[ Music ] >> Hello and welcome to the Hammer. I'm your host, Dave. Join us always by my good friend, Steve. And unfortunately, our regular co-host, Greg, cannot be here tonight, but the show must go on. We're listening to us live at 93.3CVMU. And you can also find us on the web at www.thehammermma.com or on iTunes, just search for the hammer. And hopefully, we'll hear you listen to our show. So, we've got an interesting one for you. We've got the results of WC50 from last Wednesday. We have the results from Strike Force Houston from Saturday. And we have our preview and picks of the upcoming UFC 118 card. So, we're going to start with WBC. And also, a little bit old news, but we're not going to go over too long here. >> The card was pretty great, though. >> It was a fantastic night of fights, did not do very well in the ratings, so not a lot of people saw it, but it was an incredibly good fight. >> Sadly, not a lot of people watched WBC. It's owned by the same, it's owned by the UFC. It's their, like, smaller brand, and it's always a good card. >> It's fantastic. I mean, the lighter fighters, they have more energy. They're able to do more than some of the bigger guys. But, in the prelim cards, Angie Kwani was knocked out again, and Vasquez picked up an impressive win over by submission, over Mackin-Semerzier, that's up on the versus website, and that's an awesome submission to watch, so go have a look at that. Then we go to the main card, Bart Palachescu, who takes on Zach Micklewright. The first one was very, very competitive, but Palachescu was landing the cleaner shots. The second round, he clubbed Micklewright in a flurry, launched a hard kick at the body. Micklewright dropped his hands, that was in the fight, Bart put him out with a shot to the rim, to the chin. So, Palachescu takes a knockout. >> Bart's looking good, he won that one fight with a really good submission, now he's knocking guys. It's like, I don't know, I like him a lot. >> Well, he's in the lightweight division, so he's not quite in the title hunt yet, but he's getting close. >> The good thing about the WBC lightweight division, though, is that there's really not a lot of any guys. >> Very fast division, but there's not a lot of any guys. >> It's extremely fast division, so he's getting close. >> There we go to the Bandenweights, Scott Jorgensen takes on Brad Pickett. This was an all-out war. Jorgensen is really trying to prove that he's a contender. He came out looking to pick it away. Pickett was having none of that. They got into an absolute firefight in the first two rounds. In the third round, Jorgensen was starting to tire, so he started having to go for takedowns and to use his wrestling. He just managed to kind of hold on for the unanimous decision victory, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, but this was an awesome, awesome fight, and this was a fight of the night in the view of the WBC. >> This was one of the best fights. It's probably the best fight it's seen on one. >> Yeah, it was just one of the later fights. >> Oh, on this card, yeah, maybe it wasn't even the best fight on this card, but it was pretty awesome. >> But it won't fight on the night, so there's that, and it was extremely exciting to watch. >> And Jorgensen is now in line for a total shot. >> Jorgensen is next up for Bandenweights. So then we go forward to featherweights. Cup Swanson makes his return after his devastating loss to Jose Aldo. >> That was a good year ago. >> Yes, just about a year ago. He takes on Chad Mendes, a tough wrestler from Team Alpha Male, which is your favorite team. >> Now, this fight is actually, most WBC fights are extremely exciting. >> This is what it was not. >> WBC fights I've seen in the past year or two, which I found kind of dull. >> Mendes is a grinder, so he went to grind this one out. He went for a drag takedown after a drag takedown. Didn't let Swanson get a striking game going. >> It's a good way to win a fight. >> It's a good way to win a fight on for a decision. >> But it just wasn't all the time. >> It was not particularly between the two fights, it was between. >> This was not a crowd plays about any manner means, but congratulations to Chad Mendes for the win. We go forward to Shane Roller versus Anthony Pettis. This is the one where our normal co-host Greg is a huge Shane Roller fan, called Shane Roller the win. I called Pettis, I was correct. >> And that fight was just excellent. >> This was a fabulous, incredible. >> Pettis got some incredibly unorthodox striking. >> There were some