THE 5 FIGHTS I'M MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR

So 2013 is nearly up, only 95 days left till Christmas BUT... there are some amazing cards and amazing fights coming up, most notably the UFC's 20th anniversary show UFC 167 headlined by GSP defending his welterweight title against the power house, the "Big Rig" Johnny Hendricks. How can we forget the rubber match between Valesquez and JDS! So here is the list-

Number 5- Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald (UFC 167)

This is a very interesting fight at Welterweight, very interesting. You have on one hand the clinical, technical psycho Rory "Ares" MacDonald and on the other hand you have the balls to wall, swinging for the fences beast Robbie Lawler who TKO'd Koscheck, and if you can not only beat Koscheck but to knock him out (well kind of) your a tough dude. GSP couldn't achieve that feat on two attempts. 

Number 4- Gray Maynard vs Nate Diaz (UFC on Fox 9)

Surprisingly both of these guys are coming off losses, intrestingly both to Strikeforce guys may I also add cementing the fact that the Lightweight division is the most stacked division in the UFC. Bold statement? Not at all, just compare the top 10 in that division to the top ten of other divisions... Anyway Maynard is a beast, and after training at Nova Uniao with the likes of Jose Aldo and Renan Barao he must of picked up a few tricks to deal with the ground game of Diaz. Also this is the unofficial rubber match, both fighters fought in Season 5 of the Ultimate fighter where Diaz destroyed Maynard then going on to win that season however when they fought again Maynard walked away with the W, that combined with the great stylistic match up means this will be a crazy fight you shouldn't miss. 

Number 3- Anthony Pettis vs Josh Thomson

This will be Anthony Pettis's first defence of his Lightweight title, and against a legit contender Josh Thomson. Thomson is just coming off a spectacular win against Nate Diaz, nobody expected A.K.A trained Thomson to pull of the upset and in such devastating fashion with a brutal high kick and the fact he has beaten guys like Gilbert Melendez, Pat Healy and Duane Ludwig proves that he is no joke. Thomson is probably the best striker that Pettis has fought in the UFC and i dont see Pettis submitting Thomson yes pettis tapped out Henderson who is a black belt but i think MMA wise Thomson has better Jiu Jitsu evidence being that out of 20 wins most have come by way of submission (9 to be precise). Another exciting fight i can't wait too see!

Number 2- Georges St-Pierre vs Johnny Hendricks (UFC 167) 

Yes this is ranked as number 1 for multiple reasons, Hendricks is simply a better wrestler. He is most powerful and quickest wrestler that GSP has faced to date and i dont think GSP will be able to take him down. What does this mean? GSP will have to stand with Hendricks, in the stand up GSP has the advantage but (this is a big but) Hendricks had R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S power in his punches and GSP doesn't have the best chin in the world as demonstrated by Condits left high kick that made GSP kiss the canvas. I believe Johnny Hendricks has a legit chance at beating GSP, i can't wait.

Number 1- Cain Valesquez vs Junior Dos Santos (UFC 166)

The World Heavyweight Championship. The baddest man on the planet, the rubber match to decide who is truly the best, how can you not be excited? On the first occasion Valesquez had knee problems saying it bugged him throught his camp and meant he couldnt execute his game plan during the fight, many people (including myself) believed that was just an excuse, but boy did he prove us all wrong. After DESTROYING Bigfoot Silva and laying a 5 round beating on JDS which nobody expected. Seriously, it inspired me to train wrestling even harder! But at the same time i felt sorry for Junior more and more after each round. When Cain held that title we knew that his knee must of been in bad shape the first fight and he will probably be holding that belt for a while. Junior complained of an injury, well more of a condition i say where he had some calcium build up due to him overtraining for the fight amd now has some "high tech equipment" to prevent it happening again. Judging by how different the first and second fights were you cant predict whats going to happen in this fight which is what makes it the fight im most excited about.

UFC 165

Well UFC 165 is just around the corner, all in all im not psyched about it. Why? I hear you ask? Yes i'm a hardcore fan, yes Gustafsson is the biggest guy Jones has fought, yes he may be stronger than Jones, yes he is also maybe the most well rounded fighter Jones has fought, but does he pose as a threat to Jon Jones...NO! Jones has far superior striking, his wrestling is way better than Gustafsson's and Jones has submitted BJJ black belts, there is no area of the fight that Gustafsson has the edge over Jon Jones, he is just that good! Saying that this is MMA the most unpredictable sport there is, we all saw Silva get knocked out by Weidman but few believed it to be possible beforehand. That said i would still bet my life that Jon Jones will walk out of that arena still as the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. 

The co-main event is not interesting at all. Now don't get it twisted i love the lower weight categories Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn (now a featherweight) are some of my favourite fighters. But Renan Barao has to be the most boring and un-interesting guy to ever hold UFC Gold. There is no doubt in his abilities, just look at his record! On of the best in MMA today but his fighting style is so boring, his fight against Urijah Faber (who is one of the most exciting, fast paced guys at bantamweight) was a snooze fest, same with Michael McDonald who is another extremely exciting fighter, his last fight with Brad Pickett illustrates my point clearly but Barao just makes boring fights and the fact that UFC are trying to sell the fight based on the fact that Wineland is exciting/Former WEC Champ and apparently back to his K.O ways is not fooling me to think this fight will be good. Now people (UFC Noobs) often critise GSP for being "boring", however i love watching GSP fight! He is just so clinical, if he's standing he will land the nastiest combo's, the fact his opponents know he's going to take them down yet he still does is pretty damn amazing if you ask me considering the fact he is not a wrestler! When he is on the ground he does some major damage and works to better position or control, just watch the Nick Diaz fight and you see him control Diaz on the ground as if Diaz was a White Belt, Nick said post fight that GSP blocked everything he tried from the ground, all the kneebar attempts, guard retention...everything! GSP is one of the all time greats for sure and i can't wait for UFC 167 the 20th anniversary show which is one of the most stacked cards of the year where he goes up against Johnny Hendricks! Anyway point being Renan Barao is boring. 

Brendad Schaub Vs Matt Mitrione, well after Schaubs embarresment of a "fight" at Metamoris 2 he needs to redeem hiself as a legit fighter and not a ballet dancer who will avoid contact for the entire fight but dance around to make him look like he's busy. Well anyway i think that down to his terrible chin (i mean TERRIBLE chin like on par with Chiek Kongo) and Mitrione's latest flash knockout against De Fries, that Mitrione will win. 

PREDICTIONS:

Jones vs Gustafsson-

Jones via TKO

Barao vs Wineland-

Barao via Unanimous Decision

Schaub vs Mitrione- 

Mitrione via KO

Philappou vs Carmont-

Philappou via Unanimous Decision

Healy vs Nurmagomedov-

Nurmagomedov via submission