UFC Fight Night 85 Hunt vs Mir Pick and DraftKings Card

I’m going to list my picks then provide an analysis of my Draft Kings picks.  I used to try to breakdown every fight.  That took forever and I usually didn’t finish so I never posted anything.  Breaking down only 5 fights is a lot easier and gives me the time to really stress why I think the fighters are going to win or finish.  (Finishes being the most important aspect of Fantasy MMA as that’s how we win cash.)

Mark Hunt vs Frank Mir

Pick Mark Hunt KO 1^st round

Neil Magney vs Hector Lombard

Pick Magney  UD

Jake Matthews vs Johnny Case

Case UD

Dan Kelly vs Antonio Carlos Jr.

Shoeface Sub 2^nd

James Te Huna vs Steve Bosse

Te Huna KO 1^st

Bec Rawlings vs Seohee Ham

Seohee Ham UD (research)

Brendan O’Reilly vs Alan Jouban

Jouban Sub 2^nd

Richard Walsh vs Viscardi Andrade

Viscardi KO 3^rd

Damien Brown vs Alan Patrick

Patrick 1^st KO

Ross Pearson vs Chad Laprise

Ross Pearson 3^rd KO

Leslie Smith vs Rin Nakai

Leslie Smith UD

Dan Hooker Vs Mark Eddiva

Hooker UD

My Draft Kings Card

Fighter	Value
Mark Hunt	$10,300
Neil Magney	$9,800
Johnny Case	$9,700
Allan Patrick	$10,800
Ross Pearson	$9,300

Mark Hunt vs Frank Mir

Mark Hunt is a K-1 Champion high level striker and the King of the “Walk-a-Way” Knockout.  He is going against one of the most notorious Heavyweight submission specialist in the UFC, breaking two arms in the Octagon.  Both of these guys are on a cross roads, however I see Mark Hunt pulling this off.  Despite the age of 41, Mark Hunt still has his power.  Mir’s striking has been on point but against guys who weren’t known for their striking ability.  Obviously Frank Mir has the grappling advantage but when is the last time you seen Frank Mir land a takedown.  In the Big Nog fight he tripped and fell off the cage and grabbed Nog’s arm luckily.  In the Arlovski fight he got the takedown but did little damage in the guard and got stood up.  I just don’t see Frank Mir getting Mark Hunt down without eating some shots to the face and If Mark lands those shots I don’t think Frank will be able to recover.  Picking Mark here.

Neil Magney vs Hector Lombard

Hector Lombard is a fucking monster, he’s got KO power and highly level Judo.  Now that he can’t take steroids anymore I don’t know how much of that is true anymore.   I’m looking forward to seeing what Hector looks like in the weigh-ins for this fight since getting popped for steroids.  He stated some bullshit excuse that he was sick and some lady give him a Z pack (anti-biotics). The steroid issue aside, we have seen that Neil can take a punch. He weathered the storm from Erick Silva, Kevin Gasselum and Hyun Gyu Lim all heavy hitters.  That’s the key to beating Hector, weathering Showeather’s storm then using that 9 inch reach advantage to enact his gameplan. Hector gasses easily, lets see if Neil can make it out the first round.     

Jake Matthews  vs Johnny Case

Can Crusher Alert Can Crusher Alert. Jake Mathew’s wins have all came from bums.   I’ve should have stated this before I started writing but I think all of the Australian fighters are bums. I know you guys are expecting a breakdown between Case and Matthews with a more skilled based analysis but that is hard to do with Can Crusher.  They look great against them and its hard to pick out their holes in their game. What I can take from Matthews’s last loss against, James Vick, was that he tried to muscle his opponent against the cage.  For his efforts, he ate uppercuts then Vick slipped his arm underneath Matthews neck and just proceeded to get choked out instead of fighting the hands.  I think the Justin Bieber look alike had an easy road in the UFC thus far.   I gotta go with Case on this one. 

Allan Patrick vs Damien Brown

Allan Patrick is fighting some random Australian fighter Joe Silva pulled out of Tae Bo class.  Tae Bo is what Australian call Muay Thai training that’s why Australian fighters get there ass kicked.   Damien Brown is taking this fight on 7 days’ notice.  Some of you might be like “Hey Gabe didn’t Kyle Noke lose to Alex Morono on also a week notice.  Exactly that’s my point, Kyle Noke is Australian therefore a garbage fighter.  There is a theme here, don’t  put money on the Australians.

Ross Pearson vs Chad Laprise  (UPSET PICK)

So I must say I don’t understand why Vegas has Laprise as the favorite.  Even if you do MMA math, there common opponent is Francisco Trinaldo both lost to him but Chad is the one that got knocked out by him.  I think the odds makers are looking way to hard into Chad’s record. Ross has been in the UFC for long time, I haven’t seen his chin go.  Most of his loses come to mental mistakes and some of the loses are bullshit decisions but I haven’t seen a degeneration in Ross’s skill set yet.  But I will say this about Chad Laprise that he uses a lot of movement to stay allusive. He has excellent footwork.  His kryptonite seems to be guys who move forward and push the pace.  You know what Ross Pearson does, move forward and push the pace.  The “Sage Killer” Bryan Barberena showed the holes in Laprise game when he came forward and made it a brawl. If Pearson keeps Laprise in his headlights, its going to be short day for the Brit. This is the upset pick, if you know a bookie this is the fight that I would be willing to put cash down for.