Josh 'The Dentist' Neer
Kurt 'Batman' Pellegrino In the first PPV bout of the evening two veterans of the UFC will collide in the Lightweight division as they look to take another step up in the rankings. Josh Neer began fighting mixed martial arts in 2002 at the Toad Holler Fight Club where he started and finished his amateur career with an official record of 11-0. Even though his official record only states 11 bouts he was actually 87-1 at Toad Holler Fight Club sometimes fighting two to three times a night. His only loss as an amateur was to Kevin Burns of the Des Moines Jiu Jitsu Academy.
After his successful amateur career Neer began his professional career on March 15, 2003 by knocking out Josh Kennedy. Neer then won twice and drew once before losing his first fight to Spencer Fisher by split decision. After losing to Fisher, Neer won his next ten fights, including the XKK (Xtreme Kage Kombat) Welterweight Championship. Neer signed with the UFC and lost his first fight to Drew Fickett by submission at the inaugural Ultimate Fight Night. Neer fought his next three fights outside the UFC and went 2-1 before going back to the UFC. He submitted Melvin Guillard at Ultimate Fight Night 2 and beat Joe Stevenson, who won the Welterweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2 at Ultimate Fight Night 3. Neer then lost his next two fights, to Josh Burkman at UFC 61, and by submission to Nick Diaz at UFC 62. Once again out of the UFC, Neer went 6-1 in his next seven fights before returning to defeat Din Thomas at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs Lauzon. In his next fight he lost to Nathan Diaz in the main event at UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs Neer, but followed that defeat with a win at UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs Stephens over The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs Team Serra winner, Mac Danzig, by triangle choke in the second round.
Kurt Pellegrino made his professional MMA debut in August 2002, defeating Mac Danzig via unanimous decision at WEC 4. Kurt won his next fight to go 2-0 before picking up the first loss of his career against Satoru Kitaoka, losing due to a guillotine choke in the 2nd round. Pellegrino rebounded from this loss, winning his next 5 fights before being signed by the UFC to compete against Drew Fickett at UFC 61. Kurt ended up losing his UFC debut after getting submitted in the 3rd round by Fickett, who at that point was vastly more experienced than Kurt. Pellegrino was invited back to the UFC shortly after this fight to face Junior Assuncao at UFC 64, this time Kurt was the one applying the submission as his opponent tapped out in the 1st round. Kurt won his next UFC fight to take his record to 10-2 before taking on Joe Stevenson at UFC 74, Kurt managed to take the Ultimate Fighter winner the distance but ultimately lost via decision.
Kurt fought Alberto Crane in his next fight at UFC Fight Night, he won this bout by TKO in the 2nd round. The fight was notable as the only preliminary bout aired on the televised card. Also, Pellegrino had a tooth knocked out early in the fight, which actually ripped a hole in his mouth, under his lip, and still went on to win, impressing fans and commentators alike. Pellegrino was defeated by TUF 5 winner Nate Diaz via triangle choke at UFC Fight Night 13. He returned at UFC 88, where he defeated Thiago Tavares, in a preliminary bout. Kurt bloodied Tavares' face in the first round and went on to win by a unanimous decision. Kurt's most recent fight was at Ultimate Fight Night 17 against Rob Emerson, he defeated Emerson by submission due to a rear naked choke in the third round, bringing his UFC record to 5-3 and his MMA record to 13-4.
