SB Nation User Blog: SamCupitt

Couture UFC 91 (left) 11/14/2008, 220 lbs. Couture UFC 74 (right) 8/24/2008, 228.5 lbs.

SamCupitt — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:11:57 -0000

Couture UFC 91 (left) 11/14/2008, 220 lbs.
Couture UFC 74 (right) 8/24/2008, 228.5 lbs.

History of Randy Couture Betting Lines

SamCupitt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:02:41 -0000

Fronted by Kid Nate.

After seeing the betting lines for Couture vs. Lesnar get further and further apart over the past few days, I thought I'd check and see how Couture had fared in the past with betting agencies.

Fortunately for the lazy man controlling my brain some one had done the hard yards for me.

Betwwx.com has compiled a list of betting odds for Couture since he fought Josh Barnett in 2002. The list is as follows:

Gabriel Gonzaga -140 vs. Randy Couture +110
Tim Sylvia -235 vs. Randy Couture +205
Chuck Liddell -135 vs. Randy Couture +115
Mike Van Arsdale +300 vs. Randy Couture -370
Chuck Liddell +205 vs. Randy Couture -255
Vitor Belfort +160 vs. Randy Couture -185
Vitor Belfort +200 vs. Randy Couture -240
Tito Ortiz -200 vs. Randy Couture +170
Chuck Liddell -225 vs. Randy Couture +185
Ricco Rodriquez +100 vs. Randy Couture -140
Josh Barnett +135 vs. Randy Couture -165

To save everyone some time counting that is a 4-1 record for Couture as an underdog since 2002. As a favourite, Couture has compiled a 2-4 record with an overall UFC record since 2002 as 6-5.

The latest odds I've seen for Couture and Lesnar in the past few hours is (also from betwwx.com):

Randy Couture +100 vs. Brock Lesnar -115

50 Cent and the UFC. I found this when looking for the latest video blog. That conversation Dana...

SamCupitt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:04:33 -0000

50 Cent and the UFC.

I found this when looking for the latest video blog. That conversation Dana White was having with 50 cent seems to have turned into something.

Justin Bucholz vs. Terry Etim at UFC 95 on February 21st Kudos to MMA Weekly for all the work.

SamCupitt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:48:42 -0000

Justin Bucholz vs. Terry Etim at UFC 95 on February 21st

Kudos to MMA Weekly for all the work.

Jason MacDonald vs. Wilson Gouveia at TUF 8 Finale. Good fight.

SamCupitt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:44:43 -0000

Jason MacDonald vs. Wilson Gouveia at TUF 8 Finale.

Good fight.

My picks for UFC 91

SamCupitt — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:19:03 -0000

Here are my predictions for UFC 91 so if I get one of those "ner ha ha ha ha ha" moments from the event I will having something to fall back on when someone calls "bullshit".

Matt Brown vs. Ryan Thomas - Thomas would have been a good test for the green Matt Riddle but Matt Brown should eat this dude alive. Granted there's the possibility Thomas could continously gain top position and grind out a victory but I suspect Brown to punish Thomas for shooting in without "putting something" in Brown's face.

Prediction: Brown via TKO late in round 1.

Alvin Robinson vs. Mark Bocek - Unfortunately for both fighters, to me, this fight is basically the battle of who could care less. I don't expect either fighter to really amount to anything substantial in the lightweight division and this fight will only really determine who will stay on as a TUF gatekeeper. This fight will be decided by top control, whoever has it for the majority of the fight will win the decision. There won't be any threatening submissions from the bottom, I doub't we'll see anything more than half guard and the striking on the feet will most likely be sparse and limp. I would be very surprised if this fight didn't go to a decision.

Prediction: Bocek via having slightly better wrestling.

Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael dos Anjos - Whether this fight ends via stoppage or decision will be determined by Anjos' ability to take a punch and eagerness to stay on his feet. I fully expect this to be a repeat of Stephen's fight with Diego Saraiva with the only difference in the result being determined on whether or not Stephen's can land a finishing blow. I say yes.

