I’m blogging from Austin, Texas, this week.
My wife Kelly and I came down with some friends for the Madonna concert on Sunday and we’re also visiting with her cousins. I had actually wanted to fly to Las Vegas for the fights on Saturday and then come to Texas afterward, but I couldn’t get a flight from Vegas to here on Sunday morning.
Anyway, this is just a short, three-day trip. Next week I’ll get back to training for my upcoming fight, which I recently found out will be against Wilson Gouveia.
The UFC called last Sunday and offered me Gouveia on the TUF 8 finale at The Palms in Las Vegas.
I’ve always enjoyed watching Gouveia, at least for one round. I think I’ve mentioned before that I think he’s one of the best fighters in the UFC through the first round but he starts to struggle after that. And since I think I get better as a fight goes on, I like this matchup.
I believe I can at least get it into the second round and then I should be in good shape. That being said, if I could finish Gouveia in the first round, I would be happy with that too. My team and I haven’t put together a solid game plan yet.
Fortunately for me when I start preparing next week, I’ll have Roger Hollett and his trainer Rob Walker, who were already coming out to Alberta to get some help from me in preparation for Roger’s MFC title fight against Emanuel Newton. Jason Day will also be up next week, so it looks like I’ll have a solid three- or four-week camp with plenty of help. And a win against Gouveia will really move me up in the division and forward in my career, so I’m looking forward to the opportunity.
Speaking of opportunities, here are my main picks for UFC 91:
Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar
I don’t think there’s any way Lesnar can beat Couture. I think size causes a lot of difficulties for the champ, as it would for any fighter. But are we too foolish to think Couture isn’t well prepared to deal with a guy that big and fast considering the giants he has brought into his camp?
In the clutch, I don’t believe Randy will let Lesnar lie on him. He knows he can’t let Lesnar do what he did to Herring and he’s crafty enough to put Brock against the fence. And if he’s able to stay off his back, he’ll win this fight. I think he can finish him at some point or beat him down going the distance (And of course, Randy’s an idol of mine, so I could never go against him).
Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson
I’m picking Florian. He just has so many tools to beat him. Stevenson is a great lightweight, but Florian’s jiu-jitsu and his standup are a little bit better. Joe may be a better wrestler, but Kenny is hard to take down.
When you get to such a high level, it’s hard to finish guys. You see a lot of fights going the distance now because the guys are so good. I don’t know if Kenny will finish him, but he’ll win.
In fact, if B.J. Penn returns to the lightweight division to defend his belt, I think Florian will be the next champion.
Nate Quarry vs. Demian Maia
I don’t think Quarry has the ground game to deal with Maia, who people say is the best No-Gi grappler. Quarry has the better standup, but I don’t think he’ll be able to keep this fight up for the whole time and if it does go to the ground, Maia will get the submission.
Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory
I like Hazelett in this one. Hazelett gets better and better with every fight. He has better standup. He lost to Koscheck but he looked good and then went on to beat Josh Burkman.
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks
I don’t know Hendricks, so I’ll pass on picking this fight, but I will pick the undercard bout involving the Canadian…
Mark Bocek vs. Alvin Robinson
I should go with the Canadian but I have no specific attachment to Bocek. And I’ve watched Robinson a lot and he’s very aggressive while Bocek always seems to be pretty passive. So I’m going with Robinson.