wacky kicks, but he's doing these flashy moves. Like he's flashy spin kicks and stuff, but he's also fighting really smart as well. >> He's got such good takedown defense, and he's so fast that even when he's throwing jump round houses and like Cabarero style, spinning back, he was a good one. >> His opponent can't capitalize. >> You know, Roller, as good of a restful he was, wasn't able to take out the fight on the ground in the first round. In the second round, he pulled it off. Pettis is such a good guard game that he was able to threaten him. Roller did not give up in the third round. This fight had been going incredible. Roller was resorting to landing some hard shots to buy, trying to slow Pettis down. He came out looking strong, trying to, he knew he was down two rounds. He was looking to get the win. >> Now this is a mentality that you don't see all that. The guy knows that he's down two out of the three rounds, and he's like determined to finish it. He's throwing bombs, trying to cement. >> He's going for a roll. >> Like I'm not going to win the decision for sure, so I have to finish this fight. And he tried everything. He threw everything but the kitchen sink at Pettis. >> Yeah, Pettis just kept weathering the storm. Dodging. Finally, Roller got him down and got into his guard. He went for trying to ground a pound, but as he postured up, Pettis threw on a beautiful triangle choke and got it. Four minutes and 51 seconds for the submission of the night victory for Anthony Pettis. >> And no shame in Pettis tapping out with like 10 seconds before the end of the round. He was trying to finish that fight, and he must have known of like throwing all these bombs on the ground. It's very likely I'm going to get caught. He didn't care. >> It's risky, but I'm going for the win. I'm not here to lose the decision. >> And in the post-fight interview, he was like, but that just wasn't me fighting tonight. I just wasn't on my game. So I'm sure he'll look better next time because he's an excellent fighter. >> He's an incredible wrestler. I mean, Pettis got the best from this fight, but it fights a fight. >> And I want to see Pettis get a title shot. >> Pettis has been announced for the title shot. So he will be taking on Ben Henderson, Ben Smooth Henderson, although we call him Bendo. >> Excellent fight. That will be an incredible fight. Bendo, is an athletic striker himself, and he has some fantastic submission moves himself as well. Pettis is a little bit taller, but that's going to be an absolute firefight. >> I can't wait. That's done to be a solid made of that. >> Yeah. >> So then we go forward to the main event of this card. Dominic Cruz, the Bento weight champion, taking on Joseph Benavidez. >> Now, Benavidez looked like he looked great in his last fight, the one that he got this title shot by winning. And he gave up a lot of size going up against Cruz. >> He was much, much shorter. He was stockier. And I think he was a, you know, maybe even this physically heavy. But Cruz is so much, much, much, much longer reach, so evasive. Like, it's just not a good style match-up for Benavidez. >> The thing with Cruz is Cruz moves in a lot of ways faster than Anderson Silva. And that's hard for a lot of them, my main fans to pitch her. But Cruz is so light on his feet, so fast, so slick with his hands. >> But he looks like your TV's on patch forward. >> Yeah, he basically lunges at you, throwing wild punches. And then dives out of the way. >> Dance is a lot like, yeah. >> Like a video game character. >> Yeah, like a video game character, like a boss in a video game. And Benavidez is a great counter-puncher. And he landed a lot of good counter shots, counter-low kicks, trying to slow Cruz down. But Cruz is just, he's a phenom. So he managed to hold out. He picked up the split decision win, 47, 48, 48, 47, and 49, 46. I did call Cruz winning this fight, but damn Benavidez did not make an easy form. He landed some awesome, awesome bombs. Cruz is going to be taking on Jorgensen yet next. And then potentially, URI Faber. >> Yep, that's a game plan. If Faber's clear to fight in, I want to say, October and November. And then if he wins that fight, you know he'll get a title shot. >> Yeah. >> Then that division's looking great right now. >> Yeah, but Benavidez is extremely exciting. All these guys, and I mean, Cruz is a man to watch. Honestly, as much as I like Jorgensen's style, I think Cruz is going to eat him alive without a base of style. And I don't think Faber matches up all against him. >> I don't think