yea I know the event is a couple weeks away, but myself and TVS have got the makings of the new format in progress so I wanted to get it out there for everyone to see. rather then posting your picks here in the forum you'll be making your selections here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform ... _sOIz4niJA

your picks will then go into spreadsheet so I count stuff up easier later.

ONE MORE THING: Since this is the first one with the new format please let me know (just post "done") that you have made your picks so I can make sure everything is working properly.

The Rules:
+1 point per right answer (other than bonus questions, which will have the point value indicated next to the question)
+Will be asked to predict who wins, how, and in what round (note: title fights are 5 rounds, all other fights are 3 rounds)
+Ways to win:
Unanimous Decision
Split Decision (will include rare instances of Majority Decision and Draw)
Knockout
Technical Knockout/Referee Stoppage (includes doctor stoppage due to cut)
Submission (includes physical/verbal tapping out and corner stoppage)
DQ
+Only main card fights
+To get points for predicting the round and way the fight ended, you must correctly predict who won the fight (For example, if you said that Liddell would win a first round TKO on Rampage at UFC 71, you would get zero points because, even though the fight ended with a first round TKO, Liddell didn't win it).
+Predictions must be in by 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern time of the day of the fights.

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Done.

That was tough/

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tough because the fights are hard to pick or tough because of the new format?

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the fights to me just seem harder to pick

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I don't know if you guys have been watching the GSP/Penn Countdown on Spike, but it has got to be one of the best, if not the best, countdown shows that they have ever put together. The funny thing is that Penn pulled out of some of the shooting since he thought they were just portraying him as some lazy guy who doesn't take training seriously. I definitely got that vibe in the first episode, but I thought they really put Penn in a good light in the 2nd episode. The thing is, though, that with Penn they have all this footage of him jogging, hanging out with family, etc. With GSP they show footage of him training, and that's it. I don't necessarily think this is a way to make Penn look lazy, or that he's not training cuz he's looked great his last two fights. With GSP though, he had the setback with Serra and completely dedicated his life to fighting/training....and I mean that is all he does. Penn isn't lazy, he just looks that way when compared to a machine like GSP.

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Well, my friend claims that GSP was staying with a friend of hers in Denver a couple of weeks back, and was apparently having a no-strings-attached week-long sex-fest with her friend's friend. I was kind of disappointed to hear that GSP would sink to that, but on the topic of training, I'm not sure where, or if, he was training during that week as there are no huge-name gyms around here. Although, I think Marquardt trains with Duane Ludwig in Denver, and they showed Marquardt traveling around with GSP on the special, so that might be the answer.

As for Penn, people always b!tch about how they're portrayed on TV. Well, it's not like they could just make up the footage. Penn took a vacation while GSP was training, they can't just make that up. If that's what Penn needs to do to get ready for the fight, then that's what he needs to do. He should own up to his decision. When cameramen were filming him chilling on the beach, did he not wonder how the footage would be used??

Question about the game: with the new entry method, does the rule about only getting round and finish points for fights where you correctly pick the winner (second to last point under the rules) still apply?

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hippo- Yes the rule still applies. Points for getting the round/how the fight ends correct will only be awarded if the winner of the fight is picked.

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dude the last episode of UFC Primetime is doing nothing but make me despise BJ Penn. The guy is talking sooooo much crap and it's just insane.

The best part is that BJ is comparing his camp to GSP's and says his is just as good if not better since he's also training with fellow UFC fighters. GSP trains with Nate Marquardt, Keith Jardine, David Louiseu, Cerrone, and the new LHW champ Rashad Evans. BJ is like yea guess what I got UFC fighters to train with too. Now, I didnt see everyone there, but the guys I say were Justin McCully and Troy Mandaloniz. Troy being the guy on the Ultimate Fighter who Dana White was shocked when he showed 0 ground game despite training with BJ.

Don't get me wrong, those guys are talented, or they wouldn't be in the UFC, but don't even try and compare those guys to who GSP trains with.

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this is completley off subject, but to all you Wrestling fans out there:

best MMA fight ever:
Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley for UFC Heavyweight Championship!