Prediction: Stephens via second round TKO.

Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley - The Gurgel that fought against Cole Miller should beat Aaron Riley, possibly even finish him. If we get the Gurgel that likes to stand and trade then we will get a frustratingly close decision. This is Gurgel's fight for the taking if he wants it. Hopefully BJJ black belt Gurgel does.

Prediction: Gurgel via first round submission.

Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory - Battle of the weird dudes. This should be a great fight, and I wish it were on the main card instead of Gonzaga vs. Hendricks but it should hopefully end up on UFC.com soon after the fight. Both fighters have the same skill set except Hazelett is on a higher level in each of those skills, thus Hazelett should have an edge in wherever the fight goes.

Prediction: Hazelett via second round submission.

Nate Quarry vs. Demian Maia - This fight is the sleeper on the card. I think a win here for Maia puts him one win away from a title shot. Quarry is a more compact fighter than Maia's three other UFC opponents and doesn't possess the reckless approach of a Herman or a MacDonald. Meaning he will avoid the ground at all costs. This will be a good test for the weaker aspects of Maia's game (striking and wrestling). A test I don't think he'll pass.

Prediction: Quarry via TKO in round 1.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks - The UFC likes themselves some Gabriel Gonzaga. This fight I feel is being treated as another lay up win for "Napao". A showcase fight on the biggest PPV of the year against a UFC virgin really isn't fooling me into thinking otherwise. That being said, if Hendricks can get on top of Gonzaga and start grinding away then we could see an uncomfortable Gonzaga looking for a way out. This is doubtful though as I still see Hendricks getting McCully'd.

Prediction: Gonzaga via submission in round 1.

Amir Sadollah vs. Nick Catone - From what I've read on Catone, this fight is far from a squash match. Catone is high level collegiate wrestler with decent BJJ and heavy hands from the reports I read. Sadollah is going to run into problems when he finds someone who is very tight and more technical in either jiu jitsu or striking than himself and has the wrestling to take it or keep it where they are more at an advantage. Sadollah is a finisher and if he doesn't finish the fight then I think that 9 times out of 10 he will lose the decision, provided his wrestling is still at the level we saw it as on the show. With all that being said, I like Amir and I like the way he handles himself under pressure and adversity while Catone is a UFC virgin who is making his debut on the big show on the biggest PPV of the year. That all might be a little too much to handle.

Prediction: Sadollah via submission in round 1.

Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson - I like Joe Stevenson and I remember before his fight with Tibau I had a feeling of dread that he was going to lose that fight. He was getting outwrestled by Tibau and looked to be on his way to a decision loss before latching onto that guillotine. Before this fight I dont have that dread that I had for that Tibau fight. Maybe its because I don't think Florian has the skill set and frame to neutralize Stevenson's skill set like Tibau could and was doing or maybe its just that I like Florian just as much. I believe Stevenson will be able to get some stuff off, but I just don't think it will be enough as he struggles to deal with Florian's length on the feet. I don't see a finish in the fight.

Prediction: Florian via unanimous decision.

Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar - I had a nightmare one time that Lesnar knocked Randy out with that flying knee he tried against Herring at the start of their fight. I was just filled with a wave of disappointment that I didn't get to see how this fight would have played out. Right now this fight goes two ways in my mind. It's either a larger scale recreation of Mac Danzig vs. Tommy Speer with extra cock tattoo or it's typical Couture cage warfare. I'm leaning more towards the latter now as I see Randy getting Lesnar's back to the cage and keeping him guessing with takedown attempts and dirty boxing. A confused Lesnar will make a mistake and Randy will get a lower body takedown that will shock everyone and seize Lesnar's back and choke him out before anyone has any time to fully realise what just happened.

Prediction: Randy Couture via first round submission (rear naked choke).

Peace.

