Ben Askren Is Going To Destroy Jorge Masvidal and Other UFC 239 Predictions

UFC 239 is another stacked card for the premier brand in mixed martial arts. Despite having a plethora of talent on the roster, they only make cards this good 3-4 times a year, so this card is definitely one to look forward to. Now that it's fight week, I keep hearing more and more analysis that is absolutely awful, and I felt I needed to say something since things are getting out of hand.

Ben Askren is going to whoop Jorge Masvidal's ass on Saturday night. The only question is whether Masvidal survives three rounds.

I'm absolutely baffled that you could look at these two fighters and what they have done in the past and come to any other conclusion besides that one. Ben Askren's past is simple. He takes fools down and wears their asses out for as long as it takes. He has done that to EVERYONE he has faced. Now, Askren has not faced the best competition, but he hasn't faced slouches either. He beat Douglas Lima whose only losses in the last ten yars have been to Askren, Rory MacDonald, and Andrey Koreshkov, which he avenged by beating Koreshkov twice. Oh, and Koreshkov's only losses in his career are to Lima and Askren. The Askren loss sets new standards for egregious as Askren got the TKO in the fourth round while outstriking Lima 248 to 3. That is not a typo.

Meanwhile, Masvidal is on quite the hot streak of winning a grand total of one fight in a row. In fact, you can go back three fights, and he only has one win in that time as he lost his previous two before knocking out Darren Till. He got outstruck by Stephen Thompson, and before that, he got outgrappled by Demian Maia. The Maia fight is the most instructive as Maia was able to continually get takedowns on Masvidal. In analysis, people keep giving credit to Masvidal for his wrestling, but if he can't stop a Maia takedown, what the hell is he going to do against Askren? It would be generous to say Maia, who has developed a nice wrestling game for MMA, is half the wrestler that Askren is. Maybe 1/5, but I'm thinking he's more in the 10-15% as good as the man known as Funky.

But don't worry, Masvidal's coach tweeted that Jorge has a friend that wrestles, with a video of him and Yoel Romero play wrestling in a small room. I mean, that's great and all, but just because I have a friend who is a pharmacist doesn't mean that I can start writing prescriptions.

I think my favorite analysis was a guy who said that he'd pick Masvidal in a five-round fight, because he'd be able to wear Askren down by then which is about as insane of a take as I have seen this year. Askren's whole style is wearing his opponent down, and he has never shown any signs of fatigue in any match he's been in. I don't think there is any activity that Masvidal could wear down Askren in.

Like any fight, Masvidal has a puncher's chance, but even that is a reach, because he's not really a knockout guy as he's more a pressure fighter than a single knockout blow. Bet on Askren and reap the rewards on Sunday morning.

As for the title fights, Jon Jones is a fairly easy pick against, well, anyone, and Thiago Santos does not seem to present much of a threat to him.

The Amanda Nunes fight could be more interesting than people think. Nunes has run through a lot of people, but she does gas out, and Holly Holm knows how to make fights long and boring. Holm has been so hesitant to pull the trigger in fights that I still have a hard time seeing her win the fight, but I do think she can go the distance.

As for the last two fights on the main card, I say Luke Rockhold knocks out Jan Blachowicz in his light heavyweight debut. And Diego Sanchez is a total psycho, but he might be a full decade past his prime at this point so I think Michael Chiesa finishes him in the second round.

Also, one of my favorite fighters ever, Gilbert Melendez is fighting on this card, but he might be even more done than Diego Sanchez. I'm hoping for a surprise performance from the former Strikeforce Champion, but my brain has trouble seeing a path to victory for him.

The 2018 XFL Mock Draft - Defensive End

In anticipation of Vince McMahon bringing the fun back to football (more concussions, woohoo!), Lukewarm Jonah and I went back and forth to do an XFL Draft. Instead of breaking this down round by round, we are going to go by position groups. Last time we hit the offensive line, so this time we’ll hit up the big guys on the other side of the ball, starting with defensive ends.

Defensive Ends
Jonah: Mario Williams, BJ Dubose, Cam Johnson, Damontre Moore 

Joe: Jon Jones, Da’Quan Bowers, Bjoern Werner, Jackson Jeffcoat, Michael Sam, Drew Ott

Joe: There were two guys that I was bound and determined to get in this draft, and they are both defensive linemen. We’ll get to one today, and as a hint, the other one is tomorrow and is also a former UFC Champion. First off, I acquired the greatest fighter ever, Jon “Bones” Jones. Part of the reason I was able to snag Jones is that he is suspended from competition for the next couple years at least, so he’s going to need something to do in the meantime. Why not give football a try? He has two brothers that are in the NFL, and the dude is a freak of an athlete. Although he fights at 205, his walking around weight is probably close to 240, and with his frame, he should have no trouble adding another 15 pounds. Jon Jones may be an awful human being, but if anybody could adapt to the XFL with zero football experience, it’s him.

