This Saturday, the UFC is showing off the depth of their heavyweight talent with two heavyweight bouts involving four former heavyweight champions. Yep, four. Granted, one is a former WWE champion, but that’s not the point.
Tim Sylvia - and all the awkward, crowd-despised 265lbs of him - is coming off a big win over the highly regarded Brandon Vera and has his eyes on the title he lost last year to Randy Couture. At 6′8″ and with limbs like tree trunks, to say he has “KO power” would be a soon regretted understatement. Any given strike can end the night early if the strikee isn’t prepared.
And he’s hungry. Tim’s almost uncomfortably obsessive love for the UFC title was well documented (mainly on YouTube) in his previous two reigns as the UFC champion. He has made it very clear that he wants the belt back and will do anything short of kicking a puppy to get it.
Standing in Big Tim’s way is former Pride champion Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira. Nogueira is widely regarded as the best heavyweight submissions expert in the sport and has been listed in the top three of every heavyweight ranking I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen far, far too many) for almost 6 years. In addition to a peerless ground game, he boasts crisp and technically sound boxing that he’s used to frustrate lesser strikers.
“Big Nog” has had 8 months since his last fight, a dominating performance over Pride rival Heath Herring, but the time off has probably served more harm than good, allowing him to train in a cage and become familiar with the UFC’s setup.
The other main event pits former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir against former WWE heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. Now, most people probably see this match-up and think, “Umm…doesn’t real fighting beat fake fighting?” In which case, they’d be right.
But Brock Lesnar sports an impressive “real fighting” resume. Sorta. Though he’s only had one MMA bout, he is a former NCAA wrestling champion and has been training extensively on his submissions and striking. The most important fact about Brock Lesnar, though, is that he’s big, strong, and really, really, strong. The man is a monster. If he didn’t have the ability to vent his anger through sports, the government would probably send him to South America to quell the socialist revolutions.
Frank Mir is a submission specialist and a sad story. At the height of his career, a horrible motorcycle accident forced him to relinquish his title and develop many motor skills over again. Though his first bouts back had fans calling him washed up, his most recent submission win over Antoni Hardonk was somewhat reassuring. His grappling has always been at a high level, but its his gas tank that still leaves doubts.
The good thing about this fight is that both guys probably want to be on the ground and will likely get their wish. What happens from that point (the Breaking Point?) will be interesting.
Both fights really could go either way and they’ll answer a lot of questions about both the UFC heavies and the fighters as individuals. Will Nog have adjusted to the UFC and be able to get Sylvia to the ground? Will Tim come in 100% healthy and keep Minotauro at a distance? Will Brock Lesnar unleash a stomach turning display of violence on a downed Mir? Will Frank Mir submit Lesnar early and send him back to wrasslin’? Will Lassie get to the well in time to save Farmer John?
I guess we’ll find out Saturday.
Technorati Tags: UFC, Breaking Point, Minotauro, Farmer John, Sports, Brock Lesnar, Fighting
Written by Moses Utomi - Visit Website
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