Mixed Martial B0nes

The UFC has had it’s fill of damn “furners” and is bringing its show back to the States where it belongs. UFC 82: Pride of a Champion is coming this Saturday, March the 1st. Finally, we have some fights on the main card that deserve to be there. Especially the poster boys here. Maybe our $45 will be well spent on this one and for those of us brave souls to try this on Yahoo: Head to Starbucks and scare the living daylights out of the peeps downing Chai lattes. Your soy mocha will be that much sweeter! OK, let’s see what UFC is dealing us tomorrow:

Chris Wilson vs. Jon Fitch This is a “trap” fight if I ever saw it. Jon Fitch hasn’t lost a match in FIVE YEARS, 14 straight. Not quite Patriot territory but still pretty respectable. Wilson is debuting in the UFC with this fight. It really looks like another win for Fitch, but you never know. Hence, the trap.

Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara We last saw Sakara at UFC80:Rapid Fire. He won easily in the first round over James Lee. Leben is part of the OG crew of the Ultimate Fighter. That’s TUF#1 for all you non-gangstas! They are both strikers and love to knock or be knocked out. If they both stick to their standup game, this fight will be over before the ring girl can get the card ready for the second round.

Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner Tanner is the typical UFC “couch potato” turned main eventer in this match. He hasn’t fought since 2006. Ring rust will be a factor for this guy but he does hold a 34-6 record so he’s not completely useless. Okami, with his 22-4 record isn’t anything to sniff at either. These guys can do both the ground and pound and submission work. It’s anyone’s guess on this one but I’ll go out on a limb and give it to the couch tater. I’m kind of in Evan’s same boat as I’ve been pretty cozy with my couch for the last year too!

Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo We have some big BIG boys here at the 250 pound mark. They can do more than waddle around the octagon though so be on the lookout for a classic match here. Kongo is the striker while Herring is the ground game specialist. Kongo has won his last four fights including one against the tough Cro Cop. Herring hasn’t faired so well lately so he will have to expose Kongo’s weak ground game and try to put him to sleep. But that’s the trick isn’t it? I think Kongo will knock Heath down and out and back to palukaville with a clean KO.

Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson Good fights like these don’t come to the UFC every month. Silva hasn’t lost in two years. He’s also the Middleweight Title holder here. No iterim crap. Middleweight Freaking Champ! He has a 20-4 record and has fought some tough dudes. He’ll be facing Dan Henderson who has a 22-6 record with most of that coming from PRIDE where he dominated. He lost a close fight to Quentin “Rampage” Jackson the last time he fought. Dan has also mixed it up with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the current interim UFC heavyweight champ. Let’s not forget wins over Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Renato Sobral and Murilo Bustamante. We definitely have a fight to lick our chops to! I’ll give this one to Henderson. He’s fought with some of the greats and he comes into the UFC hungry for wins.

UFC 82: Pride of a Champion promises to be a great event. Cheers to all you MMA StarBuckers willing to tough this one out on Yahoo! Leave some soy mocha for me!