Dansby's Dirt: UFC 103 Franklin vs. Belfort Predictions
The following entry was written by BSN Assistant Vice President and Kickboxer Stuart Dansby.
BSN is the official nutritional supplement provider of the UFC.
To read more of Dansby’s Dirt, go to BSNOnline.net.
UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort Predictions
This Saturday, September 19th comes UFC 103 from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas and airs live on Pay-Per-View starting at 10:00 pm eastern. This event marks the return of a former UFC champion, the test of another former UFC champion, and the potential turning point for several other top MMA fighters. Let’s take a closer look, shall we…
Rich “Ace” Franklin @ 27-4 vs. Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort @ 18-8-0
This is the main event for good reason. If you’re a recent MMA fan, you may be saying… “Vitor who?” However, if you’ve followed the sport since UFC 12 then you will know who “The Phenom” is, and why he has the nickname. At age 19 he took the UFC by storm and pretty much destroyed everyone in his path. Shortly after that he avenged a loss to Randy “The Natural” Couture and became the UFC Light Heavy Weight Champion. Then, because of some very real and deeply personal heartbreak, his career seemed to derail. The good news is that he’s back and seems ready to live up to his potential, and his nickname. This guy is super athletic and although he holds a black belt in BJJ, he is known for his super fast and accurate boxing… and add some power to that as well.
Rich Franklin on the other hand may be at a cross-roads here, as after his two devastating losses to “Spider” Silva he has decided to move up to the 205-pound division. He has had success there but his loss to Dan Henderson in January of this year left us with a question mark about his potential return to UFC championship form. The former Middleweight champ was once considered to be one of the best in all of MMA land, and that was not too long ago. A loss here simply won’t help him get a title shot at 205. The weird thing is that these guys are both supposed to be light heavyweights, yet they are fighting at a catch weight of 195?
So here’s how I see this one going down… Although both fighters sport an excellent ground game, I don’t see the majority of the fight going there. This should be a mostly stand-up contest. The longer the fight lasts, the better it will be for Rich, as he is a super cerebral fighter and usually sticks to his game plan. His conditioning is always excellent and he can outlast the vast majority of his opponents. Belfort though will try and take control early and dominate… and I think he will. Look for him to use his explosiveness and his new found life balance and fire to detonate his much anticipated return to the UFC… and look for him to be a new/old force once again in the toughest division in the UFC.
Mirko Cro Cop @ 25-6-2 vs. Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos @ 8-1
Cigano in Portuguese loosely translates to a type of person that is always moving around and never staying in one place. Junior will need to do that come Saturday night because if he stays in front of Cro Cop, he will be out boxed and out kicked. The rejuvenated and re-motivated Cro Cop is back, and although he is probably not big enough to compete for the heavyweight title at around 225, he will definitely be knocking people out for a while to come.
Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann @ 15-2 vs. Paul “Semtex” Daley @ 8-2
Who is Daley you say? As a former World Muay Thai Champion, he’s a lot more than just a last minute replacement. This kid is an extremely hungry fighter and he’s looking to make a name for himself in his UFC debut. This fight should stay in the stand-up, however, look for “The Hitman” to try and take “Semtex” down. The odd thing about that is that Martin is known for his stand-up, so if he starts going for take downs then he is either not confident that he can out strike Daley, or thinks that Daley’s ground game is just that weak. In the upset of the night I am going with Daley… mostly because Kampmann “ain’t never been hit by Semtex” before!
Josh “Kos” Koscheck @ 14-4 vs. Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg @ 19-6
And there is another return to the UFC. This is “Twinkle Toes” himself, who was last seen in an Octagon being submitted by “Rush” St. Pierre back in 2005. This one is simple; Kos is a better wrestler and a better boxer, and he dominates rather easily.
Tyson Griffin @ 13-2 vs. Hermes “Unreal” Franca @ 20-7
Although Hermes is one of my favorite fighters, I really think he’s just going to be out-muscled and out-intensilized (yes it’s a real word!) by Griffin in this one. It may not be a knock-out, as Hermes is still one of the best BJJ fighters in the UFC, but Tyson will win this one.
Thanks for reading and supporting… and be sure to check in next week, and we’ll see just how accurate my B***s8#@, uhm, I mean predications were.
Have a powerful day!
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