LETS KEEP THE FINGERS CROSSED AND THE HOPES HIGH!

in a word....no

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Done. Thanks for the PM reminder, gts!

The UFC has done a stellar job building up GSP/Penn. It was a dream fight back in 2006, and with Penn seemingly getting his sh!t together, this is an even bigger fight now. Penn has been praised by boxing experts as having the best hands in MMA. Not to mention he's scary flexible and can tool most anybody on the ground. But the question of his conditioning still remains. He claims to have better conditioning, but it wasn't really tested in his fights with Stevenson or Sherk, IMO. Not to mention his documented vacation in the middle of his training camp leading up to this fight.

One thing that I always pay attention to in fights who everyone focuses on. Everyone is talking about what BJ needs to do to win, or even survive. That assumes that the winner is already GSP, and it's Penn's fight to win. And, I have to agree. GSP seems damn-near unbeatable right now. He trains, eats, acts, and fights like a champion, and I can't see myself ever betting against the man.

Btw, here are my picks: GSP (U. decision), Machida (U. decision), Dong Hyun Kim (apparently there's some questioning whether Karo Parisyan even trained for this one), Nate Diaz (can't wait for this one!), and Stephan Bonnar (wished Fitch/Gono made the main card instead of this)

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A cube has 6 sides, R-Truth is a terrible rapper, Drew McIntyre isn't nearly as bad as the IWC would have you believe, and Abyss is popular because loser metalheads can relate to him.

No worries...just wanted to make sure we kept our regulars "cough el rockero cough"

I'm not surprised at all that Fitch is in the prelims, but he's essentially the main event of the prelims. If he or Gono finish the fight in the first 2 rounds, then it's pretty much guaranteed that they will make it to air. Sucks for Fitch, but when it comes to Dana White (wrong or right) if and when you cross him, you're gonna have to pay the price. Swick and Kos both showed off AKA's talent at the Fight for the Troops show, so hopefully everything is ok on that front for the most part.

Plus, in all honesty, I look for Fitch to walk through Gono (jinx), and if he doesn't then yea I could give two craps about this fight. Gono has been fun in his weigh ins, but hasn't really shown any flash in his UFC fights. If Fitch wins, ok cool, he beat a prelim fighter in a prelim fight. If he loses.....his stock drops significantly.

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Results are up...TVS and myself had the top scores (2nd in a row for me boo yah).

Bonus Questions- The Fitch/Gono fight did not air, but from what I've read Fitch pretty much wiped the floor with Gono and even had him close to tapping a couple of times. I counted Karo as the person with the 1st Judo throw of the fight. Kim had a takedown in the first round, but it wasn't a throw. Karo had a questionable throw at the beginning of the 2nd, but then landed a beautiful one later on to make sure.

Diaz v. Guida-
This fight went as about as well as I could have hoped. Guida was a fool to even consider throwing with Diaz considering how much of a reach difference there was. Guida wasn't as exciting as he usually is, but he had some nice takedowns and controlled the action for most of the fight.

Karo v. Kim-
While not the best or most exciting fight, I was happy to see Karo do relatively well. He seems to be a real head case, and getting through the first round seemed like to be a victory for him in itself. Honestly, I had trouble scoring the fight and figured it could have gone either way.

Bonnar v. Jones-
Wow, Bonnar took a real beating there. I honestly didn't think Jones would fair well considering he hadn't really faced anyone with Bonnar's experience. Well, Jones controlled the action, displayed some crazy striking ability, and also showed me some of the coolest takedowns I've ever seen. The real crazy thing is that Jones is only 21...he's got the potential to be something big.

Silva. v. Machida-
Well, I would think that some of Machida's detractors are going to have to start singing a different tune. Machida's striking looked great and dropped Silva with ease a couple of times. Silva didn't really look like he knew what to do, especially when he got thrown down at the end of the round. It looked like he was just going to let time expire, but Machida had other plans and landed 2 beautiful punches to get the KO.

