UFC 85: Ill Will :: Las Vegas, 5/24 (R)

[Bison1997]

We're a week and half out from this one and there are some interesting fights:

LIVE MATCHES
* Champ B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk (Lightweight Title Defense)
* Keith Jardine vs. Wanderlei Silva
* Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic
* Lyoto Machida vs. Tito Ortiz
* Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes

TAPED MATCHES
* Rousimar Palhares vs. Ivan Salaverry
* Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
* Rich Clementi vs. Terry Etim
* John Koppenhaver vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
* Dong-Hyun Kim vs. Jason Tan
* Shane Carwin vs. Christian Wellisch


-- When B.J. is fired up for a match, he's probably the best there is at 155. But Sherk can go, too. Was Sherk truly on the juice last year? If so - will he come back with less, ahem, muscle mass?

-- Silva probably has to win his fight to stay in LHW Title contention. Jardine's a tough out, though. If Silva still has anything resembling the skill level he showed in Pride, he should win.

-- This is probably the end of the road for Tito in UFC. Will he mess things up for Dana White one last time on the way out and beat Machida? Can Machida not put the fans to sleep for two matches in a row? If so, he might be in line for a LHW Title shot at some point next year (if Liddell wins his next fight, I can really see him getting the Rampage/Forrest winner, probably on the NYE show).

-- Can Sokoudjou live up to the hype he had when he came in to UFC and promptly lost?


Questions, questions, questions....

[TheSlipperyOne]

I'm really looking forward to this night of fights. Some friends will be in town and we're going to a bar that is going to be packed to watch them.

Penn/Sherk should be a great fight even if the Muscle Shark is no longer roiding.

[iDiveStevieG]

Lets go Sherk!!

[Walter3000]

Worst nickname in all of Sport.

[BigGuy]

I want to see this as well.

Would like to see Serra go down in weight and fight some of these light wights after he fights Hughes.

Light wt is best devision in the UFC in my view

[xisco7]

We all know, or atleast hope, that BJ will win....and then lick the blood off his gloves.

Tito v. Machida...it could go either way.

Now, Wand v. Jardine...that's where the it's at.

Jardine's style is gay, and it will be sweet to witness Wand pump the crowd with every wild swing; because Jardine is pretty fuggin boring.

[mintone]

This is a fantastic card! I gotta find a bar to see it in.

[Robdog]

Just an FYI: This is UFC 84. UFC 85 will be June 7th

Go BJ

[mintone]

Wow what a card! There is no "R" in the title of this thread so I won't spoil it but damn got to see 9 of the fights!

[ssanchez]

Mods please put in R in the title so we can discuss the fights. I will say this Between UFC and the Galaxy vs. KC it looks like no matter what I chose i was going to miss a great sporting event and see a great sporting event.

[BigGuy]

Penn is fighting like he is from another planet now. Last fight he fought before Sherk was with Big Daddy. Stephansen is no joke and Penn ate him for breakfast.

Can't believe he beat Sherk that easy. Terrible game plan for Sherk not trying to take Penn to the ground. He wants to stand up against Penn? Penn is a stand up animal plus his Jujitsu is great.

I really believe Penn could have beat Machida if he had fought him the other night.

I would like to see Penn in with Herta.

GSP is at a great level now. Penn wants to fight him, but at 170 Penn I don't think Penn can win. GSP is too good at 170.

[ssanchez]

I thought Silva did what he needed to do and that is come out and have a decisive win over Jardine. I would guess his next bout will be agianst forrest and then if he wins that a rematch against Liddell for a match against Jackson. As for Penn he looked great but i never thought Sherk had the skills to beat Penn.

GSP vs. Penn might be good

[Jawz10]

If you consider how easily BJ beat Matt Hughes earlier in his career it really wasn't likely for Sherk to trouble BJ too much. He manhandled the best 155 wrestler ever in MMA like it was nothing for Pete's sake. Sherk as a wrestler knows if he goes to the ground he's gonna waste a lot of energy and maybe still not be able to beat Penn because of his flexibility and BJJ, so stand up wasn't a terrible game plan in my opinion. Unfortunately, like Spider Silva and GSP, BJ doesn't really have a weak point and gave Sherk a boxing clinic.

As for Penn for GSP... remember what GSP's face looked like after that match? I don't think BJ would let it go to decision again...

[FlanInTheFace]

i wonder when Penn could fight GSP.

GSP's got his fight with Fitch coming up in August. Then the Alves-Hughes fight in 2 weeks is the number one contender fight for winner of GSP/Fitch.

Huerta/Florian will most likely face Penn. so I really cant see Penn vs. GSP anytime soon

[ssanchez]

i wonder when Penn could fight GSP.

GSP's got his fight with Fitch coming up in August. Then the Alves-Hughes fight in 2 weeks is the number one contender fight for winner of GSP/Fitch.

Huerta/Florian will most likely face Penn. so I really cant see Penn vs. GSP anytime soon

Huerta Penn is really interesting.

[Robdog]

Since we are now talkin'g about the fights, what did you guys think of Thiago Silva??? I have always been impressed with this guy, now his fight on Sat wasn't guaranteed. In fact he got rocked, regained composure and busted his opponent up. Is he ready for a title fight???

[mintone]

I wouldn't say thiago is ready for a title fight yet. He needs to fight one or two of the big boys yet. Someone like Wand, Jardine, Rashad Evans etc. If he beats someone like that then yeah he might be ready.

[DoyleG]

Did anyone notice that Jardine was smiling at Silvia before thier fight?

[FlanInTheFace]

Did anyone notice that Jardine was smiling at Silvia before thier fight?

didnt catch that, i just remember jardine out cold at the end:D