so either. I think he's on the floor right now. >> Faber trains with the Benavidez. Benavidez almost got the formula right. Maybe Faber can pick up something from his body. >> Yeah, he can go from Benavidez's mistakes, I want to say. I don't think he mistakes, but- >> It wasn't even mistakes. It's just, he had everything right, but it didn't quite click. Same with the Shogun fight with Liodo. In the first fight, he had everything right, but didn't quite click. In the second fight, it clicked and knocked Liodo out. I think it would be Benavidez fought Cruz again. It's not necessarily guaranteed that Cruz would win. Benavidez landed some awesome counter punches and almost clubbed him. Almost can close knock him out once. And Cruz was, again, getting tired out and forced to resort to drag takedowns in rounds four and five. I mean, I think they fight this again. Benavidez ducked some of those takedowns. He can pull his hat. >> Yeah, well, I hope he gets another title shot sometime. >> So that was the results of the WC50 from last week. >> Yeah, we go from an excellent card to a slightly disappointing card. >> This one was a night of upsets. It was bizarre to say the- >> This is Strike Force Houston, obviously from Houston, Texas. And this was on last Saturday night. So live on Shirdog, they streamed two preliminary fights. Andre Galvelo versus Jorge Patina. Galvelo picks up the strikes in the third of the knockout victory by strikes in two minutes or four, five seconds and a third set. Then Daniel Cormier versus Jason Riley. Cormier made his debut. He looked fantastic. He chased Riley down. Got a beautiful takedown on him and just grounded and pounded him to death, basically for one minute and two seconds and around one. The one thing with Cormier is he's short and he's light for heavyweight. So there's a lot of speculation that he should drop down to 205, because he's only 510 and he weighs about 225 pounds. But he's such a fantastic wrestler that basically he's like a failure. Yeah, he's short and he's doughy looking, but he's so good at grappling that. And he's so tough and he's so strong and as hard as it is. >> Well, Strike Force has really high hopes for him. And maybe if he can go down to the heavyweight, there's room in that division. >> There's room in that division, but there's also room in the heavyweight division now. >> So he's got five heavyweights and two of them ranger. >> Yeah, so I mean, Cormier is a guy to watch. I definitely think good things with him. And I mean, he's probably one Strike Force folds in 13 weeks and 13 months in two weeks and I predicted. He'll be one of the guys that usually picks up. >> For sure, so let me go forward to the main card. Bobby Lashley makes his return taking on Chad Griggs. >> Now Bobby Lashley's been hyped up because he comes from the WWE, much like Brock Lesnar. >> And he was a fantastic military wrestler. And they were basically feeding him a can in Chad Griggs. He was expected to easily win this fight. >> He's feeding him cans and his whole career has been fighting cans so far, hoping they can build him up into their own Brock Lesnar. >> Yeah, and unfortunately the thing with MMA is sometimes the cans straight back. And this was one of those fights Lashley looked very, very strong in the first round, makes him get him to the ground, makes him pound him a bit. >> Do you take control of the fight? >> Griggs kept his composure. In the second round Lashley was starting to get tired. Sorry, in the first round Lashley took a nasty cut actually, and he was starting to lose his will. In the second round he was starting to get tired. Griggs kept the pressure on, got him, hammered him. At the end of the second round Lashley did not manage to stand up and make it to his corner. So Raph called it, TKL by strikes for Chad Griggs at the end of round two, five minutes. >> Now there's a few stories coming out of this. One that Bobby Lashley did not live up to his hype. Now that he faced someone who's not even a real name but still got beaten by him. He was also sent to the hospital for dehydration afterwards. >> He was, well he came into this fight very, very light, because in his previous fights he'd be coming into the 250s and 260s. He came into this at the 240s. >> And he still didn't have the gas? So it's like, why would you cut weight below 265? >> The real story of this fight though, even more than that, is that the referee stood up, Bobby Lashley, while he was in the male position, which you never see. He was on top throwing bombs, and they weren't