One Hour Until UFC 59

Hey there again. In one hour, UFC 59 begins. For those of you who have read my previous blogs (Yeah, I know I have no readers), you'll know that I'm a big fan of mixed martial arts. The Ultimate Fighting Championship, for what it's worth, is the biggest MMA organization in North America and 2nd only to the Pride Fighting Championships internationally. There may come a day when the UFC overtakes Pride and that day may come sooner than later with the success of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show on Spike TV.

Anyway, on to tonight's card:

Justin Levens VS Evan Tanner

Well, I've never seen Justin Levens fight, though he was undefeated up until his last match. Evan Tanner, on the other hand, holds no secrets. We know what he does well: Ground-N-Pound. He has also shown solid submission skills.

I hate to make a pick when I've never seen one of the contestants, but I'll go with what I know and pick Tanner to win by TKO stoppage in the 2nd.

David Terrell VS Scott Smith

I've seen Terrell twice. The first time he was knocking out top contender Mat Lindland with one punch. The second time he was getting the snot beat out of him by the above mentioned Evan Tanner. Experts were high on Terrell prior to his defeat to Tanner. Will he bounce back and live up to his potential?

Like Justin Levens, I've never seen Scott Smith perform. All I know is that he knocked out Levens in his last fight. He also has a TKO win over Tait Fletcher, currently one of the cast members on Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter (Season 3). His sole loss was to James Irvin, who knocked him out in February of 2004. Irvin has been on a losing streak as of late, but the man can bang.

I don't know a lot about these guys, but I'll go with the Gracie black belt Terrell. He'll win by submission early.

Nick Diaz VS Sean Sherk

Now this fight has me excited. Nick Diaz is nuts. Seriously. In his last outing, he fought Joe "Diesel" Riggs. He lost a decision. Afterwards, at the hospital, he managed to get into a 2nd fight with Riggs. Like I said. Crazy.

His instructor, Ceasar Gracie, just got knocked out by Frank Shamrock. Diaz will be looking to put some serious hurt on Sherk.

Sherk is a wrestling uberman. They call him the "Muscle Shark." And for good reason too. The man looks like a minature Hulk. But let me stress the "miniature" part. He's short as all get out. Diaz stands a good head and a half taller than him.

In his last fight, he was dominated by top contender Georges St. Pierre. No bad loss there, since Pierre has beaten everyone he's faced not named Matt Hughes.

I'll go with Diaz by submission.

Tito Ortiz VS Forrest Griffin

Former UFC posterboy, Tito Ortiz, makes his return to the octagon against The Ultimate Fighter season one winner, Forrest Griffin. This should be a good one. Most folks don't give Griffin much chance, but I think he'll do okay. I don't think he'll win, but I don't think he'll embarrass himself. Griffin is strong and won't be muscled around as easily as Tito would like. He also has a good submission game, so Tito will need to be careful even when on top.

All the same, Tito is too good of a wrestler. He'll get the takedowns and he'll control the fight.

Tito by decision.

Andrei Arlovski VS Tim Sylvia

The rematch. Sylvia says he's not underestimating Arlovski this time around. Okay. But is he overestimating himself? Last time, Arlovski dropped him with the first punch he threw, then he grabbed hold of an ankle and slapped on a heel hook that would make Ken Shamrock proud. Sylvia tapped in less than a minute.

It will go longer this time.

But not much.

Arlovski by submission. Round two.