Both of these fighters have been in the UFC for a while now & both possess fairly inconsistent records. Looking back over their fight records makes for interesting reading as neither man has won more than 2 fights in a row whilst in the UFC, it appears that just as they start to build some momentum something happens and they find themselves back down the rankings in the lightweight division. Josh Neer has shown that he can be a difficult fight for anyone in this division when he’s on form, he has significant experience with all of his amateur & professional bouts combined plus he still has time on his side, being only 26 years of age. The big question is whether he will be able to perform at this level consistently in order to make the step up that is necessary to become a future champion? Kurt Pellegrino also faces similar questions, he has shown glimpses of his talent but he will need to put together some solid wins for the rest of the Lightweights to sit up and take notice. He’s on the right track at the moment with 2 wins in his last two fights and another win against Josh Neer will raise his profile even more as he will only be another 2 or 3 wins away from a title shot if that happens. I think Neer is the more well-rounded fighter with excellent stand-up & submission skills, whereas Kurt tends to rely on his ground game to win fights (He has only 1 win via KO in 17 contests). Kurt’s strategy should be straightforward in this fight, he will look to put Neer on his back as soon as possible while avoiding any striking exchanges. Neer on the other hand will look to force Kurt to strike with him & use his takedown defence to stop Pellegrino from getting the fight to his world. If Neer is motivated for this fight and doesn’t make any mistakes then I think he has all the tools he necessary to be victorious at the end of the night.
My Prediction: Josh Neer via decision.
Kendall 'Da Spyder' Grove
Ricardo 'Big Dog' AlmeidaRicardo Almeida will look to continue his MMA comeback on Saturday when he takes on TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove. Almeida’s start in professional MMA wasn’t exactly spectacular as he compiled a 2-2 record in his first 4 fights. After his 2nd loss however Ricardo went on an extremely impressive 6 fight win streak, despite being on the best run of his career Almeida surprised a lot of people in 2004 when he decided to retire from professional competition. For the next few years Ricardo focused on running his Jiu-Jitsu school in Hamilton, New Jersey.
In 2008 Almeida finally got the itch to come back to professional MMA and signed with the UFC, his return bout occurred at UFC 81, where he submitted Rob Yundt at 1:08 in the first round. Almeida's next fight was against Patrick Cote, where he lost his winning streak in a close split decision. Almeida returned from this loss at UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann, this time on the preliminary card, to face Matt Horwich, winning by unanimous decision.
Kendall Grove made his MMA debut in July 2003 and compiled a 5-3-1 record before being invited to compete on the 3rd season The Ultimate Fighter. Grove won a preliminary fight against Ross Pointon by rear naked choke and in the semi-finals defeated Kalib Starnes; a rib injury incurred by Starnes during the fight caused him to verbally submit. He then defeated Ed Herman in the finals with a unanimous decision in the series finale, winning a six-figure contract. In his first bout since the show Grove defeated then-undefeated Chris Price in the first round via submission. At UFC 74, Grove experienced his first loss in the UFC to Patrick Côté, who won by knockout in the first round. Grove experienced his second consecutive loss at UFC 80 to Jorge Rivera by TKO at 1:20 in the first round.
Grove faced Evan Tanner at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale, in a bout that saw Grove bloody Tanner and frustrate the former middleweight champion by stopping his takedowns and getting back immediately following being sent to the floor. Grove won a split decision (30–26, 30–26 for Grove, 29–28 for Tanner) to snap his two fight losing streak.
A victory for Kendall Grove in this fight will surely cement his turnaround, just over a year ago he was on a 2 fight losing streak & going into his next fight knowing that a loss would see his UFC contract end. Despite this Kendall came back strong to win his next two fights and a win over Almeida will put him back into the mix in the middleweight division. Ricardo Almeida will also need to win this fight in impressive fashion after a loss to Patrick Cote put the brakes on his comeback. If Grove can keep Almeida from taking him down then he stands an excellent chance of pulling off the victory in this fight. With his outstanding reach he can comfortably keep Almeida at distance and use his combinations to score points on the Brazilian, there’s also the fact that Almeida isn’t the biggest puncher in this division which may invite Kendall to strike more comfortably. Almeida on the other hand will want to get Kendall on the ground where he can then use his superior BJJ to submit the Hawaiian. The takedown in this fight will be critical, if Almeida gets Kendall down then I think he’ll win by submission however if he’s unable to then Kendall takes a unanimous decision.
