UFC 119: Mir vs Cro Cop

[Troy]

Road to Recovery:Trips and Quads

UFC 119

Main card
Heavyweight bout: Frank Mir vs. Mirko Cro Cop
Light Heavyweight bout: Antônio Rogério Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader
Welterweight bout: Matt Serra vs. Chris Lytle
Lightweight bout: Sean Sherk vs. Evan Dunham
Lightweight bout: Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens

Preliminary card (Spike TV)
Middleweight bout: C.B. Dollaway vs. Joe Doerksen
Heavyweight bout: Matt Mitrione vs. Joey Beltran

Preliminary card
Lightweight bout: Steve Lopez vs. Waylon Lowe
Welterweight bout: TJ Grant vs. Julio Paulino
Heavyweight bout: Mark Hunt vs. Sean McCorkle

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Mir is coming off a loss against Carwin whilst Cro Cop is coming off a strong win against Pat Barry where he won submission of the night. I am a Cro Cop fan and I really hope that he wins here. Mir has too much of an ego for me and I hope Cro Cop pulls out a roundhouse kick to KO him out.

Lil Nog is on a three fight winning streak whilst Bader has won three fights since winning TUF. This is by far his biggest test but I think that Bader will hold his own.

Something that really interests me is Mark Hunt fighting on the Prelim Card. He has lost his last five fights and this is his MMA debut. He has wins over Wanderlai Silva and Cro Cop and won the 2001 K-1 World GP.​

 

[Dademo]

Winner gets Big Nog imo then winner gets Title Shot, I think. Cro Cop hasn't knocked anyone out with his Left High Kick that he's famous for in Pride, and Mir may be the first guy to get knocked out from that.

 

[Troy]

Every fight Cro Cop has in UFC I have said that I want to see that Left High Kick but it never happens. Eventually he has to pull it out and when he does the crowd will go nuts. I hope the Mir is the one who gets it because he needs to be knocked down a peg. I like the sound of winner vs Big Nog and then a title shot. The heavyweight division is just so strong at the moment and there are plenty of potential fights that could fill the next year and beyond.

 

[Dademo]

I feel like Mir will grab the leg and try to do some crazy kneebar thing.

This is the next PPV and the card looks stacked as hell imo. Glad CB is getting another fight since he's on a win streak. And I'd like to see Mitrione fight again too.

As for the main card, I'm glad Sean Sherk is returning and I'd like to see him pick up a win against Evan Dunham to maybe put himself back into a good place in the Lightweight Division. Evan is undefeated but he mostly holds split decision wins so he shouldn't be hard for sherk.

Melvin Guillard and Stephens was explained by deezy above because guillard called out stephens for saying the 'n' word.

Chris lytle and Matt serra is a great match up at 170 imo, not as big of a win as it is for Serra as it is for Lytle because Lytle would be on a 4 fight win streak. I'd say give him Diaz next if he can get past Serra and give Serra maybe Diaz too, not sure. Maybe Kenflo.

And it's confirmed that Jon Jones will face the winner of Bader/Lil Nog which sounds like an awesome match up to me. Jones/Bader would be sick as well as Lil Nog. I can see the co-main eventing Gsp/kos or Page/Machida. I can see Bader putting Lil nog away though, just my opinion.

And for the main event, I want Cro Cop to win and use his left high kick to knock someone out in the UFC finally. I think this would be a great win for him and Cro Cop could maybe face Big Nog next or maybe someone like Carwin.

As for Mir, well, he won't be cut, because that's just ridiculous, but he needs a win in this fight imo. I'm not sure how good Cro Cop is on the ground and I think Mir will try to wrestle him on the ground. Haven't seen any of Mir's fights since UFC 100 though so I'm not sure.

 

[Troy]

Mir has bulked up since UFC 100 and will aim to use his power to knock down Cro Cop before going for a submission to end it. He likes to stand up now rather than immediately go for the takedown.

Jon Jones vs. the winner of Bader/Lil Nog is something I hadn't heard and I like that idea. Would be a great fight and would be high on the card.

 

[Slim]

This is one card that I can say I'm definitely not excited for. It just seems dull. I was more hyped to see Big Nog hopefully get a win over Mir since he fought him sick the last time. But the winner fighting Big Nog... could be pretty interesting. Then the winner of that would wind up fighting the winner of JDS vs. the winner of Cain/Lesnar.... BUT the problem there is what has either of the three done?

Big Nog defeated Couture in an AWESOME fight... then got knocked out in the first round to Cain. Cro Cop hasn't done much of anything lately cept lose. And Mir got OWNED by Lesnar and Carwin. So I don't think either of the three should be up for a title shot anytime soon. I'm sure they can find another heavyweight more worthy of challenging after JDS.

 

[Troy]

I can see them going with the winner of Mir/Cro Cop fighting Big Nog but I don't see the winner of that fight then getting a title shot. I see them having to go one step further before getting close to the title. Shane Carwin faces Roy Nelson soon and I wouldn't mind seeing the winner of that then facing the winner of Big Nog vs Mir/Cro Cop to get a shot at the title. Then you have Cain Velasquez possibly winning and then you would have a rematch right away. There are plently of options ahead for the heavyweight title and I think that it won't be for another year before someone else other than Cain and JDS get a shot at Lesnar.