UFC Live On Versus 2: Jones vs. Matyushenko Preview and Predictions

Ladies and Gentlemen, this Sunday night you are in for a real treat (and a FREE one at that.) This weekend Jon Jones fights Vladimir Matyushenko on the main event of a very promising second edition to the UFC's "Live on Versus" fight card series.

The main card of this Versus event looks like it will promise some great action, intense fights, and maybe some highlight reels. Lets get straight into previewing the top four fights of the night and my predictions on the winners:

 UFC LIVE: Jones Vs Matyushenko

 Aug 1st, San Diego Sports Arena, SD CA

Jon Jones

Jon "Bones" Jones has burst into the UFC, emerging as one of the Light Heavyweight divisions most talented prospects, seemingly with unlimited potential. His excellent 10 - 1 record includes breaking Brandon Vera's face,  outpointing Stephen Bonnar and submitting Jake O'Brien. The only blemish to his career so far was a DQ loss to Matt Hamill when he accidentally utilized a vertical illegal elbow (all of the fight up to the disqualification, Bones was throwing Hamill around much like a silver back gorilla might toss around an unconscious infant)

                         VS

Vladimir Matyushenko

Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko is an respected MMA veteran and has fought in the UFC several times over the duration of his career. He rides a three fight win streak into his bout with Jones, and has notable wins over Pedro Rizzo, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and has only been finished twice in the past seven years. Matyushenko is recognized as the first and only IFL Light Heavyweight champion, and his extensive wrestling background has helped him though his twenty four career wins

 Analysis: Matyushenko is a very accomplished veteran mixed martial arts fighter, with a talent for wrestling that should in no way be taken lightly. On the other hand, Jon Jones is an incredibly unorthodox striker and wrestler, whose creative gameplan including spinning back fists, unorthodox throws and sweeps are hard to prepare for, and even harder to counter. Matyushenko definitely has a good chance in this fight, as he is still a very talented fighter, but I see Jones using this fight to continue showing the UFC that he needs to be fighting better competition. Hopefully we will see some more of Bones ridiculously creative striking. (here's hoping for a spinning back fist KO)

Prediction:  Jon Jones (2rd round TKO )

Mark Munoz

  Mark "The Philippine Wrecking Machine" Munoz is a former two-time California State Wrestling Champion, sporting  a near unblemished 8 - 1 MMA record with the only lose coming from a loss to Matt Hamill. Munoz comes into this bout with a three fight win streak looking to climb further up the Middleweight ladder. Munoz won Fight of the Night honors for his last fight in which he TKO'd the dangerous Kendall Grove. Munoz is a master of the takedown  and has finished his opponent in five of his eight wins

                               VS

Yushin Okami

Yushin "Thunder" Okami is currently ranked eighth in the world in Middleweight division, holding a fantastic record of 24 - 5. Okami holds notable victories over Alan Belcher,  Mike Swick, and Evan Tanner, and a strange win over the legendary Anderson Silva through Silva's DQ. He was last beaten by current Middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen at UFC 104.  With great wrestling and kickboxing, he presents a suitable challenge for anyone in the 185 pound weight class.

 Analysis: Okami is no easy opponent, but Munoz is looking fierce at this point in his career. Munoz should have the advantage of being able to take "Thunder" down and finish him before the bell.

 

 Prediction: Mark Munoz (3nd Round TKO)

Jake Ellenberger

  

Jake Ellenberger is looking for his second win in the octagon after his mediocre record of 1 - 1 in the UFC. His overall MMA career is a respectable 22 - 5, but he dropped his UFC debut to fellow Welterweight Carlos Condit in a close split decicion, in which he took the fight on short notice. He bounced back in his next fight with a TKO victory over Mike Pyle. Ellenberger comes from a wrestling background and also utilizes effective striking and jiu-jitsu. 

                         VS

John Howard

 John "Doomsday" Howard comes into this bout with a very impressive seven fight win streak, with four of those wins coming via KO or TKO. Sporting an overall record of 14 - 4, this will be Howard's 5th fight in the octagon, and a win would no doubt send him closer to contender status. In his UFC debut Howard earned Fight of the Night honors defeating  Chris Wilson, and also earned Knock out of the Night honors when he KO'd Daniel Roberts in his last fight.

