UFC on Versus 2: Predictions and Discussion

Well after 10 weeks I'm finally done studying for the Bar Exam. Hopefully that means I'll be able to post on here more. Anyways, onto the fights.

On August 1st, the UFC will hold it's second card on the VS channel, and once again the card will be headlined by the light heavyweight division's number one prospect Jon "Bones" Jones. After a bit of an MMA drought this month August is looking pretty damn good.

Takanori Gomi vs. Tyson Griffin - Gomi was originally set to face Joe Stevenson, but Griffin stepped in after Stevenson had to bow out due to an injury. Both fighters are coming off pretty one-sided losses and are looking to get back into the win column. Gomi made his UFC debut back in March and was out struck by Kenny Florian for two rounds before being choked out in the 3rd. Griffin last fought at UFC 115 and was controlled on the mat for three rounds by fellow Xtreme Couture fight Evan Dunham. Both Gomi and Griffin are strong wrestlers who often abandon that skill in favor of striking. Gomi throws wild powerful shots while Griffin is certainly more crisp and technical. I look for this to be a pretty straight forward stand up fight with Griffin winning a decision after three rounds of mediocre boxing.

Jake Ellenberger vs. John Howard - Ellenberger burst into the UFC with an exciting fight with Carlos Condit that he looked to dominate before falling short and losing a split decision that I actually scored in his favor. Since then Ellenberger defeated Mike Pyle with some vicious ground and pound was set to face Ben Saunders at UFC 111 before Saunders pulled out to replace Thiago Alves against Jon Fitch. Howard entered the UFC with consecutive split decision wins over Chris Wilson and Tamdan McCrory, but since then he has two consecutive KO wins over Dennis Hallman and Daniel Roberts. Howard is a super strong, compact guy with good wrestling and ground and pound. Ellenberger has good ground and pound as well and showed in the Condit fight that his stand up is very good and unpredictable. Tough fight to call, but I'll go with Ellenberger due to my liking him more.

Mark Munoz vs. Yushin Okami - Since dropping to 185 Munoz has looked great with his GnP wins over Kendall Grove and Ryan Jensen. Munoz has a strong wrestling base and his ability to posture up in his opponent's guard and drop BOMBS is a thing of beauty. What we did see in the Grove fight (and the in the loss to Hammill), though, is that Munoz still looks a little uncomfortable on his feet and even got dropped by Grove at one point. In Okami's last fight with Lucio Linhares we saw a vastly improved stand up game that utilized a powerful jab that Linhares ate time after time before the fight was eventually called by the doctors. Okami is no slouch on the ground either as we saw in less than exciting wins in the past. Okami does have the loss to a strong wrestler in Chael Sonnen, but I don't think Okami will be in too much danger with Munoz and will hold him off with his superior boxing en route to a decision win.

Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko - I think this a great fight for Jon Jones, and it clearly shows that the UFC is in no hurry to throw him to the wolves, but are not afraid to put him in fights with progressively better fighters. At no point in his UFC career has Jones looked like he was in trouble and at such a young age the kid is only going to get better. Matyushenko certainly has the edge with experience and has a smothering ground game, which is something we haven't seen Jones deal with yet (Jake O'Brien never got the chance). That being said I look for Jones to utilize his unorthodox striking to keep Matyushenko at bay and throw him to the mat anytime he tries to get close. The Janitor is a tough guy to finish but I wouldn't be surprised to see Jones get a TKO win in the 2nd or 3rd round.