I’m thinking Gray Maynard will win this and be the new UFC lightweight champ.

UFC 125 looks like it should be a great show with some good fights. My picks are:
Gray Maynard over Frankie Edgar
Chris Leben over Brian Stann
Brandon Vera over Thiago Silva
Nate Diaz over Dong Hyun Kim
Takanori Gomi over Clay Guida
Marcus Davis over Jeremy Stephens
Josh Grispi over Dustin Poirier
Phil Baroni over Brad Tavares
Mike Brown over Diego Nunes
Jacob Volkmann over Antonio McKee

Mark Bocek vs. Joe Brammer
John Howard vs. Dennis Hallman
**Brian Stann vs. Rodney Wallace
Jon Madsen vs. Justin Wrenn
**Darrill Schoonover vs. James McSweeney
Marcus Jones vs. Matt Mitrione
Frank Edgar vs. Matt Veach
**KIMBO SLICE vs. HOUSTON ALEXANDER
Matt Hamill vs. Jon Jones

** Rodney Wallace’s nickname is “Shonuff The Master” — so, I’m picking him to win.

** Darrill Schoonover has been called back to military duty (he was in the Army for 4 years already) and he’ll be leaving for duty again soon after his fight.

** WAR KIMBO, ALL DAY SON.

Just got back from Nowhere, Georgia…but in time to catch UFC 98.

Sherk vs. Edgar goes to a decision…who would’ve guessed? Ummm, I think it was almost guaranteed to go a decision, I wouldn’t have guessed anything else. Frankie Edgar wins via decision. According to Dana White’s twitter, “Sean sherk ran out of the ring and out the doors and down the street in his fight shorts and no shirt”.. LOL.

Chael Sonnen vs. Dan Miller…Sonnen says he’s gonna punch a hole in Millers face. So far, it’s looking like he’s right. Round three and Sonnen is pretty much dominating the fight, except for a couple of good, but unsuccessful guillotine attempts by Miller. Chael Sonnen wins via judges decision.

Drew McFedries vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam “Professor X”.. the audience boos when Referee Yves Lavigne isi ntroduced.. and shortly thereafter, Drew McFedries KO’s Xavier Foupa-Pokam, knocks him down, Xavier recovers, back to his feat momentarily, then KO’d again by McFedries, knocked around some more before the referee stops the fight. Foupa-Pokam protests the stoppage, but it was fair, in my opinion. Drew McFedries wins by KO at 37 seconds of round one.

Hey, there’s Holly Madison from Girls Next Door and Dancing With The Stars…but I want to know who the other blonde chick is beside her.

btw: WAR Machida.

Krysztof Soszynski vs Andre Gusmao – Gnarly knockout win for Krysztof Soszynski in round one. Gusmao took some good shots without seeming hurt, but finally dropped unconscious from a right cross.

IRON MIKE TYSON IN THE HOUSE.

Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra! -  I kinda want Hughes to win this, but I also like seeing underdogs win, and I think Serra is the underdog here. I just hope it’s an entertaining fight. Holy shit, Matt Serra using the Rocky entrance music. Awesome. I think I want him to win now…but of course, it’s hard to beat Bocephus music. Above average staredown between Hughes and Serra.

Round One: WOW Serra hurts Hughes badly! Has him rocked bad, but Joe Rogan says it was from a head-collision. Matt Hughes has Serra’s back now, this might be bad for Serra, Hughes has his hooks in, just under one minute left in round one. Serra escapes and their both back to their feet. Great fight so far. Round Two starts, and it’s spent mostly with Hughes in Serra’s half guard. Not much ground and pound from Hughes, and Serra was rolling his eyes at the lack of action. ROUND THREE, last round. Hughes takes Serra down, controls him, but Serra gets some good sub attempts, tries a triangle, omaplata, referee starts them back on their feet. SERRA THROWS HUGHES,  lands some good shots, controls, round over. Will it be enough for the win? Nope, judges give it a 29-28 unanimous decision victory for Matt Hughes.

Joe Rogan interviews Hughes after the fight, and Hughes mentions he is now a free agent and has no fights left with the UFC… he says he and Dana White will talk it over and see about one more fight in his hometown. Hughes also clearly says he won’t be fighting for any other organization.

LYOTO MACHIDA vs. RASHAD EVANS – I 100% want Machida to win this fight. I also hope the fight is entertaining, I hope Rashad brings it and doesn’t try to counter Machida’s counter.

Round One: How long will it take before they actually tough eachother? Machida throws the first strike, with a low leg kick that doesn’t land. So far one minute into the fight and nothing yet. There’s a kick from Rashad, it doesn’t land. Still no contact. I already hear boos in the audience. Machida is southpaw, and Evans is orthodox right now. NICE head kickfrom Machida, lands, but not enough to hurt Rashad yet. MACHIDA knocks Rashad down with a kick to the body. MACHIDA wins round one easily.

Round Two: THAT WAS AWESOME. Machida is unstoppable. He just left Rashad Evans unconscious laying against the fence. He probably broke Rashad’s nose, also.

I think I just heard Rogan say “Mixed Mortal Arts”..

BTW: Rashad Evans seems like a genuinely good dude. Good post-fight interview with Rogan, even under such disappointing circumstances for him.

PRELIM FIGHT RESULTS:

George Roop defeats Dave Kaplan via judges decision
Yoshiyuki Yoshida defeats Brandon Wolff via guillotine, round one
Kyle Bradley defeats Phillipe Nover by TKO, round one
Tim Hague defeats Pat Barry by Guillotine, round one
Brock Larson defeats Mike Pyle by arm-triangle choke, round one

**Rumor has it that two of the fighters’ mothers got into a fight in the audience? I need to hear more about this entertainment.

It took just over 1 minute for Anderson Silva to dispose of James Irvin in brutal fashion. The rest of the 205lb division should be on high alert. Irvin did what he said he was going to do, he didn’t back down from Silva and tried to see what he could do. Irvin through some decent leg kicks, but that is what ultimately led to his demise. Anderson Silva caught one of Irvins leg kicks and immediately delivered a right hand to Irvins chin, putting him on the mat. Spider Silva pounced on him and landed a flurry of right hand punches straight down on Irvins dome, sneaking one through that left a huge cut under Irvin’s right eye. Referee stops the fight at 1:01 of the first round. Who’s next for Silva?

CB Dollaway caught Jesse Taylor in a “Peruvian neck tie” submission at 3:58 of the first round.

Tim Credeur TKO’d Cale Yarbrough at 1:54 of the first round.

Shannon Gugerty submitted Dale Hartt in round 1.

Brad Blackburn TKO’d James Giboo in round 2.

Nate Loughran submitted Johnny Rees in round 1 (Triangle Choke).

Rory Markham was getting tagged in the head by Brodie Farber and came back with a HEAVY kick upside Farbers head that put him unconscious immediately.

Kevin Burns was awarded a TKO victory over Anthony Johnson, although the end was due to an eypoke from Burns. He had already been warned by the referee for an earlier poke in Anthony Johnsons eye, but in the final round he got a better one that sent Anthony Johnson screaming and falling to the canvas.

Cain Velasquez defeated Jake O’Brien by TKO in round 1.

Frankie Edgar defeated Hermes Franca by unanimous decision.

Brandon Vera bored us through to a unanimous decision victory over Reese Andy. Brandon Vera still thinks he is going to hold both the UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight championships in the future.