My Prediction: Ricardo Almeida via submission.
Amir Sadollah
Johny HendricksIn the first welterweight bout of the night two undefeated fighters will clash as someone’s 0 will have to go. Johny Hendricks was an accomplished amateur wrestler prior to making the switch over to MMA. While competing for Oklahoma State University, Hendricks won the 2005 and 2006 NCAA Division I wrestling title at 165-pounds, Hendricks' only suffered defeat once during his senior year at OSU, compiling a 56-1 record. In addition to his two national championships, Hendricks was a 4-time All-American at OSU and a three-time Big 12 Conference champion (2005, 2006 & 2007)
After graduating from OSU in 2007, Hendricks moved to Las Vegas and signed with Team TakeDown. Hendricks began training for an MMA career and made his professional MMA debut on September 28, 2007, in which he scored a third round TKO over Victor Ratcliff at Masters of the Cage 16. Hendricks fought once more in 2007, and defeated Spencer Cowley with a second round TKO at Snakebite Fight Night. Hendricks made (and won) his television debut on March 15, 2008 with a first round submission victory over Richard Gamble at HDNet Fights Xtreme Fighting League, before signing a multi-fight deal with World Extreme Cagefighting.
While in the WEC, Hendricks won two more fights, a TKO victory over Justin Haskins at WEC 37 and a unanimous decision win over Alex “The Russian Crusher” Serdyukov at WEC 39, which was the last 170-pound fight in WEC history due to the company's decision to dissolve its welterweight division and focus on lighter fighters. With the WEC eliminating his weight class, Hendricks had to find another place to fight and the next logical jump was to the UFC.
Amir Sadollah was one of the 52 successful candidates out of 250 applicants at the October, 2007, International Fight League draft in Chicago. He impressed Dana White and producers enough to earn a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete on The Ultimate Fighter. Sadollah came on to the show with no professional record in MMA. Sadollah showed that he was tough enough to be on the show after defeating Steve Byrnes by armlock. Amir got his spot in the house because of the win and became the second pick for Team Forrest. In the seventh episode, Amir went up against skilled wrestler Gerald Harris and won the fight by TKO in the second round. Amir went on to fight "The Immortal" Matt Brown in the quarterfinals & defeated Brown by Triangle Choke in Round 2. Amir then moved onto the semi-finals where he was to face C.B. Dollaway. In the third round, Sadollah put Dollaway in an armbar and Dollaway immediately tapped. This meant that Amir would fight in the finale for a shot at becoming the next Ultimate Fighter. Sadollah's original opponent for the finale was Jesse Taylor. However, Taylor was removed from the finale due to improper behavior in the days after the show finished taping. C.B. Dollaway defeated Tim Credeur in a match to decide who would replace Taylor in the finale and fight Amir. On the season finale of TUF 7, Amir earned a victory over C.B. Dollaway with another armbar in the first round, securing his title of The Ultimate Fighter and providing him with a six-figure UFC contract.
This is an interesting fight as a win for either fighter will mark them out as a fighter to look out for in the welterweight division. Hendricks is an extremely accomplished amateur wrestler and has enjoyed an impressive start to his MMA career compiling an unbeaten record of 5-0 with 3 KO’s. Sadollah has also enjoyed an impressive start to his career winning the Ultimate Fighter and going 2-0 in his pro fights. There are a number of things that could decide the outcome of this fight, I think Amir has the advantage in the striking and the submission game whereas Hendricks is the better grappler and better conditioned fighter. Possessing excellent grappling is a massive advantage in this game, as it allows most fighters to dictate where they want the fight to take place, just look at how successful Brock Lesnar has been by taking his opponents down & controlling them. I can see Amir starting this fight well with his striking but I expect to see Hendricks shooting for a takedown within the opening stages of the fight & from there I look for him to ground and pound Sadollah for the rest of the round. We may see a similar strategy employed as the GSP/Alves fight with Sadollah looking to land his punches in the early parts of the round before Johny shoots in for the takedown. Another important thing to consider is the lengthy lay-off Sadollah is coming off of. His last fight was over a year ago and it will be interesting to see just how much ring rust affects him in this bout.
