UFC 58 Fight card

[no1 jobber]

UFC announced the fight card for their upcoming March 4th Show, UFC 58: USA Vs Canada

Main event: Middleweight Title Fight- Rich Franklin Vs David 'the Crow' Loiseau
The return of BJ Penn Vs George St. Pierre
Diego Sanchez Vs John Allessio
Kristof Midoux Vs Tom Murphy
Rob MacDonald Vs Jason Lambert
Steve Vigneault Vs Mike Swick
Nathan Marquadt Vs the returning Joe Doerksen
ALSO: The return of Lightweight action Yves Edwards Vs Mark Hominick
Sam Stout Vs Kenny Florian

[Steve72]

Oh man, USA vs Canada. THE MMA MEGAPOWERS EXPLODE

[The Loose Cannon]

Oh man, USA vs Canada. THE MMA MEGAPOWERS EXPLODE

Haha, while I agree that the "USA Vs. Canada" gimmick is pretty lame, I gotta hand it to UFC for putting together some pretty good fights (presumably). Loiseau is likely gonna be Franklin's toughest opponent in quite some time. While I'm doubting that Franklin could get KO'd by Loiseau, I think the only way Loiseau could win would be by a cut stoppage after some of his viscious elbows. Seeing Penn back is great too, and it's a win-win situation with him and St. Pierre, because I'm pretty sure whoever wins that fight will be the one to dethrone Hughes. Sanchez vs. Allesio could be good as well, should be an exciting fight. Seeing Swick finally back in action is good too, he won his first 3 UFC fights by KO's within the first minute of each fight, pretty damn impressive. If he keeps it up then the UFC should start promoting him as a phenom with lightning hands, kinda like the Vitor Belfort of old. I have the strangest feeling that I've seen Marquardt Vs. Doerkson before, but maybe I'm wrong.

Oh yeah, the return of a UFC Lightweight division is fantastic news as well, here's hoping they bring back a title too.

[Justin Crast]

Alessio is a veteran but I think he's a step down for Sanchez after beating Diaz. This USA vs Canada theme ended up making for some strange match ups. I think Edwards vs Hominick may be the worst one. Hominick generally fights at 140lbs, not even 145. And he'll be facing Edwards, who cuts down to 155. So Edwards will probably go into the fight weighign between 165-170 while Hominick will probably be 146 so that he'll qualify for the weight division. Anyone understand how big a difference 20 lbs is for *that* weight class, much less a larger one?

I see St. Pierre beating Penn. Penn's pinnacle was beating Gomi and Hughes back to back. Just because he beat an over the hill Renzo Gracie and lost to a game Ryoto Machida means he's ready for Pierre. Penn's spent too much time jerking off to his supposed awesomeness for the past two years.

Justin

[Roger Deaton]

Penn vs. St. Pierre could be really good, if Penn comes in shape and whatnot. I'm really high on St. Pierre, and Penn is one of the pound-for-pound best when he is on his game. Franklin vs. Loiseau should be real good. I am starting to get a high opinion of Sanchez as a fighter, Alessio with at least be another good test for him.

[Steve72]

Both Penn and St. Pierre should be fighting Hughes for the title. One of them is going to be screwed over, IMO.

[no1 jobber]

In the end Im sure both eventually will..if anything the winner will definitly get a shot at Hughes....and IF Hughes wins he'll take on the loser next....unless someone new steps up.

[The Loose Cannon]

Yeah, the winner should get a title shot, but with Hughe's B.S. fight against Royce, he likely won't defend his title until August.

[Justin Crast]

Penn deserves some good blame for this weird Welterweight title picture. He did an interview recently where he said he has no desire to fight Matt Hughes. He felt the Sean Sherk vs Georges St. Pierre fight would determine who the best WW was and he had it put in his contract that he'd fight the winner of that match. It's a hilarious opinion considering that Hughes beat both of them, but Penn barely broke a sweat beating Hughes, so who knows. If he wins this fight, UFC gets their wish and he has to fight Hughes. Then he wants to fight the Middleweight champ, so who knows again.

St. Pierre is getting the "Liddell" treatment in UFC. He seemed to be the pretty clear #1 contender but just has to keep on fighting until he can get his shot. I think he'll win. He has all the tools plus it looks like he does a lot of research and tape watching of his opponents. His strategies are always top notch. UFC is very lucky Pride doesn't have a 170 or 175 division cause they are lucking into having the deepest division in all of MMA. Nick Diaz is probably top 10 and he might not even be in UFC anymore.

Justin

[no1 jobber]

Penn has always had weird opinions...and the kinda attidue where he just doesnt care to follow other people's guidelines including the UFC. I think the UFC are secretly praying that Penn doesnt beat GSP because he will more than likely beat Hughes and then if he does pursue teh Middleweight division he's going to fuck the whole system up like he did when he left.

