Welcome back for another edition of Viperz Venom! Glad to be back again to give you guys my rundown of the fights for the finale of The Ultimate Fighter! Without further ado lets get started!
JingLiang Li 10-4 vs Anton Zafir 7-2
Oddly enough looking through Li's fight history this will be his 5th fight inside the octagon, what is strange is that I don't recall seeing him fight before. Zafir looked good in his UFC debut up until the final minute of the first round where he was caught by a spinning back fist that ended his night early. I expect li to try and take the unorthodox striking approach here as both guys seem to be pretty even with one another as far as how they like to finish fights in concerned. Though I feel like Li drops his second straight fight here in a razor close decision.
Pick: Anton Zafir via Split Decision
Jake Matthews 11-1 vs Kevin Lee 12-2
What a fight to be so early on the card. Matthews is coming off of a beautiful performance against an undefeated very confident Johnny Case and looks to ride that momentum straight through Lee. Lee's last fight was masterful in its own right, controlling the former TUF winner Efrian Escudero for 3 straight rounds. I look at this fight as somewhat of a mismatch though. Matthews is downgrading in level of opponent and the fight will clearly show that.I expect Matthews to hurt him,hop on, and grab a choke for the quick submission win.
Pick: Jake Matthews via 1st Round Submission
Cezar Ferreira 10-5 vs Anthony Smith 25-11
Ferreira steps into the octagon for the 9th time against arguably his most experienced foe yet. Smith has been in and out of every major and almost every minor MMA organization that would have him. Unfortinatley for Ferreira, Smith is riding an 8 fight win streak and has shown he can stop the fight anywhere he chooses as of late. Ferreira has shown a suspect chin and I fully expect Smith to take full advantage of that.
Pick: Anthony Smith via 2nd Round KO/TKO
Cory Hendricks 3-0 vs Josh Stansbury 7-3
Stansbury nearly made it into the Finale itself and if not for Khalil doing his best Apollo Creed impression with that left hand he may have ended up there. Hendricks just doesn't have enough experience or pose enough of a threat against a bigger stronger Stansbury. I'm going to go with a decision win here but it wouldn't surprise me if Stansbury put Hendricks to sleep either.
Pick: Josh Stansbury via Unanimous Decision
John Moraga 16-4 vs Matheus Nicolau 11-2-1
How can you not pick Moraga here? Let's look at Moraga's losses for a second. Demetrious Johnson, Joseph Benavidez, and John Dodson x2. That is an absolute murderers row! He has much more UFC experience than Nicolau and is coming off of a devastating decision loss. Nicolau has impressive submission skills but I don't see Moraga getting himself into trouble there in this one. I expect to see Moraga's best performance to date against Nicolau. You won't wanna miss this one.
Pick: John Moraga via Unanimous Decision
Gray Maynard 12-6-1 vs Fernando Bruno 16-3
The UFC fantasy system has this one as a "tight matchup". I don't see it that way at all. The truth is Maynard hasn't legitimatley won a fight since 2010, obviously omitting his questionable split decision victory over Clay Guida in 2012 and even if we count that win he has still dropped 4 straight. Maynard is on the way out and the UFC has tried to throw him a bone as a retirement present. Bruno plays spoiler in this one. He stops the takedown and dispatches of Maynard before the end of the second round.
Pick: Fernando Bruno via 2nd Round KO/TKO
Joaquim Silva 8-1 vs Andrew Holbrook 11-0
Both of these guys are coming off of razor close split decision victories. I imagine they're both not going to want to replicate their last performances here. Silva is the more likely of the two to get a finish as he has stopped sev eral opponents with his hands but Holbrook has a BJJ game thats second to none submitting 9 of his 11 opponents. If you give up your back to him you can pretty much expect the fight to be over shortly after. Silva goes for the big shot and Holbrook ducks under for a takedown, Silva shows his back and Holbrook sinks in the choke.
Pick: Andrew Holbrook via 2nd Round Submission
Doo Ho Choi 13-1 vs Thiago Tavares 24-6-1
Experienced, battle tested grappler versus a precision striking machine. Basic Striker vs Grappler match up. We'll take the young guy here as Tavares is only 2-5 fights away from retirement.
Pick: Doo Ho Choi via 1st Round KO/TKO
Ross Pearson 21-10 vs Will Brooks 17-1
Will Brooks and I have a history. After he won the Bellator strap in a split decision win over Michael Chandler I took to twitter to tell him how I felt. I told him that he was a dirty fighter and that he didn't deserve the win as I had personally scored the fight differently than the judges cage side. He then decided to tweet me back several times calling me all sorts of names, basically being extremely unprofessional, and when I decided enough was enough and went to tweet him back he had went and deleted all of his derogatory tweets to me. Oddly enough he then blocked me shortly thereafter. Morale of the story, if Brooks had confidence in his abilities do you think he would attack whathe percieved to be a "keyboard warrior" on twitter right after the biggest fight of his career? The answer is no. My personal feelings aside I do see Will Brooks winning this fight as its the most likely outcome. Don't be shocked if Brooks gets caught by one of Pearsons farmer punches and goes beddy bye as thats what I would find most entertaining.