My Prediction: Johny Hendricks via TKO.
Anderson 'The Spider' Silva
Forrest GriffinIn the co-main event of the evening Anderson Silva will make his 2nd appearance in the light heavyweight division when he steps up to face Forrest Griffin. Griffin made his debut in MMA back in 2001 and compiled a 9-2 record before he became well-known by taking part in the first-season of The Ultimate Fighter. At the time, he was ready to give up mixed martial arts and rejoin the Athens Police Department. On the show, he reached the finals where he defeated Stephan Bonnar by unanimous decision. The fight was credited by Dana White as the "most important fight in UFC history" and the fight that brought the UFC into the mainstream.
After the show Forrest won his next 2 fights in the UFC before taking on Tito Ortiz at UFC 59, in which he lost a controversial split decision. In his comeback bout Griffin fought Stephan Bonnar in a rematch from their earlier epic fight. Griffin won by unanimous decision, sweeping all three rounds. Shortly after this fight Griffin was then defeated by Ultimate Fighter 2 semifinalist Keith Jardine at UFC 66 by way of TKO at 4:41 of the first round. It was Griffin’s first TKO loss in the UFC and after being visibly upset with his performance he vowed to comeback stronger. At UFC 76, Griffin fought against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. At the time, Shogun was ranked the #1 light heavyweight fighter in the world by several MMA publications. Griffin won by rear naked choke at 4:45 of round three after dominating Shogun for the majority of the fight. This win thrust Forrest into the top of the division and on July 5, 2008, Griffin fought the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Viewed as a heavy underdog by many going into the fight, Griffin faced Jackson in a hard fought battle that was given "Fight of the Night" honors by UFC president Dana White. Griffin won a unanimous decision victory and became the new undisputed UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Griffin's first title defense came at UFC 92 against challenger Rashad Evans. After Griffin controlled most of the first two rounds with effective striking, Evans defeated Griffin by TKO in the third round with ground and pound.
Anderson Silva made his MMA debut in May 2000 fighting for the Mecca organization in Brazil. Silva lost his debut to Luiz Azeredo by split decision. After that fight, he went on a nine-fight winning streak, winning six of those fights by either submission or TKO before losing to Daiju Takase, despite being a strong underdog Takase submitted Silva with a triangle choke late in the first round. Silva went on to win his next 3 fights before returning to Pride to face Ryo Chonan, Silva looked to be in control in the 1st round after getting a takedown and body triangle. Chonan was able to counter Silva's knees from the clinch, with knees, and takedowns in the 2nd round before ending the fight in the third round with a flying scissor heel hook to give Silva his 3rd loss in MMA.
After losing to Chonan, Silva fought his next 2 fights in Cage Rage, earning two victories before fighting at Rumble on the Rock 8 against Yushin Okami in the first round of the 175 lb tournament. Although Silva considered the favorite to win the tournament, he lost in the first round when he kicked Okami in the face from the guard position. Okami's knees were on the ground at the time, making the attack an illegal strike to the head of a downed opponent. After this controversial disqualification Silva went back to Cage Rage to defend the Cage Rage championship against Tony Fryklund. Silva ended the fight with a reverse elbow, knocking out Fryklund early in the first round. Shortly after this fight Silva signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC.
Silva made his anticipated debut at Ultimate Fight Night 5 on June 28, 2006 against Chris Leben. Silva wasted no time making an impression in the UFC as he knocked out Leben with a flurry of strikes, followed by a final knee strike at 49 seconds into the first round. Immediately following his debut Silva was given a shot at Rich Franklin and his Middleweight title at UFC 64. Franklin was considered the UFC’s best middleweight at the time and many people were anticipating a close fight with Franklin taking the win, however Silva had other plans as he put the champion into a Muay-Thai clinch in the 1st round before unleashing a flurry of knees which broke Franklin’s nose and put him down, making Silva the new champion due to TKO.
