Upcoming UFC 120 Bisping vs. Akiyama

UFC 120 Michael Bisping vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama October 16th, 2010 From overseas in London Enga-land, little Austin powers reference there.

Michael Bisping vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama - middleweight
This is a really tough call for me. I do like Akiyama, there aren't a lot of top Asian fighters in the UFC and I definitely think he has the talent to get up there. But Bisping is a great fighter. He’s fought some of the big guns in the division including Dan Miller, Wanederlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Chris Leban, Matt Hamill, and Rashad Evans. Not all of them were wins but still great fights. He says it himself in a press conference that it’s his time to put up or shut up. He takes no fighter lightly. He does a lot of trash talking, has a really big mouth and isn't afraid to say what he's thinking but a lot of the time I do agree with him and apparently others do too as he was voted the coolest man in the UK. Akiyama's most recent fight was a loss to Chris Leban at UFC 116. He hasn't fought a lot of the big names in the middleweight division but he still shows great potential. I just hope he brings a different translator to the fight than the one that was at the pres conference because he barely understood English himself and wasn't paying attention half the time. Both fighters have drifted into the pop culture world as well. Akiyama of course in the Japanese fashion industry he gets his nickname Sexyama from his modeling career. Bisping has done some acting and will be in a new tv series. I can only assume it will be a British show not in the states but we'll say it still counts. I'm going to have to go with the hometown boy on this one.

Dan Hardy vs. Carlos Condit - welterweight
Condit asked for this fight. He was a WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) champion. He's only lost once since 2006. He rises to the level of his opponent so he chose someone that is tough. As I don't follow the WEC I've never seen Condit (aka Nathan Scott of one tree hill's twin) fight but I like his personality. He seems like a very laid back and chill dude which is a major plus when your opponent is the bull headed Hardy. Dan Hardy most recently lost to GSP (haha in your face). He has fought and beat opponents including Mike Swick and Marcus Davis so he's definitely not someone to be overlooked. One comment I did like that he said during the press conference was in response to a question he was asked about where his loyalties would lie in the Pyle/Hathaway fight as he is friends with Pyle but Hathaway is a fellow Brit. He said he's friends with everyone except his opponent, his opponent and Josh Koscheck! After all that trash Hardy talked about GSP its nice that he still only has dislike for one person and that’s the guy I can't stand either. I'm going with the new kid on this fight, mostly just because of my dislike to Hardy.

Condit brought up in the press conference it may be tough to win a decision, especially since they are fighting on Hardy's turf in the UK. Of course Bisping jumps in saying good thing the crowd doesn't judge the fight, they're American judges so where the fight takes place is irrelevant. I would call a big old bogus on that one. Or as the Brits might say, Bullocks! True the crowd doesn't have a score card in front of them but we have seen the judges make some awful, terrible calls so the roar of a crowd isn't unlikely to sway them in the event that the fight is close. I do understand Bisping's point, but he got super aggressive and defensive as soon as Condit said anything and I found that annoying.

Mike Pyle vs. John Hathaway - welterweight
I don't really know these two fighters but after watching the press conference I like Mike Pyle. Hathaway has an undefeated record but the only win I would really consider worth being noted is his win over Diego Sanchez. He was very quiet during the press conference but it's pretty hard to be heard when you're sitting next to Bisping and Hardy. Pyle was also really quiet but he seemed like a cool guy. Of course I have to base my decision on coolness because neither fighter has been around the UFC for very long and I don't know much about them. Going with the American on this fight.

Cheick Kongo vs. Travis Browne - heavyweight
I always cheer for Kongo, even though he has lost to Mir and Valasquez I still like him and hope the big French man pulls of the W.

Dana mentioned in his video blog that this is the largest selling event in UK history for the UFC. That includes the fights they had in Manchester and London. There are a huge amount of UK fighters on this card. Most aren't very well known but that's probably why the card is free... Also on the card is another Brit, James McSweeny. He was on the Ultimate Fighter season of heavyweights and was a big old jerk so I will be cheering against him! I'm going against a few of the guys with home field advantage so we'll see how this goes. It looks like it should be a pretty good card, perfect lead of to the monster of a card on the 23rd.