Now that Affliction has signed most of the top-ranked non-UFC talent to exclusive contracts and put them on hold while they sell enough god-awful shirts to finance another event, Sengoku has been thrust into an awkward position. Faced with a better-financed competitor in the market of scooping UFC fighters, they suddenly find themselves faced with the difficult task of scouting and signing their own talent, instead of trying to lure fighters out of the octagon with offers of sushi, saki and fat stacks of yen. It's a more honorable route, of course, but I'm not sure how it will play out. Then again, I'm still stumbling and stunned from a weekend of hard drinking, so this entire prologue could be entirely off-base.
TBA vs. Travis Wiuff
Wiuff, whose name is actually for some reason pronounced backwards as "Ffiuw" (not kidding) was originally scheduled to face Roger Gracie, who has now trounced both Ron Waterman and Yuki Kondo who, respectively, I will compare to a bulldozer and a kangaroo with a jackhammer. Unfortunately, Gracie has been forced to pull out of the match due to injury, which is good news for his competitors since it proves he actually can be injured, but bad news for fans who were hoping to see him tie Wiuff in a flesh-pretzel. Now, instead of the 2-0 Gracie, Wiuff will face one of the only fighters with more matches than himself. At 53-11-0, "Diesel" is one of the most experienced guys in the game, but TBA has been around forever, and has appeared on every card I can remember. Still, I'll pick Wiuff to win and retain his Yamma Pitfighting tournament title. My Guess: Wiuff by decision.
Xande Ribeiro vs. Takashi Sugiura
Whenever BJJ world champions make the switch to MMA, it generally ends up one of three ways. Either, like Roger Gracie, they end up looking incredible and submit their opponent with ease or, and this is scenario #2 people, they shoot out of their corner like a chimpanzee escaping from the bag of a poacher and get immediately knee'd hard in the face. At this point, I will direct you to review Saulo Riberio (Xande's brother) vs. Yuki Kondo from Colloseum 2000. Finally, and this is where I will cite Andre Galvao's recent win, they can look just as crazy and spastic as in scenario #2, but will still manage to win. Which will this one be? I'm thinking #1. My Guess: Riberio by submission.
read the rest here ... http://www.fcfighter.com/news
comment/compliment/critique at wombat@fcfighter.com