Sports City Line

Main Card:

• Light Heavyweight bout:  Randy Couture vs.  Mark Coleman
• Middleweight bout:  Nate Marquardt vs.  Chael Sonnen
• Welterweight bout:  Mike Swick vs.  Paulo Thiago
• Middleweight bout:  Demian Maia vs.  Dan Miller
• Welterweight bout:  Matt Serra vs.  Frank Trigg^[

* Light Heavyweight bout: United States Tito Ortiz vs. United States Forrest Griffin
* Welterweight bout: United States Josh Koscheck vs. United States Anthony Johnson
* Welterweight bout: Brazil Paulo Thiago vs. United States Jacob Volkmann
* Light Heavyweight bout: Brazil Luiz Cane vs. Brazil Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
* Welterweight bout: United States Amir Sadollah vs. United States Phil Baroni

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

* Welterweight bout: United States Ben Saunders vs. United States Marcus Davis
* Middleweight bout: United States Kendall Grove vs. United States Jake Rosholt

Preliminary Card (Non-televised)

* Welterweight bout: United States Brock Larson vs. United States Brian Foster
* Lightweight bout: Japan Caol Uno vs. Brazil Fabricio Camoes
* Lightweight bout: Australia George Sotiropoulos vs. United States Jason Dent

Stay tuned for predictions and the weigh-in - at SportsCityLine.com!

f you are involved in real estate business, you are very much familiar with the housing adage “location, location, location.” Not surprisingly, in boxing today there is a similar tune and that is “prediction, prediction, prediction.” This is the most common topic in every boxing forum and every boxing website on the Internet: Who can accurately predict the outcome of the much anticipated, mega-welterweight showdown between the pound for pound king Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and the current WBO welterweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto of Puerto Rico? Boxing fans from all over the world and of course, boxing experts (analysts, promoters, trainers, journalists, etc.) have something to say about this incredible and exciting match-up between the two best ring gladiators of the Sweet Science. (more…)

After five weeks off, the UFC is back on Saturday night with UFC 104, featuring a light heavyweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. We’ve got a full preview and predictions below.

What: UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun

When: The undercard starts at 7 PM ET Saturday, Spike TV will show an hour of fights beginning at 9 and the pay-per-view begins at 10.

Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles

How: You can buy it for $44.95 on UFC.com or from your cable or satellite provider ($54.95 in HD), or you can just follow along with our live coverage here at FanHouse.

Predictions on the five pay-per-view fights:
Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua
I’m a longtime Shogun fan, and I’ve been a little annoyed at the way so many UFC fans I hear from are dismissing him as not even a serious challenge to Machida, as if Shogun is just some bum who has no business in the Octagon with a world champion. I don’t buy that at all. I think Shogun is a legitimate No. 1 contender and a legitimate threat, and I’m looking forward to this fight. Having said that, I’ve long believed Machida was the best light heavyweight in the world — I had him No. 1 in my light heavyweight rankings even before he was the champion — and I don’t see him losing to anyone at 205 pounds. Pick: Machida.

Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell
This heavyweight fight is a way for the UFC to give some exposure to Velasquez, whom the promotion views as a potential future heavyweight champion. I actually think Rothwell — who’s bigger, better on his feet and much more experienced — is going to give Velasquez a much tougher time than most people realize, but I do expect Velasquez to take Rothwell down and keep him there enough to come away with a close decision. Pick: Velasquez.

Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer
Both of these guys are very good on the ground, but I think Tibau will show that he’s bigger, stronger and has better Brazilian jiu jitsu and submit Neer. Pick: Tibau.

Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Johnson is a great athlete and a great striker who, at age 25, could be a future welterweight champion of the world — at least if he can stay at 170 pounds, a weight limit he has trouble making. Yoshida has better submission skills and could get Johnson into trouble on the ground, but I don’t think he’ll be able to get him there. Pick: Johnson.

Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher
Stevenson came back from a two-fight losing streak with a big win over Nate Diaz at the UFC Fight Night in June, but I like Fisher, who’s on a three-fight winning streak, to keep this fight standing and beat Stevenson on his feet. Pick: Fisher.

Main card

• Catchweight (195 lb) bout: Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort^[1]
• Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipović vs. Junior dos Santos^[1]
• Welterweight bout: Martin Kampmann vs. Paul Daley^[1]
• Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg^[1]
• Lightweight bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca^[1]

[edit] Preliminary card

• Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller^[1]
• Middleweight bout: Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal^[1]
• Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez^[1]
• Lightweight bout: Rafaello Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz^[1]
• Welterweight bout: Rick Story vs. Brian Foster^[1]
• Light Heavyweight bout: Eliot Marshall vs. Jason Brilz^[1]
• Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Igor Pokrajac^[1]
• Lightweight bout: Rob Emerson vs. Rafael dos Anjos^[1]

The UFC Makes history on Saturday July 11th with UFC 100. The fight card looks just phenomenal and it promises to be a great day of fights.

UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar (3-1) vs. Interim Champion Frank Mir (12-3)

UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre (18-2) vs. Thiago Alves (16-3)

The TUF Coaches: Dan Henderson (24-7) vs. Michael Bisping (17-1)

Jon Fitch (18-3, 1 NC) vs. Paulo Thiago (11-0)

Yoshihiro Akiyama (12-1, 2 NC) vs. Alan Belcher (14-5)

Mark Coleman (14-9) vs. Stephan Bonnar (11-5)

Mac Danzig (18-6-1) vs. Jim Miller (13-2)

Jon Jones (8-0) vs. Jake O’Brien (11-2)

Dong Hyun Kim (11-0-1, 1 NC) vs. T.J. Grant (14-2)

C.B. Dollaway (8-1) vs. Tom Lawlor (5-1, 1 NC)

Matt Grice (9-2) vs. Shannon Gugerty (11-3)

Tickets for UFC 100 are available at Stubhub. Some of them are going for up to $45,000, so you know it will be a memorable event! Stay tuned to SportsCity Line for  the weigh-in updates and our expert picks and predictions, and interviews.

UFC 96 takes to the octagon from C olumbus, Ohio on Saturday. For the second fight in a row, no title belt will be on the line. However, the co-main event is much more enticing than that of UFC 95 so I suppose it will be worth having to pay to watch this card.

There are many solid fights on this card but the co-main event is really the only two stand out fights. The fight between Shane Carwin and Gabriel Gonzaga is absolutely huge for the UFC for a multitude of reasons.

The biggest reason is that Shane Carwin (along with Cain Velasquez) is the heavyweight division’s great new hope.

Carwin has never been off the prelim card, let alone been part of a co-main event at a UFC PPV. Gonzaga has been in front of crowds like this before and fought against some of the best heavyweights in the world—once for a title. It will be interesting to see how Carwin reacts.

The UFC has pegged Carwin as the next big thing. He has the size and potential to be a true challenger in the division. He has had two tune-up fights to get ready for this moment.

The question is: is he ready?

The main event is essentially a title eliminator. Unfortunately, it only works that way for one of the participants. Jackson and Jardine should be a solid scrap, but this fight is all about Jackson.

If Jackson wins, he gets another shot at the title. If he loses, Jardine will most likely get passed over by Lyoto Machida. This match-up still rubs me the wrong way to a certain extent, but it should be an entertaining fight so I can’t say I won’t enjoy watching it.

Wherever the fight goes Gonzaga is going to have to take a lot of risks to win this fight.

This is another very tough fight to call. I think the result will ultimately come down to whether or not Carwin is mentally and emotionally ready for this. I’m going to go out on a limb again and pick Carwin to win by TKO in the third round.

This should set up Carwin nicely to be about two fights away from a title shot. Gonzaga won’t be in danger of losing his contract but this would be a significant blow to his hopes of a title shot any time soon.

