Boy, do we have a treat for you fight fans and scoundrels for the UFC 164 Pay-Per-View, live from Milwaukee tomorrow night at 10 PM ET, with the preliminary fights beginning at 6:30 PM ET. For starters, after Wednesday night’s fights on Fox Sports 1, Vince was all, “Hey bro, you think you’re so smart with your perfect record* in picks?” and I was all, “Yeah, bro. What’s it to ya?” Then he suggested that we arm wrestle to see who is smarter, but I told him that didn’t make sense, so we both agreed to make our picks for this UFC 164 live discussion and see who ends up with the better record. The prize? The other man’s soul.
But seeing as neither of us actually has a soul, there really isn’t any prize other than bragging rights, and he already has those, because more people like him. There are, HOWEVER, some prizes for you delightful vagabonds and tramps, as our friends at Roots of Fight are hooking us up with a few free shirts to give out to you, our fight fan friends. Alliteration aside, these shirts are awesome and I’d normally keep them for me and my invisible best friends, but y’all deserve a reward.
So here’s the plan – make your picks in the comments and make sure to include how many rounds you think each fight will go (tiebreaker). I’ll count up the picks and records, and the Top 3 picks will get a special t-shirt prize from Roots of Fight, and you can check out their gear right here to get a feel. But don’t get all picky and choosy, because I’ve already picked out the three shirts. In addition, if you’re in Toronto for UFC 165, Roots of Fight will have a display at Real Sports during the week leading up to the big event on September 21.
As for tomorrow night’s card, check out our good friend Lobster Mobster’s handy dandy fight primer here, as well as my own picks and Vince Mancini’s picks after the jump, then make yours in the comments for a chance to win some sweet t-swag. I also have 20 With Leather t-shirts to get rid of, so be on your best behavior.
*Some people might argue that my record is not perfect, but they are lying.
Burnsy Prediction: Cedenblad. I don’t know what his nickname “Jycken” means, and I know that I could very easily look it up or ask someone, but I don’t feel like it. That said, I think he bounces back on his loss in his UFC debut at UFC on FUEL TV back in April, so he can then focus on changing his picture on Sherdog.
Vince Prediction: Cedenblad. Hamman looked looked like a killer before he got smoked in his last couple fights. Neither guy has fought in over a year, but I give a slight edge to the one coming off a submission loss over a guy coming off two knockouts. Plus, “Magnus” is just a much tougher name than “Jared.”
Burnsy Prediction: Iaquinta. I want to pick Couture and I guess I want him to win so he’ll be a big star in the UFC and force Dana White and Randy Couture to make up with each other, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Possibly because White might drop an anvil on Ryan’s head during the fight, causing Iaquinta to win, but probably because Iaquinta is a better fighter. It’s one or the other.
Vince Prediction: Iaquinta. Tough one to pick. Iaquinta is a dead-eyed psychopath who seems to find ways to lose, and Couture is a not-particularly-athletic-or-scary-looking dude who seems to find a way to win. I just don’t know if Couture’s wrestling is good enough to take Iaquinta down where he can beat him. Iaquinta by extraneous vowels.
Burnsy Prediction: Palelei. As I’ve mentioned previously, I am not adverse to making ridiculous decisions based on superficial factors. That said, there’s not a more fun last name to say than Palelei in the UFC. PA-LAY-LAY. Try it. It’s fun!
Vince Prediction: Krylov. I was all set to pick Palalei, because I almost never bet against islanders (as a rugby player, they terrify me and I still have nightmares). But that was before I saw Krylov’s fighter profile on Sherdog – https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Nikita-Krylov-110937. Posing in a trenchcoat? Going by “The Al Capone?” C’mon, I can’t bet against that guy.
Burnsy Prediction: Camus. Why Chico doesn’t have a promo video of him pushing a boulder up a hill is beyond me. Also, his nickname should be “The Myth,” even though I got an F on the paper I wrote about “The Myth of Sisyphus” in high school. Big f*cking deal I didn’t read it.
Vince Prediction: Camus. Again, who? I’ll take the Roufusport guy. Plus, existentialists fight like they have nothing to lose.
Burnsy Prediction: Krauss. I don’t have anything to add about the actual fight, but Krauss reminds me of sauerkraut, which I think is very gross. I almost picked against him because it’s so disgusting, but then I figured that would probably be one of the dumbest decisions I’ve ever owned up to.