Bowers, Werner, and Jeffcoat all can be classified as super productive college players who were never able to make it in the NFL. Each was an All-American and Bowers was the Bronko Nagurski Award winner for best college football defensive player. 

Michael Sam could fit into that above group, but he is more known as becoming the first openly gay player on an NFL roster. Not only do I think he can be productive, but this is obviously just a very good thing for the league considering I have purposely acquired racists, alleged women beaters, and Jon Jones, I could use an actual good person on my team. Again, it’s not my preferred method of doing things, but it’s the XFL baby!

Finally, it was time for my obligatory Iowa Hawkeyes pick of Drew Ott who was so good in college but got hurt at the wrong time and wasn’t able to latch on to an NFL roster. I still 100% believe in the guy playing well if given the chance.

Jonah: You win football games on the lines, everyone knows that.  That’s why my defensive line is headlined by another number one overall pick in the NFL draft Mario Williams.  He’s 32, but could easily still play in the NFL if the money was right.  The guy is a star, what can I say about him?  He’s a multiple time Pro Bowler and All Pro, he would dominate any XFL offensive line besides my own.

BJ Dubose is a guy who I got to see play in preseason games for the Vikings and he looked good.  He just went to a team that was stacked with star defensive ends.  He was hurt in the 2016 offseason, but that’s almost 2 years ago.  Rick Spielman knows how to scout defensive lineman, so I’ll snatch up Dubose and watch him transform into Danielle Hunter.

Cam Johnson is another one of my no name but solid picks.  He’s a solid five year NFL vet who’s great at forcing fumbles.  Those are game changing plays, and he’s good at getting in the backfield and making tackles for loss as well as forcing fumbles.

Damontre Moore is only 25 but has five years experience in the NFL.  He was supposed to be a to 10 pick but ran a bad 40.  I don’t care about my defensive lineman’s 40 times.  He has a substance abuse strike in the NFL, but again who cares?  This is the XFL baby, substance abuse was rampant when football was cool right?  Moore is a real sleeper that could make a huge impact.

Joe: Mario Williams is a fun pick, and I really can’t say he’s too old since I drafted Reggie Bush as my running back, and they were the top two picks in the same draft. Two of your guys are so boring that you are calling them boring, so I don’t really need to comment on either one of them. But I do like the Damontre Moore pick. At worst case, he was a high motor guy in college that can use that hustle effectively in the XFL. But the one thing that seems to be missing are UFC Champions. What happens when your team gets in a fight, because we know for damn sure that the XFL is going to promote fights.

Jonah: Williams could still play in the NFL and be pretty good.  By boring I just mean not a household name like Mario Williams or Jon Jones.  Speaking of Jones, there’s no doubt he’s an athletic freak but I think a transition to football is difficult for anyone.  Also, you have to make sure he doesn’t go completely insane as he is fond of doing.  Michael Sam is probably your best pick as he should be playing in the NFL, but if the NFL wasn’t willing to accept an openly gay player how do you think the XFL fanbase and ownership is going to react?

Joe: The XFL is 100% going make all gay players wear a rainbow patch. It’s going to be SUPER offensive and Trumpies are going to love it. And my only real concern with Jon Jones is that he gets distracted and starts trying to snort the yard lines. Outside of that, he should be good to go.

That’s all for today. Join us next time for the defensive tackles where you can bet your ass that I picked up Brock Lesnar.

In case you missed it:

Quarterbacks
Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Offensive Tackles

Offensive Guards

Center

I Loved Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen

I am a sucker for the previous generation of mixed martial arts. I can't watch Michael Jordan nailing fadeaways in basketball, Glenallen Hill swinging for the fences in baseball, or, uh, Jim Miller? throwing that pigskin around at a competitive level anymore, but I can still watch MMA legends compete well past their prime. Bellator is delivering me those desired fights by matching up Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen.

I was never a big Tito Ortiz fan. His biggest run was during a pretty dark age for the UFC, and he had gone downhill by the time that MMA started to gain popularity again under new ownership and piggybacking off the success of The Ultimate Fighter. Still, he's an important part of the history of MMA, and he was known as a good trash talker back in the day. This man is a Donald Trump supporter who can barely string together a sentence, but he was able to talk circles around Ken Shamrock, who somehow managed to get worse at talking after spending years in professional wrestling.