Pick: Will Brooks via Unanimous Decision
Tatiana Suarez 4-0 vs Amanda Cooper 2-1
I chose Amanda Cooper to go all the way at the beginning of this season. Not just because she was arguably the best looking woman on the show but because she showed the most promise during the fights to get into the house. Suarez is a monster for her weight class and is very talented though. This one will really come down to who wants it more later in the fight, I'm sticking with my original pick from the beginning.
Pick: Amanda Cooper via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Sanchez 8-2 vs Khalil Rountree 5-0
Sanchez should be everyones pick going into this as he put away all his opponents in the house without much difficulty and has shown he can do it however he chooses. Rountree on the otherhand was my pick to win the whole show from the beginning. My friends and I nicknamed his Apollo for obvious reasons and loved watching his fights. Unfortinatley he gasses much to quickly and though he could connect in the first 5 minutes and send Sanchez to dreamworld I don't see that happening here. Rountree gasses halfway through the second and Sanchez takes over. Submitting him in the 3rd.
Pick: Andrew Sanchez via 3rd Round Submission
Joanna Jedrzejczyk 11-0 vs Claudia Gadelha 13-1
Man oh man who isn't ready for these two chicks to punch each other in the face?! I can't wait to see this fight. Mark my words, if thisfight goes the distance it will be the bloodiest war in female mma history! These two hate each other almost as much as Bones and DC do and all of that hatred is going to come out as soon as Herb Dean says Fight! Joanna stated that TUF painted her to be the bully when she wasnt and showed her in an unflattering light. The truth is she was a terrible coach and worried more about her own training than the training of her fighters and thats why Gadelha nearly swept her completely. Their first fight was razor close but this one won't be. Don't leave it in the hands of the judges they say? No problem here. Not a chance this one goes to decision. Someone gets finished here.
Pick: Claudia Gadelha via 3rd Round Submission
Well thanks for understanding about last nights picks guys and I really hope you enjoyed this breakdown. Please join me tomorrow when I breakdown and predict the entire UFC 200 card! I can't wait!
JingLiang Li 10-4 vs Anton Zafir 7-2
Oddly enough looking through Li's fight history this will be his 5th fight inside the octagon, what is strange is that I don't recall seeing him fight before. Zafir looked good in his UFC debut up until the final minute of the first round where he was caught by a spinning back fist that ended his night early. I expect li to try and take the unorthodox striking approach here as both guys seem to be pretty even with one another as far as how they like to finish fights in concerned. Though I feel like Li drops his second straight fight here in a razor close decision.
Pick: Anton Zafir via Split Decision
Jake Matthews 11-1 vs Kevin Lee 12-2
What a fight to be so early on the card. Matthews is coming off of a beautiful performance against an undefeated very confident Johnny Case and looks to ride that momentum straight through Lee. Lee's last fight was masterful in its own right, controlling the former TUF winner Efrian Escudero for 3 straight rounds. I look at this fight as somewhat of a mismatch though. Matthews is downgrading in level of opponent and the fight will clearly show that.I expect Matthews to hurt him,hop on, and grab a choke for the quick submission win.
Pick: Jake Matthews via 1st Round Submission
Cezar Ferreira 10-5 vs Anthony Smith 25-11
Ferreira steps into the octagon for the 9th time against arguably his most experienced foe yet. Smith has been in and out of every major and almost every minor MMA organization that would have him. Unfortinatley for Ferreira, Smith is riding an 8 fight win streak and has shown he can stop the fight anywhere he chooses as of late. Ferreira has shown a suspect chin and I fully expect Smith to take full advantage of that.
Pick: Anthony Smith via 2nd Round KO/TKO
Cory Hendricks 3-0 vs Josh Stansbury 7-3
Stansbury nearly made it into the Finale itself and if not for Khalil doing his best Apollo Creed impression with that left hand he may have ended up there. Hendricks just doesn't have enough experience or pose enough of a threat against a bigger stronger Stansbury. I'm going to go with a decision win here but it wouldn't surprise me if Stansbury put Hendricks to sleep either.
Pick: Josh Stansbury via Unanimous Decision
John Moraga 16-4 vs Matheus Nicolau 11-2-1
How can you not pick Moraga here? Let's look at Moraga's losses for a second. Demetrious Johnson, Joseph Benavidez, and John Dodson x2. That is an absolute murderers row! He has much more UFC experience than Nicolau and is coming off of a devastating decision loss. Nicolau has impressive submission skills but I don't see Moraga getting himself into trouble there in this one. I expect to see Moraga's best performance to date against Nicolau. You won't wanna miss this one.