super strong, but he was on top punching, and the ref stood them up when you just, you don't stand up a guy when he's in control. >> Well, Big John McCarthy is a very, very good Raph. >> This was not Big John McCarthy. >> I believe it was. >> No, it was not. >> Who was it? >> I can't remember his name, it was not. He was from Texas, he was a local Raph. >> In any case, the thing with Bobby Lashley in mount position, he was in mount position for a good two or three minutes in the second round. And he was not able to win the fight from that position. >> I just, you can't, it doesn't matter that he was winning the fight, he was in the controlling position. You don't stand in love. >> Well, but I mean, you know, even the commentators of the show were like, what are you doing? >> True, well, the short first commentary is not stated. >> It's one of the few things they got right. But the thing, as I said, it wasn't a great stand up, but it wasn't like a complete robbery either. He wasn't advancing his position and he wasn't winning the fight. >> He was on top of punching. That's, I mean, if you stand up from that position, then what position do, when will you stand somebody up? >> Fair enough. So you can make that argument. But certainly Lashley lost the fight as it was, deservedly so. >> But the bad issue and continued on to the next fight. >> Yes, this was actually one where I noticed the bad officiating. >> Another local Texas ref. There's no, there's no athletic commission for like the dedicated mixed martial arts commission in Texas. So these are just local refs. These are the same guys who oversee like the electric company and things like that. They do not really know what they're doing. >> Well, yeah, and that's a bit of an issue. I mean, Texas needs to have a state athletic commission for this, but to appoint some good refs. And yeah, this was an interesting one. KJ Nunes makes his return to take on George Grigel. Now, this was almost a contender as much and it turned out to be one. In the initial about Nunes was walking forward in the first round, hitting Grigel with some shots, Grigel was backing up. Grigel tried to steal the round with a flurry at the end. Nunes weathered it and then hit him with an incredibly hard shot that should have been a knockout. But he threw the shot just as the bell rang. >> Right at the bell. So he club Grigel. >> Grigel was not defending himself because he thought the round was over, but Nunes was still throwing the punch. It was a combination of Nunes not knowing the round was over, and Grigel dropping his hands too hard. >> Yeah, I think the round was over and the ref not jumping and the break the round up. >> And he got smoked. He went down and could barely get back up. >> So Grigel managed to make his way back to the corner. I'm like, blah, blah, blah. >> He probably should not have been allowed to come back. He was waddling. >> So in the second round he came out. He still looked a bit dazed. Nunes came out looking strong because he knew he had his opponent daines. 19 seconds into the second round. Nunes scored a clubbing right hand. So a clubbing right hand followed by a counter off hook. Grigel went down. Nunes started to pound him from the ground to pound. The ref moved. >> No, he didn't even go for the ground to pound. He just, he knocked him down and then just stood there thinking the fight was over, waiting for the ref to stop him. >> Actually, he was still on punches. >> Oh, from a standing position, it wasn't ground to pound. >> But he was throwing punches to stand from a standing position, the guy on the ground. And then as the ref slowly moved to break this up, Nunes threw a knee. >> No, here's the thing. The ref came in to break it up and then looked like he was going to break it up and then backed off and then came back in to break it up. It was really confusing and strange. It's been officiating. And then Nunes did what there's no excuse. He threw a knee at him on the ground. >> He threw a knee to the head of a down opponent. This should have been a foul and a DQ. >> Yeah. >> However, because this too happened after the bell ring and the fight was over, the ref didn't call it a DQ. >> The ref didn't even see it. >> The ref didn't, we could have made the argument that the ref didn't even see it, although I don't understand how, because he was looking right at Nunes and he was trying to break up the fight. So I mean, that's just a level of incompetence as we do that. It's unfathomable. But this was definitely a knee to the head of a down