The Karate Blitz

RASHAD EVANS VS. ANTONIO ROGERIO NOGUEIRA Former champion Rashad Evans looks to rebound from his loss to the current champion, Jon Jones.  Pride veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira seeks his biggest win in the Octagon since defeating a now-retired Tito Ortiz.  A fast and athletic wrestler, Evans may try to negate Nogueira's boxing strengths by taking him to the ground, much in the same way his opponents did when he incurred his back-to-back losses.  Although a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the speedy and active Evans may be too much for Nogueira to overcome. ALISTAIR OVEREEM VS. ANTONIO SILVA Former kickboxing champion Alistair Overeem touts a striking arsenal second only to Junior Dos Santos.  Antonio Silva just beats men into the ground with brute force.  Although Silva likes to take his opponent down and rain misery upon them, he will find it difficult with the quicker Overeem threatening to cave in his chest with potent knee strikes. JON FITCH VS...

JOSE ALDO VS. FRANKIE EDGAR Jose Ado, the intimidating and dominant featherweight champion, faces his toughest challenge yet in former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.  The speed advantages Edgar once held at lightweight no longer apply in a faster division, but it might also mean his punches carry more force, relatively speaking.  While Gray Maynard might be the strongest fighter Edgar has faced, Aldo promises to be the  most dangerous striker he's ever faced, even more than former welterweight and lightweight champion BJ Penn.  Frankie's best chance to beat Aldo come via a boxing-heavy war where he can utilize his top-notch technique.  If the match strays beyond a stand-up exchange, Aldo holds a dangerous, fight-ending advantage via kicks, knees and submissions.

Dementrious Johnson vs. John Dodson This could very well be the fastest fight in UFC history.  Not in how quickly it ends but in how quickly Johnson and Dodson throw their punches, kicks, takedowns and submissions.  Dodson carries fight-altering power in his fists ( What?  A flyweight with knockout power?? ) in addition to his athletic prowess.  Johnson boasts similar athletic ability but maximizes it with stellar technique.  Johnson Quinton Jackson Vs. Glover Teixeira Since losing his UFC light heavyweight title in 2008, sluggish performances have defined the latter half of Quinton Jackson's career.  Glover Teixeira, a hard-striking star on the rise, presents Jackson with an opponent that could write the wrong kind of ending to the legendary brawler's career.  So which Jackson shows up?  The one who missed weight in Japan and lost an ugly decision to Ryan Bader?  You have to go back seven fights to find the last time Jackson finished ...

WAGNER PRADO came out swinging against ALCANTARA but had little success once he started fighting from distance and using his kicks.  Prado never changed tactics and was taken down at the end of the first.  An failed takedown by Prado lands him in an attempted guillotine, which leads to him flipping Alcantara on his back.  In a ground scramble Alcantara finds himself with Prado's legs and taps him out moments later as Prado yelps in pain.  A disappointing showing for Prado, but an exciting debut for Alcantara who next moves down to his natural middleweight division. The other ALCANTARA, a bantamweight brother, looked to be all business in his fight, handling every moment as routine, even the groin kick.  Easily controlling his opponent with his strikes, the ref stopped the fight on the ground when Alcantara appeared to be striking the back of the head.  Replay shows this was not the case, but his opponent played it up and a sure victory for Alcantara becom...

WATERWORKS You remember when Wagner Prado looked like he was about to cry? After clubbing Phil Davis early in the first round of a UFC on Fox 4 fight, an errant eye poke led the referee to bring a doctor over to examine Prado's eye.  The doctor asks him if he can see and, unaware it will stop the fight, Prado answers honestly.  The ref waves off the fight and Prado's grimacing howl becomes an enduring image.  Both men leave disappointed, as do the viewers. The rematch?  Couldn't have gone more the other way.  One of the best wrestlers in the UFC smothering Prado until Davis finally submitted him with an arm triangle.  Mr. Wonderful, indeed. Still- we saw Prado's fire in that first fight and Davis felt his power.  Watching him fight again gets me excited. THE BIGS It makes sense that if you get in shape, you would fight better.  Still, it felt surprising when a slimmed-down Ben Rothwell looked as good as he did.  But then again, he...

STRIKEFORCE came to an end last Saturday, leaving behind a legacy of some interesting fights, fighters and legendary upsets.  On the plus side, the UFC plucked the ripest fruits to generate a new wave of match-ups, rivalries and title contenders. Here are some of the new hires I really dig. At LIGHTWEIGHT I'm most looking forward to Strikeforce Lightweight Champ Gilbert Melendez- and so is the UFC since they immediately matched him up against Benson Henderson with the belt on the line for UFC on Fox 7. Gilbert trains out of the Cesar Gracie camp with the Diaz brothers and Jake Shields who all swear by his outstanding talent. K.J. Noons's striking adds more sharp boxing technique to the 155ers. And who isn't excited to see Ryan Couture, the spawn of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, mixing things up with his ground skills and genetically inherited dirty boxing? Before Nate Marquardt's disappointing showing on Saturday, the WELTERWEIGHT division thought his brute p...