Top - Filho at WEC 31 weigh ins Bottom - Filho at yesterday's weigh ins

SamCupitt — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:09:23 -0000

Top - Filho at WEC 31 weigh ins
Bottom - Filho at yesterday's weigh ins

Chael Sonnen and Team Quest Game Plans

SamCupitt — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:49:47 -0000

Fronted by Kid Nate. Great stuff.

Tomorrow. Chael Sonnen will step into the World Extreme Cagefighting cage to face title holder, Paulo Filho for a second time.

As we all know, the first encounter ended semi-controversially when Filho locked up an arm bar on Sonnen. The controversy lay in the fact the fight was stopped before Sonnen tapped.

Justifiably so, the ending of the bout is all that anyone seems to remembers. What many forget is just how dominant Sonnen was before the fight ended. Sonnen was doing serious damage on the feet while his vastly superior wrestling enabled him to to keep the fight wherever he wanted.

In the end it was the Team Quest fighter's decision to take Filho down late into the second round that proved costly.

I guess what I am trying to say with all of this is, why was Sonnen taking Filho down in the first place?

Filho, for all of his skill and stature in the 185 lbs. division, is strictly a one trick pony. He has excellent BJJ, average wrestling and suspect striking. Sonnen on the other hand has excellent wrestling, average striking (yet substantially better than FIlho), and suspect submission defense.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that if he simply kept the fight on his feet and worked his wrestling defensively he'd be able to give Filho fits. If he didn't know it before the fight he definitely should have realized during it when he almost knocked Filho cold in the first round and was able to thwart his take down attempts for the rest of the fight.

Sonnen was eventually punished for his lack of judgment/decent game plan with the submission loss. After which you would have thought that being the intelligent guy he seems to be that he would have looked at the fight and saw that if he just stayed on his feet he would have come out on top but now I see this interview with Loretta Hunt he did recently and I'm left scratching my head.

To paraphrase, the gameplan seems to be for the Filho fight to take him down and punch him in the face. Is he that unconfident in his stand-up ability? I know he's wrestled for most of his life but he's had a long MMA career shouldn't he know when it's in his best interests not to take someone down?

If he doesn't his camp sure as hell should but it seems to be a trend with the Team Quest camp. Gameplans and Team Quest just don't seem to gel very well. I don't know whether it is simply that they don't come up with one before the fight or whether the fighters in the camp just share a similar disobedient trait.

For years in PRIDE we saw Dan Henderson, former 1992 and 1996 Olympic Greco Roman wrestling competitor on his back against far less accomplished wrestlers. Against Anderson Silva we saw Henderson pull guard about a minute before he was choked out. What is Dan Henderson doing pulling guard?

In the DREAM middleweight grand prix we saw Jason "Mayhem" Miller, who had a clear advantage in striking over his opponent Ronaldo Souza and was needing a big second round to have a chance at victory attempt a guillotine choke against the 2004 and 2005 World Jiu-Jitsu Champion. I know jiu jitsu is usually Mayhem's game but he had to have realised who he was up against and what he needed to do.

Other notable Team Quest gamplan brain farts are Ed Herman jumping back into another Jiu Jitsu world champion, Demain Maia's guard when he had a clear advantage on the feet and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou opting to completely disregard his extensive judo background.

In closing I would just like to say I hope Sonnen does come out victorious tomorrow. I think it provides a lot more options in the future if he does win compared to if Filho defends his title. However if Sonnen chooses to do what he has stated he is going to do against Filho then he will once again be submitted whether it be physically or verbally.

UFC 91 Coverage Postponed (Australia)

SamCupitt — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:31:35 -0000

I awoke today with my brother telling me that Main Even t, Australia's Pay-Per-View channel would be delaying their coverage of UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar.

We were meant to recieve UFC 91 at 1pm Sunday, November 16th, instead we will now get it the following day on the Monday.

The event is being delayed, not because of a high profile boxing match that weekend but instead due to a REPLAY of an Andrei Rieu concert that will originally be held on the Saturday night.