opponent. Ken Shamrock, I'm sorry, Frank Shamrock went berserk on commentary. We were both saying they're stunned while waiting for the DQ to be called. >> You don't throw a knee to a guy while he's on the ground. And this looked brutal. >> Yeah, and they said that, well, the knee happened after the knockout happened. >> Still, it's cute. >> So we're not going to call it. >> Yeah. >> You can't hit a guy after the fight's over. >> Yeah. >> That's what Paul Daily did. He's gone. >> And he's been banished to Australia. >> Yeah, he's fighting shark fights for no money. They don't even paying him. >> Whether this happened before the fight was over or after the ref called it, no knee to the head of the ground. He deserves the win. >> Oh, really good fight. But he's a very, very wild fighter, very uncontrolled. And he definitely almost killed Gugel with his knee. This was not cool. >> And I'll give him the benefit of the doubt up until that point, that the weird rough stoppage at the end there, he didn't know that the round was over. But there was no, even if the round was still going on, even if I was still on that knee, there was no sense. >> Yeah, I am unhappy. >> To punish noons for this, Strike Force decided that because of Strike Force, you fail upwards. They're going to honor his request for a grudge match with Diaz. So noons will be fighting for the lightweight, or will be fighting for Diaz. >> For the welter, what did you tell him on October 9th? >> Yeah. >> And yeah, you fail upwards in Strike Force. That's just how it works. >> Now the reason for this fight is that noons actually got into a fight with Diaz into a street brawl. No, I don't think it was him, someone else. >> Was this some sort of clarification? >> Yeah, they don't like each other. >> Anyway, that's what they said on the show. We don't really know the story behind it, we'll find out for you. >> Yeah. >> When all those Susas took on Tim Kennedy for the- >> The big hits, no way told. >> The little way you know it felt. Kennedy put on a great fight, and I actually had him kind of winning the last three rounds. But Susas landed some really, really hard shots and some good kind of punching. His boxing looked incredible here. And he turned out that the roughs gave him the decision. 49, 46, 48, 47, 48, 47. >> Kennedy was really upset with the decision, but you know what, the fight was really close and actually kind of long and boring. And the kid went either way. >> It could have gone either way. I had Kennedy winning it too, but you know, the fights a fight. Susas got the belt and the win. I'm sure Kennedy laid back, you know, and he'll be back. >> He should enter that middleweight tournament for the number one time. >> Absolutely, absolutely. >> And then for the Light Heavyweight Championship, King low, Mahalo took on his, his contender, Raphael Cavacante. Cavacante came out with a great rare game plan here. He said some good counters, rustling, some good striking, low homage to land some hard shots to the body in round two. Looked to stagger Cavacante. Cavacante wore, well, whether the storm and got the knockout by TKO one minute and 14 seconds became the new Heavyweight Championship. >> And King was out for about nine months with an injury. And this was a bad night for Strike Force, because Kingmo and Bobby Lashley and Tim Kennedy are all prospects that they thought would be very marketable. They all lost because you can, you can never know who's going to win an MMA fight. And these are probably the worst possible decisions for this company to get forward. >> They've got three guys that are completely remarkable. >> The best men all won, but it's not who they would have won it. >> Yeah, so I mean, they don't have any remarkable champions right now. >> Yeah. >> Which is bizarre. So we go forward to the news. >> Okay, another ton of news is where you can, we have to get to the UFC 118 preview coming up. But Chilson and Anderson Silva are having a rematch as soon as Silva is healthy. They're talking to starting a tradition for a New Year's e-show, which would be a Friday night this year. I don't really like the idea of a New Year's e-show because that's one night of a, especially one night of a year where I can guarantee I won't be home watching UFC. But yeah, I mean, if they want to start a tradition, that's the fight people may actually make a point to buy on the night like that. They are saying that Silva may not be ready in time. And if I have to happen in February or March, that'd be preferable to me. And Anthony Rumbold Johnson, he's