Fightmania Mailbag: Pre-UFC 101 Edition

With just hours to go until UFC 101 kicks off, I thought it would be a good idea to post a special edition of the Fightmania Mailbag, since I’ve been getting a few e-mails about tonight’s event.  Read on to find out what other Fightmania readers are saying about the fights tonight!

Vanessa from Wichita, Kansas wants to know what I think of Kenny Florian’s chances of making it to the later rounds:

I get what you’re saying about BJ Penn being in shape and all of that, but don’t you think that Kenny Florian would still be better off in the later rounds of the fight instead of the earlier rounds?  Do you think that Kenny has what it takes to get past those first couple of rounds and make it a real fight??  Thanks for answering my question, I love the site!

First of all, thanks for the kind words!  As far as Florian’s chances to weather the early storm against BJ Penn, I would say that he has a chance to do so.  It all depends on how things go.  BJ does have some knockout power, but we’ve seen against Sean Sherk and even a bit against Georges St. Pierre that he is more likely to pick away at his opponents for awhile and wear them down.  If the fight consists of the two standing for most of the time, I think that Florian could make it into the later rounds and even make it fairly competitive.

However, I’m not sure about that if Penn is able to get Florian to the mat.  I just think that Penn’s jiu-jitsu and intensity in the first couple of rounds will be too much if the fight hits the floor, to be honest.  Also, even if Florian does kick it up a notch in rounds four or five, if he has already given away the first three rounds he will have to finish BJ, and that doesn’t seem likely.  Of course, I could be wrong!  That’s why they fight, right?

Sam E. from New York wants to know my thoughts on whether the Anderson Silva-Forrest Griffin fight could become a snoozefest…

Sure, there may not be a lot of question as to who will win the Silva-Griffin fight, but what are the chances that it will be another boring one, like Silva’s last two?  Do you think Griffin will do enough to push the pace, even if it means he might have a lower chance of winning because of putting himself in danger?  I hate to say it, but I see this fight being a possible stinker.

I’m really hoping that it won’t be a dull fight.  It’s not so much the dullness of Silva’s fights, but the lack of any kind of drama that gets me.  He’ll fight a guy like Thales Leites who has no chance of mounting an offense unless the fight hits the mat, and yet he will peck away at him instead of taking the openings that present themselves to finish the fight.  So you end up with a five-round fight where you know all along that one fighter has no real chance of winning.

In this case, I really do think that Forrest will push the pace.  I think that his game plan will involve smothering Silva when the chances arise, and taking him down, then controlling him will be the only way I can see Forrest pulling out a victory here.  Silva will have to be good with his footwork to keep from being cornered and to keep giving himself good angles to strike with.  I think this fight will be a good one, but who knows?  It’s getting hard to predict what we will get out of Anderson Silva.  Well, besides wins, of course.

Finally, here’s an e-mail from an unnamed Johny Hendricks supporter who thinks I’m not giving their fighter his due:

You have to be kidding me with your prediction on the Hendricks fight.  Sadollah won’t have any answer to Hendricks’ intensity and strength, and we haven’t seen yet if he will crumble under that kind of pressure.  I see this fight ending with ground and pound, and I think Sadollah’s miracle arm bars will not be seen at all on Saturday.

You could very well be right.  It was a hard fight to pick, but I went the way I did because I know Sadollah has improved his already dangerous guard game, and I think that Hendricks will be a little overly active with punches in the guard when the fight hits the mat, which will definitely lead to arm bar opportunities for someone with an active guard like Sadollah.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Hendricks does very well, but I just keep thinking Sadollah will take this one.

by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin, Georges St. Pierre, Kenny Florian, Sean Sherk, UFC