Analysis: Ellenberger is a talented prospect in the UFC, but Howard's combination of striking prowess and overall power put him in a perfect situation to put him out cold if given the smallest chance.

Prediction: John Howard (2nd round KO)  

Takanori Gomi

 

Takanori "The Fireball Kid" Gomi is one of the msot established  lightweight fighters in MMA, holding the Pride LW belt when it disbanded, and winning four All Japan Combat Wrestling championships and former Shooto Welterweight champion. He is currently coming off a loss as he produced a sub bar performance in his bout with Kenny Florian that ended in Gomi submitting to a Rear Naked Choke in the 3rd round.  This will be Gomi's second UFC fight.

VS

Tyson Griffin

Tyson Griffin is also coming into this bout off a loss, losing a recent decision to Evan Dunham. Griffin does hold notable victories over Clay Guida, Urijah Faber, and Rafael Dos Anjos. Griffin holds five Fight of the Night honors and one Submisson of the Night honor. His extensive wrestling and strength based skillset aid him greatly in his MMA fights.

Analysis: Gomi seems to have hit a bit of a rut, dropping 3 of his last 5 fights, and Florian simple outclassed him. Look for Griffin to use his strength and wrestling to at least grind out a win over "The Fireball Kid".

Prediction: Tyson Griffin (UD) 

Results to follow event

The Outlook Of Madden 11: Thoughts On The Demo

Drew Brees on cover of Madden 11

It's that time of year once again; fantasy leagues are starting their drafts, rabid fans are searching for sales of rookie jerseys, and the yearly "Favre watch" is in full effect. That's right, the NFL season is just around the corner, and it just wouldn't be the same if the new edition of Madden didn't mosey on up with it.

Coach Ryan ate Mark's last hot-dog and he's pissed

Madden 11 (due out August 10th) is the newest edition to the yearly sports game series. The demo came out a few days ago, so let's dive into how this years release is shaping up:

Online Team Play with Madden 11

One of Madden 11's new editions to the series is the "Online Team Play" option. Many of you may wonder what the difference between this and last year's "Online Co op" feature. In many ways it is just an upgraded version, but the main point is that its better then last year's mode. For starters, the human players per team increases from 2 a piece to 3 (mind blowing I know). Another interesting component is the "squad" aspect, letting players choose from 3 squads (OFF:QB,RB,WR- DEF:DL,LB,CB) so that you control only players in your squad, minimizing confusion and placing importance on each range of skill sets.

Indianapolis Colts Sideline

The graphics have improved and you can vividly tell in every aspect of the game, from the much improved sidelines and more realistic player and coach models, to the replays, in game action. The lighting has improved greatly, being more realistic then ever, and a small but fantastic detail is the clarity of the in stadium game screens.

Chris Johnson, RB of the Titans

The animations in Madden 11 are more fluid and realistic then ever. While they took out the sprint button (yes, no more turbo), they replaced it with a more natural acceleration. Mix that with the implementation of their new "locomotion" system, and running and tackling and everything in between is even more realistic. You see little to no Wide Receivers running being completely aware of the first down or out of bounds like last year, the glitchy "stuck" animations have cleared up and the AI as a whole has improved.

Madden 11 Game Flow

A new method of calling plays and running a game plan has been implemented in Madden 11, called "Game flow", supposedly making the game more immersive while wasting less time calling plays, shortening overall game time. This revolves around setting up a personalized game plan in which you pick plays you would most like to call in a number of situations and then when such a situation comes up the computer analyses the best choice for the moment (I thought Mr Madden did that all ready?). For the casual fan, this sounds like a great idea and something that they will most likely have great sucess with, for the more hardcore fan, they will probably stick to the option of a conventional playbook.

Put your headset on , the coach is talking to you!

Overall, Madden 11 looks amazing, feels great and will most likely be even better when the actual release comes out next month. And one last thing the most important improvement of the game, they took out the chain gang animations.