been sentenced to three years probation because for a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, he went kind of nuts. Yeah, I don't know, I'm not really a fan anyway. >> Yeah, Rumbold's having some issues here. >> He has trouble making weight. Now he's kind of hitting women. I don't know, I don't really need to see him back. >> Yeah, I'm done, I'm done with Rumbold. >> Yup. >> And this is kind of unfortunate because I was a fan even though he's not winning. Former, the ultimate fighter competitor Ben Saunders has been cut, which he's coming up a few losses. It's too bad, I thought he had a future, but I guess he doesn't. >> Well, kill be Ben Saunders, I mean, you know, he can't handle a wrestler, and then he went on a reserved tirade about how wrestlers are ruining the sport. Not your best move, dude. >> Learn the stuff at takedown. >> Yeah, learn the stuff at takedown. So let me go forward to UFC 118. This is the event coming up this Saturday, and this is the rematch of Edgar versus Penn. On the preliminary card, we have Mike Pierce taking on Animal Car Alves, Nick Uspac taking on Greg Soto, and Dan Miller taking on John Salter. Then on Spike TV for the prelim card, this will be free going out. We have Andre Winter and Nick Lenz in the lightweight division. And we have J-Lo, J-Lo-Zon versus Gabe Ruttiger also in the lightweights. Joe Lo-Zon is normally going to fight the night contender. So this is one of the fun ones to watch. Rodriguez is a tough guy, he's no joke. Now on the main card, Nate Diaz is going to be taking on Marcus Davis. Davis is a very, very powerful wrestler with some good striking too. Davis has a very unorthodox style. He's very, very lanky, very tough to beat. So the interesting-- >> He likes his role models, but doesn't always connect with them either. I don't know if this fight, not do these guys have the greatest records going forward. I don't even see either of these guys roles being contenders right now, but not on well to win. >> No, I may be in the minority, but I'm an ADS fan, and I'm calling them on this. >> You certainly don't even know already, but I'm calling Marcus Davis for that. >> Oh, I mean, compared to Marcus Davis, yes, but I mean, Nate Diaz has a lot of haters. >> Fair enough. Then we go forward to the lightweights, Kenny Floyd versus Gray Maynard, for what is effectively a title shot. >> I never want to tell her since, but yeah, and that's really lowdown on the card. >> Yes, now Ken Flow has been a role lately. Maynard, however, has his undefeated streak. When Maynard is fighting- >> So we can win over current champion, Frank Yeager. >> So Maynard, when he's on his game, is incredible. But Kenny Floyd has been on his game like never before. >> He is the second best lightweight in the world. And I say this, like, with Frank Yeager, who I'm a huge fan of, and then he's the current champion. I mean, it's BJ Penn and Kenny Florian as the top two. >> Yeah, so I'm calling Florian to win this. >> Like Frank Yeager, I love the guy he's holding, either BJ or Ken Flow's belt. >> Yeah. >> So what's your call for this fight? >> I think Maynard is a very good wrestler, he's a tough guy. I can see him grinding out of the decision, but Kenny Florian is just so good all around, and is on such a BJ Penn loss aside. He's on just such a hot streak, he's got to win this, and get himself another title shot, which he's got a realistic shot of beating either of those guys. >> Mm-hm, and then we go forward to middleweight. Damian Maya makes his return after he is bizarre and embarrassing encounter with Anderson Silva to take on Mario Miranda. Now, Damian Maya is known for his incredible submissions on the ground. >> He's, he, as much as Damian Maya wants to be an elite, amazing striker, he is only really good on the ground. >> Yes. >> And does not stick to that game plan. >> Yeah, and Mario Miranda. >> Look at his beatdown from by Nate Marquardt beat him in record time, practically, and Anderson Silva just made a joke out of him. >> Yeah. >> Mario Miranda is very, very good on his feet. >> He has, he's 10 and 1, he's been knocked out once by Gerald Harris. And otherwise, I mean, this guy's got a future, and he can strike, he can fight. >> And the thing, the other thing is he's not that bad on the ground, he's not completely vulnerable to a submission. If he can keep the fight standing, he's going to win. >> If he goes to the ground, it's not guaranteed that he loses. >> If he goes to the ground, Damian Maya on the ground, I mean, he can submit anyone. >> But