[bears9]

It looks to be one of the best UFC events ever, next Saturday December 29th it will be time for UFC 79 Nemesis. It can be seen live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada and on PPV starting at 10 PM Eastern.In the main event we will have two former welterweight champs fighting for the interim welterweight title. Matt Hughes (43-5-0) and Georges St. Pierre (14-2-0) will fight for the third time. The they met first in 2004 at UFC 50 fighting for a vacant welterweight title. Hughes won via submission. Hughes hadn't lost the belt he won vs. St. Pierre until they met again in 2006 at UFC 65 when St. Pierre won via TKO. Hughes' plan to win is pretty simple, we wants to to takedown St. Pierre, wrestle with him and beat the crap out of him on the ground. St. Pierre has no really strengths but is very well rounded, and will play to Hughes' weakness which would be standing up. I think Hughes will take the fight to the ground and win via submission in round 3. Then there is fight that the whole sports world is talking about, 5 years in the making, a light heavyweight bout. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell (20-5-0) will go at with new UFC signee and former PRIDE light heavyweight Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva (31-7-1). Liddell has lost two straight fights to Rampage Jackson and Keith Jardine. These maybe the two best strikers in the world, so if they keep their feet this fight live up to the hype and go the distance. But they key will do better if the fight hits the ground. I would give Wanderlei the edge because of his Jujitsu. Chuck's only ground skill is his below average wrestling. I like Wanderlei via decsion. Then one other fight to watch will be another light heavyweight bout, that will feature the first African ever to fight in the UFC. New UFC signee Rameau Sokoudjou (4-1-0) will fight MMA veteran Lyoto Machida (11-0-0). This will probably keep off the ground. Rameau wants use his great striking ability and will need to keep his feet. That won't be hard though because Lyoto will try to use one strength to his advantage and that is karate. I like Machida via decision.

[EmpireWF]

You think the Chuck/Wanderlei match will go the distance? Almost everyone I've read/heard, thinks it will end pretty early in the first between the two heavy strikers.

I'm looking forward to that fight a lot, both guys have so much on the line. The loser would have lost 3 consecutive fights, and both guys were once considered the best guys in the sport.

[bears9]

Originally Posted by EmpireWF

You think the Chuck/Wanderlei match will go the distance? Almost everyone I've read/heard, thinks it will end pretty early in the first between the two heavy strikers.

I'm looking forward to that fight a lot, both guys have so much on the line. The loser would have lost 3 consecutive fights, and both guys were once considered the best guys in the sport.

Ya I do, because odds the fight will take to the ground and I really don't either of them will be able to finish from the ground.

[EmpireWF]

Dave Meltzer has a great look at the interim title match on Saturday between Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre. One point he brings up is Matt Hughes chose St. Pierre to fight b/c he felt he wouldn't ready on short notice (Serra was injured over Thanksgiving), but as it turns out, St. Pierre was already training.

St. Pierre trained with the top wrestlers in Canada, who were peaking for their Olympic trials, two championship-level boxers, as well as bringing people like Rashad Evans and trainer Greg Jackson into his hometown of Montreal for the past few weeks.

Hughes figured St. Pierre would have been resting and taking time off from heavy training, but St. Pierre had been working with Evans to get him ready for his Nov. 17 fight with Michael Bisping, and was in the most intense wrestling training of his life.

St. Pierre said in the back of his mind he was thinking Hughes or Serra could get hurt, and he'd be called to step in, and he was actually training for competition. St. Pierre was seriously considering entering the Canadian Olympic wrestling trials, that took place Dec. 13-16 in Etobicoke, Ont.

This fight should be a goody.

New chapter in St. Pierre-Hughes thriller - MMA - Yahoo! Sports

[bears9]

I don't really think how long St. Pierre trained will matter, after and during the Ultimate Fighter Hughes seemed like a man on a mission and he wants to destroy Serra.