On the other hand, Chael Sonnen was my jam. Sonnen played the part of the heel, and he enjoyed every second of it. Sonnen is incredibly intelligent, and he knows how to play the game and was the ultimate provocateur. He once accused the Nogueiras of petting a bus, because they thought it was a horse. I was nearly in tears at the ways that he insulted Brazilians, even though Big Nog and Wanderlei Silva are two of my favorite fighters ever. But when you were a fan of Sonnen, you kind of knew that you were in on the joke with him. None of it was said with animosity, and if you took it seriously, you had already lost. On top of all of this, he was a wrestler, and I have an incredible bias towards favoring wrestlers in mixed martial arts. He came incredibly close to winning titles in two different weight classes. Sure, everyone remembers how he was only a couple minutes away from completing a beatdown on Anderson Silva, but don't forget his match with Jon Jones. Sonnen got absolutely annihilated and finished in the first round, but had he lasted a minute longer, the ref would have had to stop the fight since Jones broke a toe while he was beating on Sonnen. It would have been the most Chael Sonnen win in history. Instead, we have Sonnen facing off against Ortiz.

Now was this fight objectively good? Oh, God no. But was it entertaining? Of course it was. Despite it being Tito Ortiz's retirement fight and a fight that is about three years after Chael Sonnen's retirement, I was still totally jacked to see these two fight. And for the two minutes that this fight went on, it gave me everything I needed.

Tito got some good shots in standing, looked to have a takedown but got outgrappled by the superior wrestler in Sonnen. Sonnen could have legitimately had a choke but didn't have enough confidence in his jiu jitsu to actually go all out for it. Then he did something stupid, let Ortiz mount him and gave up on the fight at that point. Ortiz finished him with a neck crank, because when things went south for Sonnen, there was no need for him to fight on; he already got paid.

Afterwards, Tito actually gave one of his best speeches for his retirement, and it's good that he goes out on "top" because he's an important figure who, with his delusions, will think that this cements his legacy, even though his legacy was decided a decade ago. Still, crazy people living in a world of crazy is the safest place they can be. Let Tito stay in his safe space.

What is most important for Sonnen is that he ran circles around Tito in the pre-match buildup, and that means he'll continue to get paid. We kind of knew that Sonnen was not likely to win the fight, and we'll likely know that he won't win his next fight. But I'll still watch. Because with both guys, winning the fight wasn't the main point. They were spectacles on their own. The fight was the sideshow.

Is There a Parallel for Ronda Rousey?

Ronda Rousey destroyed another opponent this weekend. She's gotten so good that she doesn't even have to use her world class Judo skills to beat her opponents. She is now the best boxer in the division as well. She's stupid good, and it's nearly impossible to come up with a relevant comparison for what she is doing right now. Here is my journey to attempt to find a parallel for what Ronda Rousey is currently doing.

First, it was pretty easy to eliminate any athlete involved in team sports. Even at Michael Jordan's level of dominance, a team sport just doesn't allow for a single person to so totally dominate all of their competition.

After that, I looked at the most dominant athlete of the last 20 years, Tiger Woods. As great as Tiger Woods was during his prime, he basically would have had to have his performance at the 2000 US Open in every major for three straight years to be as dominant as Ronda Rousey. Tiger Woods was amazing, and he's not even close to Rousey.

Then I took the logical step of looking at MMA. The most dominant recent champions have been Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. Both guys were dominant, but they had some struggles against opponents. Anderson Silva ripped off 16 straight wins in the UFC, but in there, even he had times of mortality against guys that could put him on his back like Travis Lutter, Dan Henderson, and Chael Sonnen. Jon Jones has never been beaten, but Alexander Gustafsson gave him a lot of trouble, and he usually wins by picking his opponents apart, where Ronda Rousey steamrolls them.

If you want to go old school, you can look at a guy like Royce Gracie who did completely dominate from UFC 1-UFC 4. Until Dan Severn lasted over 15 minutes, nobody made it to the six-minute mark against Royce. Still, Gracie won purely with technique, where Rousey wins with not only technique but by also just being more physical than her opponents.

If I was going for an MMA parallel, the answer would have to be Mark Kerr. Kerr was not only a world-class wrestler who became incredibly adept at submissions, but then he quickly learned how to light people up on the feet and had absolutely brutal ground and pound. He destroyed every one of his first 11 opponents, where only one man was able to last past 3:04. He was the guy picked to rule over Pride. Obviously, that didn't happen, but even if you only count those first 11 fights, the level of competition that Kerr faced was usually not the greatest, where Rousey has been taking out the best of the best since her third fight.