Damian Maya, if the fight goes on the ground long enough, he will get it. But I think Mario is good enough that he can get on. >> I get the feeling, and again, this is just based on history. The Damian Maya is going to do this, like every fight he's done in the last year or two, and he's going to want to show off his state, his inferior stand-up, and he's going to get knocked out. >> I'm calm Miranda, the winless one too. With the possible exception that if Damian Maya comes in properly coached for once in his life, with a good takedown, man, just to get the fight to the ground, he'll win this. But otherwise, Mario and Miranda- >> No, they're on the ground at his fight. Damian Maya should be able to beat anyone in that company with his ground game. All he's going to do is just take somebody down. I don't have faith he's going to stick to that game plan, and so yeah, I'm going Miranda. >> So, combing an event, Randy Couture takes on new comer to the UFC, boxing legend and sensation. James lights out Tony. Now this fight is just going to be, this is more known for like the things surrounding it. This is all the crazy James Tony trash talk. This is the wrestler versus UFC MMA fighter versus boxing fighter. >> Wrestling versus boxers. >> There's so many things outside of this that very few people are talking about the fight itself. And it's probably going to be messy. James Tony is not a well-rounded or even a trained MMA fighter. You know, he jokes at the ground game. >> Well, the thing with James Tony is he's said multiple, multiple times. With the four-inch gloves, which are much lighter, much faster than the boxing gloves, you can hit faster and you can hit harder. Couture is never dealt with a puncher like him, and he thinks he can not quote her out. Now, with that being said. >> Couture has fought guys like Chuck Liddell, who can knock you out with a punch. >> Liddell is nowhere close to the striking game of Tony in boxing. >> But he's definitely fought guys who can knock you out. >> And keep in mind though, that when he fought Liddell, Liddell beat him. >> And James Tony's like 110 years old right now. And he's fat and he's not James Tony from 1994. >> Well, he's not in the peak of his career by all means. But neither is Randy Couture. Keep in mind that Randy Couture is an older fighter too. >> Randy Couture is in shape. >> Yeah, this is two legends of their respective sports. Tony is correct. He does have some of the best striking that Couture has ever faced. And Couture has been knocked out before by guys with much less striking game than Tony has. And with that being said, Couture has a beautiful dirty boxing game. >> I would see great submissions, great ground and panel. >> Couture's good in the clinching. I mean, I'm fully rooting and fully expect Couture to win this fight. I wouldn't want to be able to clench with Tony. That's the last place I want to be. It's take down ground and panel. >> Yeah. >> That's what he does to win this fight. And if he does that, I mean, the odds in Vegas are like eight to one for Randy Couture. If he implements his game plan, I'd say it's like a hundred to one. >> Yeah. Now, with that being said, I love Couture. But Tony is a smart, smart guy. He's a strategy fighter. He's talking all kinds of smack about Couture. And I go, I'm just going to knock him out. I'm just going to knock him out. But every time I actually follow up on this, all I see is he's training at AKA. He's training with King Molal. He's rolling with good guys, working on his stuffing takedowns. I think that he's playing games. I think he's trying to psych Couture out. I think he's basically doing nothing but working on stuffing ground, stuffing takedowns with the assumption that if he can knock a takedown, if he can stuff a takedown in the first round. >> And counter punch. >> And counter punch, he might be able to pull it off. >> MMA is not a sport for one-dimensional, so a game plan with no deviation, though. And I mean, I'm not saying you can't win, but it's really unlikely. >> It is really unlikely. With that being said, I'm going to call the dark horse in this match. I know that it's not likely, but I think that Tony's got something he's not letting on. I don't think he came to UFC just to get money and lose. I think he's trying to prove the supremacy of his sport. I think he's trained with just enough guys that if he can stuff a takedown from an aging Randy Couture and Lana counter punch, he's always got to punch his chance. And he's a puncher. >> See, I'm following on the side