Here are the SportsCityLine Fight previews:

Quinton Jackson v. Keith Jardine: Jackson is 29-7, 4-1 in the UFC, with 21 wins by stoppage. He is a wrestler with good boxing and heavy hands. Jardine is 14-4-1, 6-3 in the UFC, with eight wins by stoppage. He is a kickboxer with some grappling ability.

This fight looks closer on paper than it really should be. I think Jackson has the advantage wherever the fight takes place. Jardine’s only advantage is his unorthodox style that I’m sure Jackson is preparing for diligently.

Jackson has the better hands, the harder hands, and the ability to control where the fight takes place. If Jardine is smart he’ll use leg kicks early and often in the hopes that Jackson didn’t learn his lesson from the Forrest Griffin fight.

I can’t fathom a scenario where Jardine wins, unless Jackson is not mentally prepared for this fight (which is highly unlikely after watching his last fight).

For those reasons I’m picking Jackson to win by KO in the first round.

Shane Carwin v. Gabriel Gonzaga: Carwin is 10-0, 2-0 in the UFC, with all 10 wins by stoppage. He is a wrestler with heavy hands. Gonzaga is 10-3, 6-2 in the UFC, with all 10 wins by stoppage. He is a BJJ artist with developing Muay Thai and is also very powerful.

This is a very intriguing match up. Normally Gonzaga can bully his opponents around even though he doesn’t have technically-superior wrestling. This fight could be totally be controlled by Carwin, who is bigger than Gonzaga and has superior wrestling.

If Carwin takes this fight to the ground Gonzaga has the BJJ to still compete. And if Carwin decides to keep the fight on the feet I think Gonzaga has the technically superior striking with enough power to end the fight.

My pick for fight of the night goes to Shane Carwin v. Gabriel Gonzaga. My pick for submission of the night goes to Shane Nelson. My pick for KO of the night goes to Quinton Jackson.

This should be interesting. Hope you enjoy the fights! Stay tuned to Sports City Line for all the updates.

WBA welterweight world champion Antonio Margarito faces ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley on Saturday night at the Staples Center, L.A.

 Margarito’s knockout win over Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto last July has taken the Mexican to a new level of recognition amongst the boxing fans.

“Without a doubt,” agreed Margarito, “you know everywhere I go now it seems like I’m coming up to people, everybody wants my autograph, everybody wants to take a picture with me. I think it is more people coming up to me and I think you can see that reflection on my popularity with the way the tickets are selling. I think without a doubt I’ve taken another step in my career.”

See here for full story…

UFC93, The first UFC event to be held in Ireland, will be on Saturday, January 17th 2009 at a sold-out O2 in Dublin.   The Main event features UFC middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin versus former PRIDE middleweight champion Dan “Hendo” Henderson.  Another major fight will be Mark Coleman vs Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. All in all it should be an event worth watching. For American UFC Fans, the event will be broadcast live on PPV at 3PM ET, or it will be replayed at 10PM ET. Here are all the details with the full fight card:

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Some boxing fans might pick this upcoming Saturday’s so called “dream match” as a mismatch. At first, that’s what I thought too. But as the day for this big fight comes closer, and after seeing Oscar de la Hoya’s recent photos, I’m starting to think that Manny Pacquiao has a chance in winning this fight.

Looking at their most recent fights, Oscar faced a slick boxer in Stevie Forbes. Now, Freddie Roach is saying that Manny can beat Oscar because Stevie is not as strong as Manny, but Manny is not as slick as Stevie. Yes, Stevie was able to bust-up Oscar because he has good boxing skills, whereas Manny is more of an all-out offensive slugger. Big difference.

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When UFC three-time heavyweight champion Randy ”The Natural” Couture returns to the Octagon at UFC 91 on Saturday, November 15th in Sin City, he will be facing a bigger, stronger, faster, and younger opponent in Brock Lesnar.

But Couture would have been fitting as the man to have coined the phrase “the bigger they are the harder they fall.” I’m sure Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga would agree based on the ass whooping both endured from the much undersized Couture. (more…)