And that brings us up to the most common comparison, Mike Tyson. As weird as this sounds to say about Mike Tyson, he wasn't dominant enough to be compared to Ronda Rousey. Even before he won the title, he got taken to decisions by guys like James Tillis and Mitch Green, who were solid gatekeepers but guys on a level that Tyson should have steamrolled. I will give Tyson credit as he avoided his toughest possible opponent in his prime with Evander Holyfield and Ronda Rousey has avoided her toughest opponent in Cyborg. The nail in the coffin is Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas. Douglas is basically the equivalent to Bethe Correia, a beatable opponent that is meant to showcase the champion in a foreign land. Tyson got knocked out by Douglas, Rousey took less than a minute to annihilate Correia.

After going through all of these greats, it would seem like I have exhausted all of the possibilities. But then I realized the answer was standing in front of me the entire time. I don't know how I could see around his blobby existence, but I managed to do it until now.

Of course, I'm talking about Steven Seagal. He has fought the best in the world and has always come out on top. But that's the thing, he had contemporaries like Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jean-Claude Van Damme who had similar accomplishments, but nobody made it look easier than Seagal. He annihilated his opponents without breaking a sweat and hardly ever having a single mark on his face as a sign that he had been in a battle to the death.

Ronda Rousey is incredibly impressive, and in MMA, she has had to deal with a wide variety of opponents and situations, but it is nothing compared to what Seagal has shown in his fighting career. Just take a look at this highlight video that would even impress Miss Rousey.
Ronda Rousey is great. She is the female Steven Seagal, and there is no greater compliment than that.

Jon Jones, Cocaine, And Greatness

I can't get over how great Jon Jones is. I really thought Daniel Cormier had what it took, but Jon Jones not only beat him; he outwrestled one of the best American wrestlers of the last fifteen years.

If you had asked me to create an ideal fighter eight years ago, I could not have created a fighter as good as Jon Jones. I would have said that the frame and skill-set would not be humanly possible. If you want a great wrestler, you can't have him be long and lanky too, because you need to be a powerhouse to be able to blast through takedowns. I couldn't have given a guy such effective elbow strikes, because elbow strikes that effective have never existed before. And I wouldn't have been able to give the guy that much explosive movement and cardio to last for days, because a guy who explodes into his attacks that much can't possibly do it for 25 minutes.

Jon Jones isn't fair. He's a fighting cheat code.

And now he's in rehab for his issues with cocaine

Honestly, it wouldn't be worrisome for me if it were nearly any other athlete. I have never done cocaine, but there was definitely a time in my life where I would have strongly considered it had it been there. I just hung out with a bunch of cheap drunks as opposed to them high-fallutin coke users. I know plenty of people who have done it and are completely normal guys and gals. The only issue is that Jon Jones seems to think he's invincible. The guy doesn't even entertain the thought that he could lose a fight, and he's proven that it is a preposterous idea. If he takes that attitude to every part of his life, and rumors indicate that he usually does, then it could be a sad ending.

Great athletes with that sort of self-confidence almost always have other vices outside of their sport. Too many to name had women as a vice, Jordan had gambling, and Lawrence Taylor, who may be the best comparison, had serious drug issues. Their belief in themselves is what makes them so great at their sport, but it's also what leads them to these other vices. It's tough to believe you're invincible in one aspect of life and not have it bleed into others.

Jon Jones may come across as a dick, but I want him to get over this drug issue and continue fighting. This is completely selfish on my part as Jon Jones is as good at mixed martial arts as anybody is at anything, and watching that sort of greatness is so rare and wonderful that it would be a shame if it didn't last for as long as he decided to do it.

I can just about guarantee that I will be rooting for his opponent in every single fight he has, but I still want the opportunity to watch him crush my hopes as many times as possible.

Good luck, Jon Jones, this is one fight I'll be hoping you win.

Jon Jones Vs. Daniel Cormier Is the Biggest Fight of the Year

2015 is starting off with a bang, as I don't think anything is going to touch this weekend for the greatness of sports content. With the New Year's holiday, the weekend started on Thursday, and you could make a pretty strong case that it started on Wednesday evening for New Year's Eve. The longer the weekend, the higher potential for greatness. Still, despite all of the bowl games, the NFL Playoffs, and Iowa wrestling twice this weekend, there is one event that stands above all others, and that is UFC 182 with the main event of Jon Jones defending his Light Heavyweight Championship against Daniel Cormier.