that all these videos are showing of him training and with King Mo and all these guys. I think they're just making it all up. I don't think he's training at all. I think he's going in there with his boxing training, which is formidable. But he's just, he can't win this fight. And I don't even mean it because, oh, for the honor of MMA fans. I just mean, there's just no way this clown can walk in there and be Randy Couture. He's going to beat. >> Well, we'll see. >> I want to see this fight, though. Apparently, the countdown special is supposed to be really, really good. >> So then we go forward to the lightweight championship. Frankie Edgar versus BJ Penn. Now, Frankie Edgar took on BJ Penn in Abu Dhabi, had a perfect game plan and picked up a win. Now, the question is, can he do it two nights in a row? What are your thoughts? >> I've said earlier in the show, I've said it for months. I've said it for years. I've been on the Frankie Edgar bandwagon for a long time. He's one of my favorite fighters. I think he's really skilled, excellent boxer, really good wrestler. I think he's great. I think he fought the best fight of his life to win that. But he will never be as perfect as he was that night that he beat BJ Penn. Beating BJ Penn like that twice, lighting doesn't strike twice. My heart is with Frankie Edgar in this fight. I would not bet for him. >> So you're calling BJ? >> I think BJ's going to win. I think Frankie Edgar will have had his lightweight title run. He's won the title. He's done it once. He cannot beat BJ Penn again. He is too complete of a fighter. BJ Penn can finish this fight in so many different ways with striking. His ground game is everything. He's so much more of a well-rounded finisher than Frankie Edgar, who is just going to have to rely on his dodging and his smart game plan. Five rounds, it's a long time to fool around with BJ Penn. >> Now, with that being said, BJ Penn and Abu Dhabi won Frankie Edgar beat him. It was very, very hot. BJ Penn tends to come in heavy. He goes slow. >> Nobody on that Abu Dhabi car back in April looked top-notch, except Frankie Edgar, because the heat and everybody was just so sick and so hot. And Frankie Edgar, I think the only reason he could do that to BJ Penn is because he doesn't cut any weight. He's the only guy in that company who doesn't cut weight, I think. >> Yeah, he fights at 155. He weighs one. >> He gets three pounds to make the weight let me know. He just doesn't need any milkshakes that week. He's fun. And that gave him a real speed advantage and cardio advantage during that fight. On even ground, you don't mess with BJ Penn, you know? So I hope he wins. I hope he can implement the same game plan, use his speed. Can you actually honestly see Frankie Edgar finishing BJ Penn over those five rounds? >> No. >> And that's what's going to make the difference. Is I know BJ Penn could finish Frankie Edgar. Frankie Edgar's got to win the decision to beat BJ Penn. >> And I mean, that's always a champion's advantage for BJ Penn and their solo in GSP, is that you can take five rounds to beat these guys. You've got to beat them. So I think I have to agree with you, I have to call it BJ Penn as well. I think that Saturday, BJ Penn gets his title back and goes back to running his legacy. Because he seems just more humble, more focused and better trained for these. >> He's talking about how he wants to fight a lot more. He's taking us a lot more seriously. You know, maybe BJ Penn needed, I mean, nothing. He didn't dominate, you know, guys like Diego Sanchez and all these guys. >> But he needed a wake-up call. >> I think he needed a wake-up call to really hit his potential. Because he's falling down the perceived like pound for pound fighter rankings. I mean, Pete, what was it a year ago? People were saying the best pound for pound fighters in the world. Anderson Silva, GSP, Fedor, BJ Penn. BJ Penn's falling out of that conversation. >> Yeah. And so he's trying to pull himself back in that conversation. I think this is the fight he does it. >> Yeah. And I'm looking forward to this card. I think it's pretty good. Really the two main events are the really interesting ones. But yeah, I think it should be good. That's this Saturday night. >> So we're looking forward to that. Thank you for tuning in, guys. Remember, you can check us out at thehammermma.com or 43.3 CFMU. >> And also go to iTunes for the Hammer MMA. And we've got all our old episodes up there. And yeah, we'll have this one up there soon. >> Thanks for listening. Have a great week.