Vince Prediction: Krauss. Who? I don’t know who the hell either of these guys are, so I’ll take the German who trains at Roufusport over the Korean guy traveling halfway across the world.
Burnsy Prediction: Gaudinot. I’d like to choose “None of the above” because of their haircuts. But “Goodnight” is a pretty awesome nickname. Even if he has green hair.
Vince Prediction: Gaudinot. Flyweights? Who the hell knows. More than likely it’s going to be the judges flipping a coin as it is. I’m taking Gaudinot as the underdog, because he has less Ts in his name. Can’t argue with that.
Burnsy Prediction: Tibau. Sorry, but I can’t ever get past Varner’s stripper tattoos.
Vince Prediction: Varner. Varner has been look pretty good lately, and I don’t see Tibau being able to keep up on the feet, or having good enough wrestling to take Varner down. Plus, I’ve seen Tibau fight like 12 times and don’t remember any of them. His nickname should be “Meh?”
Burnsy Prediction: Koch. I refuse to pick someone whose name is Dustin and has the nickname Diamond. He might as well come out to the Saved by the Bell theme song, wearing a pair of polka dot Zubaz.
Vince Prediction: Poirier. One of my least confident picks of the night, both these guys are awesome and well-rounded and I’ll be disappointed if this isn’t a fight of the night candidate. I’ll take Poirier coming off a decision loss over Koch coming off a big elbow TKO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az3HrIab98o), but I won’t feel good about it. Hold me.
Burnsy Prediction: Rothwell. I cannot, under any circumstance, justify picking against this man, as I’m afraid he’ll find out and come beat me up. I may talk all big and bad on the Internet, but I’m a gentle soul.
Vince Prediction: Rothwell. Who the hell ever knows which Brandon Vera is going to show up to a fight? His loss to Shogun was one of the most exciting Vera fights in a long time, but that was a year ago, and now he’s fighting a 260 pound ogre who eats cinder blocks. There’s a chance Vera kicks his thigh meat into mashed potatoes, but not a good enough one. Rothwell looks like Soda Popinski with a Wiscaansin accent.
Burnsy Prediction: Mendes. His last two fights have been like watching Mozart do whatever it was that made him famous. He wins this fight and gets his rematch against Jose Aldo. That should be a given.
Vince Prediction: Mendes. I love Guida’s attitude and the fact that his head is made of anvils, but he hasn’t shown much development in his last few fights, unless you count the ability to dance around faster. Mendes, meanwhile, runs through everyone not named Jose Aldo. AND Mendes is from Hanford. If you can survive growing up there, you can survive anything. Seriously, the tap water is yellow and it tastes like farts. You can’t even drink fountain soda in Hanford. Mendes by fart breath sub.
Burnsy Prediction: Mir. I don’t like picking against a guy whose nickname is “The Warmaster,” but I would really like to see Mir bounce back from his last two losses with a big win, but Barnett had a great run in his post-UFC years and he should be primed for his UFC return. It’s interesting that they both last lost to Daniel Cormier, in that he should taunt them about it when they all have lunch in the UFC cafeteria. That’s how it works, right?
Vince Prediction: Barnett. Two great grapplers – Barnett a catch wrestler, Mir a jiu-jitsu guy – both with decent striking skills, who both got their asses kicked by Daniel Cormier. I give Barnett the slight edge, because Mir tends to have trouble with big, smothering wrestlers. Breaking Big Nog’s arm is a huge feat, but most of Mir’s submissions are against guys he can overpower (except Lesnar, who didn’t have much submission defense when they fought), and I can’t imagine that will be the case here. Plus Barnett likes heavy metal and he retweeted me once. Go against this ironclad logic at your peril.
Burnsy Prediction: Henderson. Last time they faced (back in their WEC days), Pettis got the W. Pettis is 3-1 since then and Henderson is 7-0. I’d like to see Pettis get the W and add some sizzle to the Lightweight Division, but I think Henderson holds on and remains one of the most exciting UFC champs of recent years.
Vince Prediction: Pettis. I admit I may have been swayed by Duke Roufus’s trash talk on this one, but it’s probably a combination of that, and the fact that I just don’t like Bendo. He’s an incredible fighter and I’ve never seen anyone survive deeper chokes, but he seems like he likes to pose as much as he likes to fight. The hair flip, the toothpick, the fact that he goes by “smooth”… he has a bunch of weird idiosyncrasies, and they’re all kind of obnoxious. He kind of reminds me of Tyrese Gibson. Pettis via not pissing me off.