After winning the championship Silva went 5-0 including wins over Travis Lutter, Nate Marquardt, Rich Franklin, a unification fight against Pride champion Dan Henderson and a KO win over James Irvin in a light heavyweight bout. Silva’s next fight took place on October 25, 2008 at UFC 90 against Patrick Côté. In the third round, Côté landed awkwardly on his right leg while throwing a kick and fell to the mat grasping his right knee in obvious pain. The fight was stopped immediately with referee Herb Dean ruling it as a TKO victory for Silva. In his most recent fight at UFC 97 Silva defeated Thales Leites by Unanimous Decision, defending his Middleweight Championship and recording his UFC record 9th consecutive win in the octagon. This also was the longest fight Silva has ever had in the UFC, going the full 5 rounds of the fight.
This fight has all the makings of a potential classic and should provide Silva with the challenge he has been looking for recently. After clearing out the Middleweight division, it must be difficult for Anderson to motivate himself for title defences against fighters that are no-where near his skill level. In this fight however he will have his hands full as Forrest will be the biggest opponent that Silva has faced in his career thus far and it will be interesting to see if he approaches this fight any differently than normal. I don’t expect Forrest to trade with Anderson for too long in the stand up, he may look to use his leg kicks early on to make Silva hesitate a little, but his ultimate aim will be to clinch with Silva and use his dirty boxing before going for a takedown where he can then try to work some ground and pound on the Middleweight champ. Anderson will be facing a unique challenge in this fight as his reach won’t be as much of a factor as it normally is; I think Anderson’s main strategy in this fight will be to counter Forrest’s aggressive style with his precise strikes while also avoiding any clinches. If he can force Griffin into a striking battle then I can see Anderson either getting the KO or out-pointing Griffin due to landing the more accurate punches. Forrest’s weight advantage will play a significant role in this fight if he gets in close, he’s one of the biggest light heavyweights in the division and may well be upto 20lbs heavier than Anderson come fight time and this is an important thing to consider if Forrest gets the fight to the ground where he then can use his weight to tire Silva out. This fight really could go either way and we are sure to see an exciting battle as Forrest will pressure Anderson until he either gets the stoppage or is stopped himself, however I think that this aggressiveness will ultimately lead to Griffin’s downfall in this fight as Silva only needs a slight opening to land one of his devastating counter punches to end the night.
My Prediction: Anderson Silva via TKO.
BJ 'The Prodigy' Penn
Kenny 'KenFlo' FlorianIn the main event of the evening BJ Penn will move back down to the lightweight division to defend his title against Kenny Florian. ‘KenFlo’ made his MMA debut in January 2003 at Mass Destruction 10, defeating Jason Giroux via TKO (strikes). Kenny made another appearance in the Mass Destruction Promotion at MD - 15 and scored a victory over Bobby McAndrews by submission (kimura). Following those victories, Kenny suffered his first loss to UFC regular Drew Fickett via decision at Combat Zone 7 - Gravel Pit. Shortly after this loss Kenny went on to compete on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter as a middleweight, losing at the finale in the first round to Diego Sanchez due to strikes.
Following his loss to Sanchez, Florian returned at the first Ultimate Fight Night to defeat Alex Karalexis. Picking up momentum, Kenny went on to face Muay Thai competitor Kit Cope, winning with a rear naked choke submission in round 2. Florian earned a title shot after defeating Sam Stout at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale; via rear naked choke in the 1st round. At UFC 64 Florian fought Sean Sherk for the UFC Lightweight title and lost via unanimous decision. Sherk exhibited superior control despite being cut severely by several Florian elbows. The judges scored it 50-45 and 49-46 twice for Sherk. After suffering this loss Kenny re-dedicated himself to training and came back stronger than ever winning his next 6 fights which included a decision win over Roger Huerta, to end Huerta’s 17 fight win streak and a 1st round submission victory over Joe Stevenson at UFC 91.
