian to win, but could see this going either way. If Gomi wins in domiating fashion, we may see him jump right to fight the Penn/Edgar winner.
Struve vs. Nelson - This is a crack up. Struve is 6'11" and lean. Nelson is 6'0", both tall and wide. Struve is gonna have an incredible reach advantage and hopefully he has been practicing his bottom game, cause BC will likely put him on his back at some point. I really want Struve to put BC away in this one, but fear that big gut will be smothering the giant most of the fight.
Quarry vs. Rivera - Two of the most likeable guys in all of mma. Quarry is hands down one of my favorites. To come back from the back surgery that he has had is just incredible. Quarry loves to bang. Rivera loves to bang. I think they are both rather equal on the feet, with the power edge clearly going to Quarry. I look for Quarry to win this one.
Pearson vs. Siver - Pearson looked amazing in his first fight after winning a TUF season. Siver (IMO) has been unspectacular in his UFC career. I don't see that changing much. Look for Pearson to deliver the KO sometime during this one.
Four very fun fights for free. The Gomi vs. Florian is a ppv main card fight easily.
Then immediately following the fight, the debut of TUF - Liddell vs. Ortiz. Now I know that Ortiz only makes it part way thru the show and has to leave due to some neck problem. (cue up the pornstar wife jokes
) If I remember correctly, he gets replaced by Franklin on the show. Don't hold me to that though. Not sure if Franklin is scheduled to fight Liddell, but that would be a fun one.
Enjoy.
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