The Karate Blitz

If you are someone who prefers to watch two sluggish fighters with little skill, poor technique almost no drive, stay away from Saturday night's lightweight title bout. Benson Henderon, the UFC's lightweight champion, takes on the last man to beat and rob him him of the WEC lightweight championship belt, Anthony Pettis. "Smooth" Henderson exemplifies his nickname mixing in constant jabs and low kicks into take downs.  Henderson's athleticism and cardio overwhelm most opponents while using his fluid wrestling to minimize risk. "Showtime" Pettis branded his name into the minds of MMA fans and non-fans everywhere with the famous kick off the cage to knock Henderson to the ground in their first meeting.  Since overcoming an embarrassing showing against Clay Guida, Pettis has plowed through potential contenders leaving a trail of highlight reel finishes. Many believe the outcome of their first encounter was determined by Pettis's spectacular kic...

When two of the best welterweights face off inside the Octagon for a second time, we venture into "fight of the year" territory.  These high-level strikers can position themselves as the next title contender with a dominant performance.  Carlos Condit already fought Georges St. Pierre for the title and lost a unanimous decision.  Martin Kampmann has not and most recently wilted in the opening minute to the powerful fists of current challenger Johnny Hendricks.  Both fighters boast well-rounded games, toughness and the ability to finish their opponents both on their feet and on the ground.  In Condit's first UFC fight, he faced Kampmann who took a split decision.  Since then, Kampmann's slow starts have cost him in the win column whereas Condit's more dynamic approach has created highlight-reel finishes.  This fight could go either way but the higher caliber of Condit's recent opponents should give him an edge when this chess match of aggression goes ...

WHO isn't excited to watch THE DEMOLITION MAN get in the ring with rising heavyweight Travis Browne?  Plenty of BANG and BOOM for your buck as Browne will likely choose to keep it standing against the the former K-1 kickboxing champion.  It's hard to imagine this fight ending in anything less than a KO or TKO by knees or a guillotine with Allstair Overeem coming out on top. Lights, camera, ACTION it's time to watch perennial title contender THE CALIFORNIA KID take on future bantamweight stud Yuri Alcantara.  Experience should win out but the young Brazilian is so FIERCE the ref might yell "Cut!" before Faber's scene is even over. Where in the HELL did Matt Brown come from?  Possibly a long way if he has indeed been dealing with factors outside of the Octagon.  So why not match one entertaining fighter with another entertaining fighter who somehow, someway keeps winning while rocking the UFC's sweetest M...

Since losing his title to current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has alternated wins and losses, struggling to regain the intimidation of old.  Knee problems and age have muted the latter stages of what should have been a dominant run as UFC champion.  Former middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen comes in looking to reinvent himself at 205 and put the beatdown at the hands, elbows and knees of Jones behind him.  In former Pride champion Rua, Sonnen faces yet another top level striker who's finished many opponents on their feet including former UFC champions Chuck Liddell, Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin and Lyoto Machida.  But all the Freddie Roach boxing instruction in the world won't help Rua if he can't keep the indefatigable Sonnen from taking him down and keeping him there.  Although a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Rua chooses to stay upright when blitzing his opponents in the ring.  Back in his Pride days,...