After contacting Main Event through their website I have been informed that my complaint will be forwarded to management. The email I got in reply regarding why they simply cannont show the replay of Rieu on another night read:

Unfortunately the replay on November 16 is part of the price when people order the LIVE broadcast on November 15. This is a part of the broadcast deal. Again we understand that this isn’t ideal. As mentioned previously, we will forward your comments to our Management.

I still cannot see why Main Event can't simply still offer the replay to the people that paid for Rieu's concert but instead show it on the Monday and let the UFC be shown live on the Sunday.

Andre Rieu's concert is not subject to spoilers. There is not going to be some big surprise happen in the show that is going to have people that haven't seen it sayng "don't spoil the Rieu concert for me!". It is going to be some Italian dude on a stage, with a bloody violin and perhaps a chariot.

UFC 91 on the other hand, as described by the Main Event website, is "the biggest fight in mixed martial arts history". It will be broadcast live on the Sunday and no matter what the outcomes of the fights are there will be a lot of talk about the event and thus the risk of spoilers is VERY high. I don't feel it is right that I have to go into Internet quarantine because Main Event has to show a replay of some Italian dude fart arsing about on stage with a violin instead of showing one of the biggest PPVs of the year LIVE.

There is a ray of hope however. Earlier this year, Main Event had scheduled some sort of maintennance for their systems on the weekend of UFC 81. This caused them to try and postpone UFC 81 until the next Sunday. However, after Australian MMA fans kicked up a stink, Main Event decided it was better to postpone their maintennance and UFC 81 went ahead live on the Sunday and at a reduced price for good measure.

Main Event is very open to feedback, which is why I implore all Australian MMA fans (or just any MMA fan who wants to help out) to voice their displeasure with their broadcasting options by way of Main Event's contact section.

Try and avoid being abusive, because if they think you're a dick, then they will treat you like a dick and fuck you.

In closing I would just like to say that it's pretty dissapointing to see how MMA is treated here in Australia. I wonder what would have happened if instead of UFC 91 it was a high profile boxing match.

P.S. I'm aware I can watch UFC 91 on the internet, but I'd prefer to watch it comfortably in my lounge room as opposed to searching for a pixellated buffering fuck ugly streaming version. However, if you are an Australian MMA fan and you don't want to wait until the Monday and you don't know where to find a stream, give us a shout at samcupitt@gmail.com.

via photos-663.ll.facebook.com

What to do with all these EliteXC fighters...

SamCupitt — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:02:29 -0000

So ding dong the witch is dead.

I'm aware it's bad thing for the fighters that EliteXC is gone. I mean, they had the capabilities to pay Kimbo Slice a $500,000 purse so they definitley were not stingy when it comes to fighter pay. They also provided the highest stage in the country in which the fighters were given a chance to perform.

However, as far as the organization is concerned I'm really not shedding a tear. The whole organization was just shady.

Whether it be the old dancing girls, to that rapper kid... Shaw jnr. or more recently the Petruzelli uproar it was simply not the mixed martial arts organization I wanted broadcast on a national stage.

Regardless of the management and the ethics involved with the promotion they still had some top quality fighters who are mostly now free agents.

This sudden free agency should cause a bit of a feeding frenzy and this is how I would divvy out the portions.

Jake Shields: Well there is really only one place to go for 170 lbers. in the world. With Shields in the UFC we can finally see what he's made of in that division. Looking at Shield's wrestling in the Daley fight I can see five or six fighters above him but if everything played out like I thought it would then surgeons would still be trying to remove Chuck Liddell's fist from Rashad Evans' head.

Kimbo Slice: I'm sure Bas Rutten would like him to head to some smaller shows to gain some experience but his name value is still too great for him to be ignored in my opinion. That being said there are really only three places for a heavyweight fighter to go now. The UFC is out because Kimbo's skills aren't up to par and Dana has already said, "no.", Affliction I doubt would want to risk alienating fans as they appear to be in white knight in shining armour for the anti-UFC crowd. This just leaves Japan for which I think Slice would be a great fit. He looks the part and his "fighting spirit" is something I believe the Japanese audience would eat up. Hopefully he can get there before Japanese MMA goes the way of Slice's mythical status.