BJ Penn made his mixed martial arts debut with the UFC on May 24, 2001 with a win over Joey Gilbert at UFC 31 after Dana White had convinced him to switch to MMA after seeing his performance at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. In his next couple of fights Penn demonstrated strong striking skills, KO’ing lightweights Din Thomas and Caol Uno before suffering a decision loss in a championship fight against UFC Lightweight Champion, Jens Pulver. In 2003, after Pulver left the UFC and relinquished his title, a tournament to crown a new champion flopped when Penn fought Uno to a draw in the finals at UFC 41. Penn bounced back later in the year with a victory over Takanori Gomi. Penn received his first MMA championship in 2004 at UFC 46. Penn jumped up in weight classes to challenge the five-time defending UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes, and even though he was heavily favored to win, Hughes lost the fight four minutes into the first round by rear naked choke after giving up his back with only 23 seconds left in the round. Shortly after defeating Hughes, Penn signed to fight for K-1 citing a lack of challenging fights left for him in the UFC. The UFC promptly stripped him of the welterweight title, claiming Penn breached his contract and that the signing constituted him refusing to defend his title.
Penn fought 3 times for K-1, compiling a 2-1 record for the promotion, with all fights taking place well above his normal weight class. The 2 wins came against Duane Ludwig & Renzo Gracie and the loss to Lyoto Machida. In early 2006 Penn re-signed with the UFC and made his return at UFC 58, losing to Georges St. Pierre by split decision in a fight that determined the number one welterweight contender. An injury sustained by GSP allowed Penn to step in at UFC 63 to take on Matt Hughes in a re-match for the welterweight title, Penn controlled the first two rounds, but sustained a rib injury during the scramble to take Hughes' back in round two. He was visibly affected in the third round, appearing exhausted. Hughes was able to take Penn down and rained down punches on a defenceless Penn, leaving the referee no choice but to stop the fight. After this loss Penn moved back down to Lightweight and appeared intent on creating his legacy in the division, he put together a 3 fight win streak including a win over Joe Stevenson in which he won the Lightweight tile for the 1st time in his career. He then defended the title against Sean Sherk at UFC 84, stopping the former champ in 3 rounds. Penn’s latest fight was against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 94, what was expected to be a competitive fight turned out to be totally one sided as GSP controlled Penn throughout the fight inflicting the worst defeat that Penn has suffered thus far in his career.
This will be BJ’s first fight since the beating he took at the hands of GSP, so he will be coming into to this bout with a point to prove and if his training partners are anything to go by he should be more than ready for anything Kenny throws at him. Both of these fighters are extremely well rounded, with Kenny specifically improving his overall game considerably over the last couple of years. When he started in the UFC he was mainly considered a ground fighter with vicious ground and pound as well as excellent submissions. Since his debut he’s now added top class Muay Thai striking and solid wrestling skills to his game aswell. Even though Kenny has improved a lot I still feel that BJ is the slightly better fighter overall, possessing a more solid ground game and more power in his strikes. I think BJ’s boxing will be slightly more effective in the stand-up and he will probably look to establish his jab early on in the fight while avoiding any clinches with Florian. For Florian the clinch is exactly where he wants this fight to take place, from here he can use his elbows and knees to wear BJ down and really test the champion’s conditioning. I doubt that we’ll see either fighter shoot for a takedown in this fight due to the fact that they are pretty evenly matched in this area and would probably cancel each other out. This will be one of BJ’s toughest fights at lightweight and Kenny is more than capable at pulling off the upset however I think that a motivated BJ Penn is the best lightweight in MMA and at the end of the night I think that BJ will be just a little bit too much for Kenny & will come away with the victory.
Prediction: BJ Penn via TKO.