Pick: John Moraga via Unanimous Decision
Gray Maynard 12-6-1 vs Fernando Bruno 16-3
The UFC fantasy system has this one as a "tight matchup". I don't see it that way at all. The truth is Maynard hasn't legitimatley won a fight since 2010, obviously omitting his questionable split decision victory over Clay Guida in 2012 and even if we count that win he has still dropped 4 straight. Maynard is on the way out and the UFC has tried to throw him a bone as a retirement present. Bruno plays spoiler in this one. He stops the takedown and dispatches of Maynard before the end of the second round.
Pick: Fernando Bruno via 2nd Round KO/TKO
Joaquim Silva 8-1 vs Andrew Holbrook 11-0
Both of these guys are coming off of razor close split decision victories. I imagine they're both not going to want to replicate their last performances here. Silva is the more likely of the two to get a finish as he has stopped sev eral opponents with his hands but Holbrook has a BJJ game thats second to none submitting 9 of his 11 opponents. If you give up your back to him you can pretty much expect the fight to be over shortly after. Silva goes for the big shot and Holbrook ducks under for a takedown, Silva shows his back and Holbrook sinks in the choke.
Pick: Andrew Holbrook via 2nd Round Submission
Doo Ho Choi 13-1 vs Thiago Tavares 24-6-1
Experienced, battle tested grappler versus a precision striking machine. Basic Striker vs Grappler match up. We'll take the young guy here as Tavares is only 2-5 fights away from retirement.
Pick: Doo Ho Choi via 1st Round KO/TKO
Ross Pearson 21-10 vs Will Brooks 17-1
Will Brooks and I have a history. After he won the Bellator strap in a split decision win over Michael Chandler I took to twitter to tell him how I felt. I told him that he was a dirty fighter and that he didn't deserve the win as I had personally scored the fight differently than the judges cage side. He then decided to tweet me back several times calling me all sorts of names, basically being extremely unprofessional, and when I decided enough was enough and went to tweet him back he had went and deleted all of his derogatory tweets to me. Oddly enough he then blocked me shortly thereafter. Morale of the story, if Brooks had confidence in his abilities do you think he would attack whathe percieved to be a "keyboard warrior" on twitter right after the biggest fight of his career? The answer is no. My personal feelings aside I do see Will Brooks winning this fight as its the most likely outcome. Don't be shocked if Brooks gets caught by one of Pearsons farmer punches and goes beddy bye as thats what I would find most entertaining.
Pick: Will Brooks via Unanimous Decision
Tatiana Suarez 4-0 vs Amanda Cooper 2-1
I chose Amanda Cooper to go all the way at the beginning of this season. Not just because she was arguably the best looking woman on the show but because she showed the most promise during the fights to get into the house. Suarez is a monster for her weight class and is very talented though. This one will really come down to who wants it more later in the fight, I'm sticking with my original pick from the beginning.
Pick: Amanda Cooper via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Sanchez 8-2 vs Khalil Rountree 5-0
Sanchez should be everyones pick going into this as he put away all his opponents in the house without much difficulty and has shown he can do it however he chooses. Rountree on the otherhand was my pick to win the whole show from the beginning. My friends and I nicknamed his Apollo for obvious reasons and loved watching his fights. Unfortinatley he gasses much to quickly and though he could connect in the first 5 minutes and send Sanchez to dreamworld I don't see that happening here. Rountree gasses halfway through the second and Sanchez takes over. Submitting him in the 3rd.
Pick: Andrew Sanchez via 3rd Round Submission
Joanna Jedrzejczyk 11-0 vs Claudia Gadelha 13-1
Man oh man who isn't ready for these two chicks to punch each other in the face?! I can't wait to see this fight. Mark my words, if thisfight goes the distance it will be the bloodiest war in female mma history! These two hate each other almost as much as Bones and DC do and all of that hatred is going to come out as soon as Herb Dean says Fight! Joanna stated that TUF painted her to be the bully when she wasnt and showed her in an unflattering light. The truth is she was a terrible coach and worried more about her own training than the training of her fighters and thats why Gadelha nearly swept her completely. Their first fight was razor close but this one won't be. Don't leave it in the hands of the judges they say? No problem here. Not a chance this one goes to decision. Someone gets finished here.
Pick: Claudia Gadelha via 3rd Round Submission
Well thanks for understanding about last nights picks guys and I really hope you enjoyed this breakdown. Please join me tomorrow when I breakdown and predict the entire UFC 200 card! I can't wait!