I like GSP but I think Penn has his number UNLESS all that extra weight that Penn looks like he added on becomes a huge factor in the match (which it shouldnt).

I really hope Diaz isnt out of UFC because honeslty with his out of octagon antics he has become quickly my favorite UFC fighter....he's better than Tito Oritz when it comes to shit like that.

[The Loose Cannon]

Man, Diaz got robbed against that fucking cheater Riggs. It was bad enough he had to fight a guy weighing about 30 lbs. more than him, even worse that he lost a decision that should have gone his way, except the dumb ass judges figured riggs won because he opened up a cut on Diaz, bullshit.

[bonni]

This is going to be a great fight!! Penn vs GSP for me would the real main event imo.

This UFC was the best they have put on in a while. It just keeps growing and it is fun to watch this evolve.

[no1 jobber]

I agree with LC, the bullshit weight gaining between the weigh in and the actual match has got to STOP! Not only is that unfair but it seriously is unhealthy and it showed as Riggs was pretty much gassed out by the second round and not nearly striking as hard as he normally does. I was pissed off as Diaz was when they annouinced Riggs the winner THOUGH IMO Diaz could have done more to take advnatge of the gassed out Riggs....but hey when ur fighting a guy 30 lbs more than u what can ya do?

[Steve72]

I agree with LC, the bullshit weight gaining between the weigh in and the actual match has got to STOP! Not only is that unfair but it seriously is unhealthy and it showed as Riggs was pretty much gassed out by the second round and not nearly striking as hard as he normally does. I was pissed off as Diaz was when they annouinced Riggs the winner THOUGH IMO Diaz could have done more to take advnatge of the gassed out Riggs....but hey when ur fighting a guy 30 lbs more than u what can ya do?


I heard that Riggs was KO'd at the hospital by Diaz while hooked up to an IV. I laughed becuase he was so dehydrated from weight cutting that he needed an IV :o

[no1 jobber]

Yea I heard that too..though I dont know about the IV part...honestly they need to market Diaz as the asshole heel...that will IMO pique people's intrests.

[Justin Crast]

It would probably be more unhealthy to switch the weigh ins to the day of the fights, because the fighters would still try to lose just as much weight and just try to fight a day earlier. That'd be worse. MMA weight cutting isn't going to change. It's the wreslting influence on the sport.

I also didn't think the Riggs decision was bad. I'm not sure I'd had given him the fight, but he clearly won round 3 while Diaz, IMO, clearly won round 1. It becomes a deal of who won round 2. Riggs landed far more shots, but wasn't the aggressor, mostly fighting defensively. But to decry his performance for being "gassed", which was true, should be followed up with mention of how poor Diaz's own performance was. He was outweighed, but was getting outboxed also. He coulda figured out a different plan somwhere through rounds 2 and 3.

Justin

[Steve72]

Someone brought up an interesting point about this show--fighter's paydays will probably only be around 200k total, which is less than Chuck makes per fight. "The Superbowl of MMA" LOL

[no1 jobber]

Going to Justin's comments on the Riggs/Diaz fight...I agree Diaz should of and could of done ALOT more to take advanatge of Riggs...Im suprised for a guy who is a BJJ "expert" he didnt try to do one decent take down...he really tried to outbox Riggs who is really a heavy striker...what kinda game plan was that? Honestly I like Diaz but he should stick to his strengths. Oh well..hopefully he'll be fighting again soon.

[Justin Crast]

Diaz makes some strange gameplan choices. Stands with Riggs even though he wasn't getting the better of it. On top of that, when Riggs took him down, it looked like Diaz was in control and was getting close to some submissions. He grapples with Parysian, he stands with Lawler (which worked cause Lawler is an idiot), and he grapples with Sanchez. I know he didn't have complete choice in those situations, but he didn't do much to impose his will on any of those fights. He just lets the opponent take it where it goes.

Justin

[no1 jobber]

For those who dont know already BOTH Diaz and Florian are off the UFC58 fight card. Diaz is sick and Florian hurt himself while training. Its a shame about Diaz as I really think he has a chance at succes in the UFC.

[The Loose Cannon]

Wait, who was Diaz supposed to fight on this card? This is the first I've heard that he was scheduled to fight for this event.

[no1 jobber]

Im sorry not Diaz...Sanchez...both TUF finalist are out.

[SoCal Tom Walters]

Diego Sanchez will lose the second he steps up in class.

[The Loose Cannon]

Im sorry not Diaz...Sanchez...both TUF finalist are out.

Aw lame, this just card keeps looking worse and worse... :(