Gina Carano: It will be interesting for me to see if the AFL who keeps bleeding, keeps keeps bleeding money will dare throw money at the hot chick who fucks bitches up (not Tony Evinger on fire). If not I wouldn't be surprised to see Carano retire, unless of course Affliction suddenly sees an MMA division as prosperious.

Antonio Silva: UFC please, even with your gigantism making you seem like a juicer you'd be a good fit for the bulimic heavyweight division. I wouldn't mind seeing Silva against Carwin or Velasquez in his debut. Actually that'd be quite purdy.

Brett Rogers: UFC or Affliction, doesn't really matter. I still think this guys main asset is that he's just a big dude who happens to hit people hard. I don't see much technique in the man and think he'll get eaten up by any decent heavyweight, so yeah throw him wherever.

Dave Herman: I wonder if the UFC signed Herman, would he start taking training seriously. The kid is like Will in Good Will Hunting, he's sitting on a winning lottery ticket but he doesn't want to cash in because he prefers to booze it up with his mates and wrestle in his living room. Oh the potential this boy possesses, he still seems to deliver but I wonder how far that'll take him.

Rafael Feijao: Only one place to go for you, the UFC where all the light heavyweights be. Can't exactly send him to Affliction as they only really have one light heavyweight and it's his training partner, Rogerio Nogueira.

Robbie Lawler: To the UFC so he can coach the Ultimate Fighter! I kid, I kid. Lawler could go anywhere really. I'd like to know at what level he is really on though, so the high level of competition is in the UFC no matter how weak everyone still feels that division is. But yeah, he'd bolster Affliction's ranks, and DREAM's or Sengokus. Hell he might even be awarded a nice bullshit ridden WAMMA belt for his non-UFC troubles.

Paul Daley: I'd love to see Daley be put in the Ultimate Fighter house for season 9. Dude would fucking tear shit apart and would be a good chance to work on his ever lacking ground game. He could be a star provided he didn't run into any promising american wrestler in the house. Dude really has the wrong skill set to be a welterweight. Every strong ass wrestler seems to be in that damn division.

Cyborg: Wherever the hell Gina goes.

Seth Petruzelli: ...Affliction? maybe? Last time a dude beat Kimbo Slice, they got a UFC fight. Shit put him on Fighting Fedor and see if he can knock out the last emperor with one of those fancy one legged jabs.

Nick Diaz: I'd like to see Nick back in the UFC, but he seems to love the ring and Japan. Especially now that they are paying him. It'll be a little boring to let Nick run amock in Japan as he seems to be more respectful to people that have "bushido" instead of those hollywood fucks like Tyson Griffin who have the moxxy to CHANGE CAMPS IN HOPING TO BETTER THEIR CAREER. I mean the nerve of some people.

Benji Radach: It's pretty funny that Radach wanted to go to the UFC in the first place but they said he needed a tune up fight. He said screw that and then went and brutalized Ninja in that second round. Now EliteXC folds and he's a free agent again who just had a tune up fight. To the UFC with you boy!

Joey Villasenor: Joey can go bolster Affliction's middleweight stocks or go be filler on a UFC undercard.

Ninja Rua: I'm sure the Japanese would love Rua back so they can match him up with people twice his size and take a second crack at ruining his career. Or maybe Ninja is just nuttier than squirrel poo and asked for those fights. Someone offer him a spot on Fighting Fedor and see if he accepts. I like watching the cat fight anyway, so being an Australian I'd like to see him in the UFC so I have a better chance of seeing him. But Affliction or DREAM are good too.

Wilson Reis: WEC boy WEC! This be the only place for he. Seriously.

That'll be about it for me.

Hope you enjoy my first fan post.