GSP v. Penn-
That was a straight up a** kicking. Penn is crazy talented and may like fighting at welterweight so he doesn't have to cut weight, but he really belongs in the 155 division. On top of that, GSP made a serious case of his being the #1 P4P fighter in the world. His striking was on point, he took down Penn numerous times even though he had little success at first, and passed Penn's guard like it was non-existent. Rogan made a great point that every time GSP fights, you see how he is continually improving. I honestly don't see one hole in his game, and while Alves is very talented, I look for GSP to take that fight as well.

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Wow, GSP is an absolute monster.

I thought GSP would win, but who knew he would tool Penn in every single aspect of the game. It was almost disappointing how one-sided this fight was. And now, like I anticipated when this fight was announced, the UFC has a problem on their hands. Their champion at 155 just got killed at 170, and will now have to go back to his own weight class as a loser. This can't make the 155 belt look too prestigious.

As for the rest of the card, all of the decisions were a bit frustrating, but some good fights overall.

They were hyping the upcoming Rampage/Jardine fight as being for a #1 contender spot at LHW, but I think it would be a travesty if Lyoto Machida didn't get a shot after tonight's performance. Lyoto Machida is your next champion at LHW. Period.

Guida/Diaz delivered as expected, although I have to say I'm surprised that Guida won the decision. Parisyan/Kim started out well, but sort of lost steam in the 3rd. I had absolutely no interest in Jon Jones/Stephan Bonnar, but Jones' crazy striking definitely won me over in the end. He just made himself a career with some of those highlight reel strikes that he pulled out.

Although there were some good fights, all of the decisions meant that there was no time for any of the prelims. I was looking forward to Fitch's fight, but I guess I'll have to find that one online.

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A cube has 6 sides, R-Truth is a terrible rapper, Drew McIntyre isn't nearly as bad as the IWC would have you believe, and Abyss is popular because loser metalheads can relate to him.

I caught the last two fights and will share a few thoughts I guess...

GSP-Penn-- I really didn't like this match up for Penn as I don't think his lack of success can be attributed to WEIGHT as much as the fact that GSP was just so much taller and his reach really came into play. He easily wiggled around the shorter Penn and landed some SHOTS standing up while Penn was on his back. I just don't think Penn had much of a shot.

Machida destroyed Silva tonight and walked through him like he was nothing. Dude is easily the #1 contender right now. He'll get the winner of the Jackson-Rampage/Jardine fight. So poised...

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Well apparently Rampage/Jardine is indeed a #1 contenders match...for Rampage only. If Rampage wins, then he gets the title shot. If Jardine wins, though, Machida will get the next shot at Evans.

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Sorry I couldn't make it in time. I was away from a computer for most of the weekend. (I usually make my picks a couple days before each fight) I'll be there for sure for the next fight.

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Eat your heart out Towney.

GSP dominated BJ that whole fight BJ fans cant say anything there was no point in that fight where BJ was winning. Silva came out with a horible game plan he just chased Machida and toke punches his chin was exposed. Jon Jones was a beast he friggin german suplexed bonnar he was just throwing bonnar around and that spinning elbow that made bonnar fall was one of the best things ive seen in the ufc.

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I bet against GSP. That, was a mistake. A biggg one. Man, Pierre is an absolute machine. After a pretty close first round BJ was just knocked totally loopy for the entirety of the second round and things just got worse from there on out. You could tell in Penn's eyes after he took a few shots on the ground he was screwed and he totally knew it.

First time I saw Machida's knockout punch I could have sworn it was after the round had ended, a few replays later I was proved wrong. Pretty much total domination here from Lyoto and this being my first time seeing him fight I couldn't help but get behind him because of his weird @$$ fighting style. Pretty awesome though.

Anyone catch that perfect german suplex from Jones? Didn't really have much impact on the fight, but was just really cool to see. That reverse swinging elbow was definitely the highlight of the match though.

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The best part of the suplex was he held on and rolled through so it looked like the he was gonna do the kurt angle benoit ( ) multiple suplexs but he lost it.

