Upcoming UFC 119 Mir vs Cro Cop

UFC 119 Frank Mir vs. Mirko Cro Cop September 25th, 2010 Out of Indianapolis, Indiana

First off, Mir and Cro Cop are the main event? Really? REALLY??

UFC 121 is going to be a STACKED card and this is what they give us to kick off fall, I'm not impressed. However the rest of the fights do look like they will be entertaining so we'll see if it makes up for it. After watching the countdown last night, September 20th, on Spike I'm definitely more excited for this card. For those who don't know, the countdown is not a countdown like 10th, 9th, 8th... it’s like a countdown to the fight happening this weekend. It’s called primetime when they do a series over the 3 weeks leading up to the fight.

To clarify, there are two Nogueiras, and they're twins. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a heavyweight fighter (265 lbs) and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is a light heavyweight fighter (205 lbs). This confused the heck out of me! Another note to clarify, there were two winners to the Ultimate Fighter season 8. Two different weight classes were featured in that season so as I mentioned Efrain Escudero fought at fight night 22 and is in the lightweight division. Ryan Bader that will be fighting at UFC 119 won the contract on the 8th season of the ultimate fighter in the light heavyweight division.

Frank Mir vs. Mirko Filipovic (Mirko Cro Cop) - heavyweight

Mir was initially supposed to fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira but he had to pull out in mid August. So because of his late entry Cro Cop has already stated he doesn’t expect to be 100% but he didn't want to let down the fans or the UFC so he decided to step up. Mir, on the other hand, says he is the healthiest he has been in a long time. Mir has had a history of accidents and injuries he has had to overcome including a huge motorcycle accident in 2004 where he broke his femur and has extensive knee injuries. Cro Cop is short for "Croatian Cop" because he a law enforcement office in Croatia before he became an mma fighter. He comes from Pride, another league I guess you could say, of mma. He dominated that league taking out fighters with huge punches and devastating kicks, most often to the head.

Mir: Height 6'1" (185 cm) Reach 79.0" (201 cm)

Cro Cop: Height 6'2" (188 cm) Reach 73.0" (185 cm)

Looking at just these stats, Mir will obviously have the reach advantage, 6 inches is a huge difference, however Cro Cop's legs should be considered in his reach because he throw kicks almost as often as punches. For some reason I don't like Mir. I can't exactly put my finger on it but I've never been a big fan. Maybe because he kinda looks like a haggard version of someone I went to high school with that I wasn't a big fan of either. He gained a lot of weight to try to take on Lesnar and Carwin in his last two fights and this time he plans to fight at about 255. We saw in BJ's last fight how much cutting and gaining pounds to make weight can affect a fighter. I figure the opposite would happen if a fighter does not need to adjust anything. He doesn't need to fight at 265 or 270 this time, he can be at a more comfortable but still powerful weight. "When you're big you're still fast in a straight line, you're just aren't fast changing directions". Wise words from him and it definitely makes sense. Watching heavyweight fighters is totally different than watching lightweights. Compare Lesnar to Edgar... Lesnar looks like a big grizzly bear in the cage not moving too quickly while Edgar is jumping and moving around constantly.

Mir always speaks very confidently. He almost makes me have confidence in him, but then I think this is exactly how he spoke before he was destroyed by Lesnar and Carwin. Cro Cop is 27-2 with 20 Knockouts!! He usually fights at about 240. Cro Cop is a ridiculously dangerous striker, both with his arms and with huge kicks. He has zero personality but always goes for the win. He doesn't just barely steal the decision or mess around on the ground, he's out to kill. And when he does win, it’s always, thank you, I happy. Love it! haha! I want Cro Cop to take it. I have no interest in seeing another Mir vs. Lesnar matchup. And I think it would be really interesting to see what Dana does with Mir if he looses to another top guy. 

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader - light heavyweight

Bader has a hugely successful wrestling background. He is the former teammate of Cain Velasquez (the man challenging Lesnar in October) He was the winner of Ultimate Fighter season 8 under his coach Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, twin brother of his opponent. 

Definitely taking Bader in this one!

Matt Serra vs. Chris Lytle - welterweight

I'm taking Chris Lytle for two reasons. The first being I don't want to see another Serra vs. GSP match up, He's had his chance and Lytle hasn't yet. His record is 29-17-5 and he has won his last three fights. The second reason is I just don't like Serra. He helped coach Dan Hardy before his fight against GSP and was talking a lot of trash. Saying he's the only guy to knock out GSP, he knows how he fights, he knows how to beat him blah blah blah. Even though that was three years ago and GSP has since beat him and his little apprentice Hardy.

Sean Sherk vs. Evan Dunham - lightweight

Sherk used to fight in the welterweight division but has switched to lightweight. He has lost to top fighters GSP, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar. He hasn't fought in over a year and has instead been working as a coach in Minneapolis. I'm looking forward to see how he has improved. I do want Dunham to take this one though. He's the new kid on the block, he hasn't challenged the big names like Sherk has but he is undefeated in the fights he has had so far and he has only let 1 out of his 11 fights go to the judges.

The prelim card on Spike features Manitoba's own Joe Doerksen! His record is 45-12 with more than 2/3 of his wins being submissions. He's fighting C. B. Dollaway who I honestly don't think I have seen fight but his record is 10-2 with 5 of his 10 wins coming by knockout. He's also a teammate of Bader so I can only assume he also has an extensive wrestling background.

So after watching countdown I understand why these guys are the main event. With "Brocktober" coming up, the spotlight is on the heavyweights and after Velasquez and Carwin, these two are in line to challenge Lesnar, again.