I have been looking forward to this fight since Cormier said he was going to drop down to 205. Cormier is basically Fedor Emelianenko if Fedor had a wrestling background instead of Sambo. He's so incredibly gifted at fighting that I needed no drama to get excited for a fight where he would challenge Jon Jones.

That being said, the drama and shit-talking from each side has been incredible. These guys don't like each other, and that is wonderful. It adds that extra element that gets me way too excited to watch grown men fight. And even with all of the personal dislike, there is still respect. Jon Jones hasn't voiced it as much, but Cormier openly states that Jones will be by far his toughest opponent. And he's right.

Also, you can think Jon Jones is a dick all you want (I basically agree), but there is no fighter that does a better job of being beautifully violent in his fights. He's the most exciting fighter since Pride-era Wanderlei Silva (I am horribly biased for Silva, so nobody will ever top him in my eyes), so every time he steps in the cage to fight, it is absolutely a must-watch event.

This comes down to a battle of good vs. evil. Daniel Cormier is an incredibly likable guy. He's honest, friendly, and most importantly, vulnerable. He will say Jon Jones is great. He will say that he's scared entering the cage. He will even say that the possibility of Jones beating him has crossed his mind. He's a person, and we can see his humanity; he's relatable. Jon Jones is none of those things. He lies, talks shit when the cameras are off (or at least when he thinks they're off), and never shows even a hint of vulnerability. Unless you are also a sociopath, there is no way to relate to him. It is good vs. evil. If Cormier wins on Saturday night, I will celebrate and be happy. If Jones wins, I will sulk and be totally bummed. These emotions from two people that I do not know are completely irrational, but that's what makes this so much fun.

Saying all that, you could take away that entire storyline, and it would still be the most exciting fight of the year.

Why You Should Watch Machida vs. Mousasi Tonight

It's the weekend, which means there is another UFC fight card tonight. Even for people who don't watch The Ultimate Fighter, there is a whole lot of MMA on these days, especially UFC. Some people complain of oversaturation, but that's still a good thing as you can now pick and choose which cards are worth your time. Top to bottom, this card isn't great on paper, but the main event is something that has had me excited for months.

Everybody knows Lyoto Machida. His only definitive losses have come to Shogun and Jon Jones. He's had some other close decisions, some where the judges favored him, and others where I feel the judges made a mistake. He's incredible at hitting his opponent without getting hit. People originally thought he was just a points fighter, but he has gotten so good at hitting with accuracy and picking spots to go in for the kill that this is no longer an issue for him. Watching him in a standup fight will always be fascinating as his style is so different than his opponents.

Most UFC fans don't know as much about Gegard Mousasi, but this dude is the truth. In the last 7 1/2 years, he's lost once. And this fight marks his move back to middleweight which is a much better weight class for him as his biggest walking around weight was only about 210-215 pounds. It is either hilarious or maddening how much this guy seems to not give a shit when it comes to fighting. I once saw him in an exhibition against Fedor at an M-1 Global event, and he looked like he just woke up from a nap. He was sparring with the best fighter in the world at the time and was just going through the motions until Fedor through a left high kick that nearly took his head off. He seemed more upset that he was fully awake than anything else.

Also on that card was Muhammed Lawal (beating the shit out of Mark Kerr; it was originally scheduled to be Don Frye) who gave Mousasi his only recent loss. Lawal was able to do this, because Mousasi doesn't give a shit about wrestling defense. He still did more damage from his back than Lawal did from the top, but judges love position more than damage, so Lawal got the decision victory.

He had a draw with late-career Keith Jardine for the same reason. If somebody wanted to take him down, he'd let them. Luckily, he fought a lot of his career in Japan where Shinya Aoki was considered to have good takedowns (then he came to the United States where he was completely outclassed by real wrestlers), so it didn't matter. He could just stay on his feet and blast fools. He even did a little kickboxing where he showed that he's

Now it has been three years since Mousasi fought Jardine and four since he fought Lawal. There is a good possibility that his takedown defense has gotten better. But that's the beauty of this fight. It doesn't matter. These two are going to strike with each other, and Mousasi is silky smooth on his feet. He has that style that looks effortless but can still absolutely turn his opponent's lights out.

So I know that the names and hype aren't necessarily there tonight, but Machida vs. Mousasi is a fight that is going to deliver. I've loved Mousasi for a long time, but Machida is a guy who has made me look stupid many times in the past. Still, this is definitely a case of listening to my heart and taking Mousasi by TKO.