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fightlinker has a couple articles up talking about how Penn's team have complained to the NSAC concerning GSP's team rubbing Vaseline on his back. Penn's camp is saying anytime BJ attempted a high guard, his legs would slip right off. Dana White has even said that he saw the NSAC people yelling at GSP's trainers for getting liberal with Vaseline usage, specifically on his back and shoulders.

I haven't see any other sites reporting thing, so maybe it won't get ugly, but it definitely raises some questions about letting 3 or 4 members of your camp into the cage at once.

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thats pretty messed up if that really occured it is hard enough to apply rubberguard but to do it with Vaseline and sweat is eh....

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Is that because Jardine and Evans are both in Greg Jackson's camp? I was thinking that it would put Jardine in quite an awkward position if he were to rise to the #1 contender spot. It's unlikely, but here's hoping he takes out Rampage to clear the way for Machida to fight Evans.




Didn't BJ Penn recently complain about someone else using Vaseline to get an unfair advantage? Or, has there been a previous complaint against GSP for Vaseline usage? For some reason, this seems awfully familiar to something that happened not too long ago.

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A cube has 6 sides, R-Truth is a terrible rapper, Drew McIntyre isn't nearly as bad as the IWC would have you believe, and Abyss is popular because loser metalheads can relate to him.

Jardine has been pretty vocal about not wanting to fight Rashad since they both train together, so that may have something to do with it. I just think it has more to do with the fact that Jardine isn't near title contention at the moment due to his KO loss to Wanderlei. Rampage is a former champ, so wins over tough fighters like Silva and Jardine put him right back in the title picture. Jardine has the tough loss over Silva and only rebounded will a close decision over the constant disappointment known as Brandon Vera.

Hippo- I think you're thinking about Kenny Florian after his fight with Roger Huerta. Apparently Florian said that Huerta used something called "albolene" to cut weight for the fight. Albolene is a weight loss cream and Florian said it made Huerta slippery and difficult to hold on to. While Huerta may have used the cream to lose weight, I doubt he would apply it right before a fight that he already made weight for. Nick Diaz also complained that the arms of Diego Sanchez were slippery during their fight and prevented him from taking Sanchez down. After an investigation no lubricants were found, but apparently there was some talk of Sanchez's hair having a lot of gel or product in it that ended up running down to his shoulders.

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If Jardine beats Rampage then how could anyone deny him a title shot? (Assuming the champ wasn't Sha) He would have wins over three of the last four champions and a win over Brandon Vera that would make him what? 4-1 with wins over Page, Griffin, Liddell, and Vera and a loss to Silva? I will have to disagree with the statement he isn't anywhere near title contention...

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I'm not saying that Jardine isn't talented and a possible contender with a couple more wins, but his success in the octagon is marred with spurts of getting his a** wooped. Yes he beat Forrest, but in his next fight he got knocked out by friggin Houston Alexander. Yes, he beat Chuck Liddell, but that was a close decision, and then he got knocked out by Wanderlei Silva. Both of those KOs came very early in the first round. Yes he beat Brandon Vera, but Vera isn't nearly as good as once thought, and even then that win was a close split decision. Maybe it's just me, but to get a title shot you need to have at least 3-4 wins in a row showing some sort of dominance in those fights. The exception is former title holders, such as Rampage, who generally get a title shot/rematch with 1-2 wins in a row. Jardine is coming off the win over Vera, and if he beats Rampage, I still think he would need to beat someone like Rich Franklin, Luis Cane or Thiago Silva to make a case for a title shot. I just think consistent performances with consecutive wins is very important.

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Oh my bad. Thats right I forgot about the loss to Alexander, my bad. Lol. youre right. He needs a win over Page and another win or two. I feel stupid now.

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Also, Hippo, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Sean Sherk, and apparently Matt Serra's camp have all made comments now or in the past about GSP greasing for their fights.

Here's an article off fightlinker.com that lists some incidents of greasing accusations.
http://www.fightlinker.com/mma-and-greasing.mma

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Here's an excellent video I found on the whole Vaselinegate controversy, from BJPenn.com:

http://www.mmaweekly.com/blog/2009/02/b ... -video.asp

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