Tap Selections: UFC 89

Oct 18, 2008 10:00 AM John Chandler

Here are our predictions (after the jump, winners in bold) for tonight’s UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben event, which will take place at the NIA Arena in Birmingham, England. The event will be broadcast live internationally at 3 PM ET (it will be shown live on all Rogers Sportsnet channels in Canada) and will be shown via tape delay in the United States at 9 PM ET on Spike TV. Feel free to leave your predictions as well in our comments section.

Bill Reger (56-25)

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luis Cane
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly
Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sammy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund
David Baron vs. Jim Miller

Jamie Fitzgerald (80-26)

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luis Cane
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly
Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sammy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund
David Baron vs. Jim Miller

Martin Alexander (27-13)

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luis Cane
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly
Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sammy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund
David Baron vs. Jim Miller

David Singer (61-27)

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luis Cane
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly
Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sammy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund
David Baron vs. Jim Miller

John Chandler (239-102)

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luis Cane
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly
Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sammy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund
David Baron vs. Jim Miller

Features • Tap Selections • UFC

Comments

You guys are taking the karate analogy too far. Imagine if there had been 5 rounds&#8230 By the end of the 2nd round Lebens face was already showing alot of damage. By the end of the third, you could tell that he couldnt take much more of what Bisping was dishing out.

Anon, you said &#8220After this, I'd say Leben would steamroll him outside the octagon.&#8221

Well then in that case, lets just all hop on the Kimbo bandwagon because you could say the same for him. You guys are confusing someone who is a performer, with someone who has the BEST results from a gameplan. Bisping had a good gameplan, but it wasnt the best. That doesnt mean that you should talk shit and doubt him as a fighter. The way he whooped up on Chris makes this fight clear who the winner was.

You guys are stupid if you want to compare UFc to one of those lame karate tourneys where everytime the guy gets a good shot they separate the two and mark down a point. If you want to compare the point chase to anything, compare it to bozing, where people are outstriking the other, but still making a mess of their face.

I think that this fight showed that Bisping cant knock out Leben. But he had a feeling that was the case coming into the fight. If you fight a guy that you cant knock out, and you are going to stand, you pick them apart and hope that you can break them mentally. Leben wasnt fighting Bisping with the same strategy of stick and move and get the points, but he still couldnt beat Bisping. If thats not a good fighter to you, then go watch Kimbo and Crazy Horse because thats who you define as &#8220good fighters&#8221.

Posted by TheMallot on 2008-10-19 18:46:22

Finally, in case you or anyone else is too dense to get my points: short version.

1. Had Leben adopted the same strategy, they would have been booed and had their careers put in jeopardy for not engaging properly.

2. UFC is coveted over karate tournaments because you can look at a karate tournament and think &#8220Yeah, but would that guy last in a real fight?&#8221 You can&#8217t just sit there and back off, back off, back off the whole time in a real fight, and it leaves the question of whether Bisping is actually worth a shit. After this, I&#8217d say Leben would steamroll him outside the octagon.

3. I&#8217m not saying a fighter put on a spectacle while forgetting good strategy. I&#8217m saying they display fighting ability and not take advantage of the sport rules.

Posted by Anon on 2008-10-19 09:33:03

Same applies to anyone else who&#8217s got a problem with it. Scoring points doesn&#8217t show fighting ability at all. Again with the karate connection. I realize the UFC is already watered down a little, but you start fighting like this, and it can barely be called a combat sport anymore.

In karate, the idea is to hit the other opponent and not get hit. Doesn&#8217t matter a damn bit if it doesn&#8217t do any real damage (i.e. Bisping clearly not doing much to Leben) just the fact you tap the dude counts. STARNES could do that. I suppose if he won fights he&#8217d be a top contender?

Fuck that. Evasion is all good, any fighter who stands there like a tree deserves to lose, as does anyone who just bull rushes.

But this shit is going to get out of control. The UFC needs to adopt the PRIDE system of scoring based on trying to finish the fight. If I&#8217m a fast guy, and I can evade Bob Sapp all day, and tap him with punches, am I a better fighter? Hell no, at the end of the day, Sapp is going to rip me in half. Scoring points shows nothing, and should stay in karate tournaments.

And it really doesn&#8217t matter a bit if you disagree, because obviously the suits at Zuffa agree else Machida would be the boring ass LHW champion right now. Again, it&#8217s technically sound, and it&#8217s not the fact it&#8217s not &#8220aggressive&#8221 or &#8220showy&#8221 that pisses me off. It&#8217s the fact that scoring points like that doesn&#8217t show true fighting ability. What&#8217s the other guy supposed to do? Not engage? Seriously. When one guy does that it fucks the entire thing up. Should we blame Leben because he was dumb enough to move in? He wanted to finish the fight.

Posted by Anon on 2008-10-19 09:19:17

Karate tournament fighters. Gee, another Machida connection.

A good athlete picks the winning strategy. But the UFC doesn&#8217t cater to the top athlete, it caters to the top PERFORMER. Why do you think nobody gives a shit about the occasional karate tournament on ESPN? It&#8217s the same exact thing happening there as what happens in these kind of fights. Think about that next time you try to be a smart ass, because the fact history shows those kind of showings fail is behind me. What&#8217s supporting YOU?

Posted by Anon on 2008-10-19 09:08:54

Yeah Anon, what an idiot. What kind of good athlete picks a strategy that allows them to win. He shouldn&#8217t change it up to fit different types of fighters, he should just run at the other guy fists flying so we can all say &#8220Ohhhhh!&#8221 and &#8220Daaaayummm!&#8221.

Posted by TheMallot on 2008-10-19 07:51:58

I see Bisping took a page from Machida for the fight, is this the future of the UFC? Fighters playing for points? Here&#8217s to hoping he gets a shot against Silva, even though I don&#8217t think he deserves it. I just want to see him try that shit with him and get his shit ruined. His hype can leave already too.

Or even have Franklin take care of him.

Posted by Anon on 2008-10-19 07:29:16

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