UFC 109 Overview and Predictions

Robbie Lawler knowks out Melvin Manhoef at Strikeforce: Miami last Saturday.

Strikeforce:  Miami could’ve been a mediocre freak-show kind of card with short stoppages and over-hyped talent were it not for two classic battles, including the card’s main event that featured a game but altogether too small Marius Zaromskis, who proved simply not tall enough or experienced enough in the cage for a surprisingly powerful and ever-improving Nick Diaz.  Diaz did get caught at one point and that’s what made the fight less than one-sided and a great exchange for one round.  In the end though Diaz was simply too much for Zaromskis.  But even that fight paled in comparison to what will no doubt go down as one of the year’s best knock-outs as a one-legged and super-disciplined Robbie Lawler suddenly mugged kickboxing talent Melvin Manhoef.  Manhoef’s fall was scary and his recovery was to no one’s surprise a very slow one.  Lawler showed to be a smart counter-striker and a great survivor in that fight, which was the best fight of 2010 so far in my view.   I was off on both of those fights in my predictions and I guess it’s time to take a real close look at two things; one being the possibility that talent coming from Dream is over-hyped by some hardcore MMA fans (myself included), and two being that kickboxers need to adjust accordingly to seasoned American boxers on top of a defense to shots and ground game before embarking on a career in mixed martial arts.

UFC 109: Relentless

Anyway, the UFC’s next card is a decent one for big fans of the sport but in the next few months the UFC has some serious things happening that I cannot wait for.  Below are my predictions for UFC 109 beginning with the prelims, then the two fights that will be aired on Spike television for free, and finally the main card.  This card features some really awesome young talent in the under card and obviously some legends on its main card, but I’m watching for my man Nate Marquardt, a guy who gets better every single fight and is forcing the UFC to give him a hard to market rematch with the greatest fighter in the world, Anderson Silva.

Preliminary Card

• Lightweight bout: Phillipe Nover vs. Rob Emerson: Phillipe Nover was the victim of very bad officiating in his last fight (a TKO loss to Kyle Bradley).  He’s way above that fight and should have come out stronger regardless of the legitimacy of the official outcome.  He’d better come out stronger against Emerson who looked pretty decent in his last fight, a loss against the very talented Rafael dos Anjos, and is a flash-knockout kind of guy (remember his fight with Manny Gamburyan).  Still, I expect Nover to work harder and dominate the fight after wearing Emerson down and neutralizing his power.  Prediction:  Nover.
• Light Heavyweight bout: Brian Stann vs. Phil Davis: If these guys were bigger names we might see this on the main card.  Brian Stann is just not getting the respect he deserves.  He’s well-rounded and he’s quietly winning in the UFC lately.  Maybe he’s got it together and if he wins this fight he’s got to get the credit he deserves.  For those who don’t know who Phil Davis is, here’s the deal.  Davis is a former NCAA wrestling stand-out and is a blue-belt under master Lloyd Irvin.  Keep in mind that as a blue belt he is just getting off winning the No Gi World Jui-Jitsu Championship and did it against bigger guys.  He’s undefeated with four fights in mixed martial arts and even finished two of his opponents with punches.  This guy is going to be a very big deal.  Prediction:  Davis.
• Heavyweight bout: Tim Hague vs. Chris Tuchscherer: Interesting fight with two lower-tier UFC heavweight talents.  I’m not sure either guy has staying power but if one finishes the other in impressive fashion then I might change my mind.  Tuchscherer is extremely tough while Hague has only really been beaten once.  He lost to Todd Duffy in the fastest knockout in UFC history.  It will be interesting to see how he recovers.  Hague should be big enough to keep Tuchscherer’s game in check and his reach will help him too.  Prediction:  Hague.
• Heavyweight bout: Rolles Gracie vs. Joey Beltran: Joe Beltran is a late replacement for this fight but he’s just coming off of an absolute bloody mauling of former UFC fighter Houston Alexander.  In other words, the guy is no joke.  Rolles Gracie is the son of BJJ legend Rolls Gracie and he of course is a 2nd degree black belt in BJJ.  He’s starting his MMA career kind of late and only has three fights under him (all wins by submission in the first round).  He’s also a 3rd degree black belt in Judo so he will know how to take the fight to the ground.  One more thing, he is much larger than Beltran.  Gracie is another guy to watch and I really hope to see him on television Saturday night.  Prediction:  Gracie.

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

• Lightweight bout: Mac Danzig vs. Justin Buchholz: Mac gets on television despite three losses in a row.  He did lose to some very tough competition but I hasten to say that if he loses here he will be the first winner of The Ultimate Fighter to be cut by the UFC.  That is not gonna happen.  Buchholz is not Clay Guida or Josh Neer and he certainly isn’t Jim Miller (a super-talent who Danzig went the distance with).  Look for Danzig to tear this guy down fast and dominate thoroughly.  Prediction:  Danzig.
• Lightweight bout: Melvin Guillard vs. Ronnys Torres: Torres could get Guillard down and disappoint us all by exposing the exciting and lovable Melvin Guillard’s lack of ground game, but he’ll have to avoid taking some damage first.  Torres has fifteen fights with just one defeat, a fast knockout.  Has he learned from that?  Can he he handle Guillard’s power long enough?  Torres has not faced any talent near this level but hopefully Guillard doesn’t see this as a break from his usual marquee fights.  Torres is trained to beat guys like Guillard but I’m going with Guillard’s experience and a quick finish so we can see some of those under card battles on free television.  Prediction:  Guillard.

Main Card

• Welterweight bout: Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago: These AKA are thick as thieves and Mike Swick is stepping in for his injured teammate Josh Koshcheck, who I definitely think would’ve brought his A-game to avenge his prior loss to Thiago.  Thiago has not really impressed since that win but who knows, maybe we will see a little more of his strengths against Swick.  Swick just lost a fight on his feet and he doesn’t lose much so I’m expecting him to come out and smash Thiago.  Even if the fight goes to the ground I really can’t see Thiago having much of an answer.  He does have that off-chance of a fast submission if Swick attacks from the top but I expect Swick to enjoy standing with this guy.  Prediction:  Swick.
• Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller: Maia is an extremely talented BJJ fighter and he knows how to get the fight to the ground.  He could make that happen quickly here but Miller is durable enough that he could survive for a while.  Maia needs to be more savvy on his feet to at least give the illusion that he can avoid taking damage.  I expect Dan Miller will want to expose that Maia can’t stand with him, but I’m not sure that’s entirely true.  I think he could surprise Miller long enough to get him down and control the fight.  Maia has beaten some really tough guys in this division and he will be looking to come back strong after getting crushed by Marquardt in his last fight.  Prediction:  Maia.
• Welterweight bout: Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg: Couple of old school style fighters that you either love or hate.  I like them both a lot and I hope they manage to put on a show.  If one finishes the other quickly then this fight might actually mean something but I expect this to be a close duel between two warriors past their prime.  Serra is the most likely to evolve with the sport and I actually felt the decision in his fight with Matt Hughes could have gone either way.  Serra can finish a fight on his back and he can do it standing up as well.  If the fight doesn’t go to one of those positions then it should be in the other.  I expect Serra to lay out a solid game plan and maybe even finish Trigg.  Prediction:  Serra.
• Middleweight bout: Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen: Sonnen is resourceful and durable.  He tends to keep enough control of his fights to win, whether he control it with his strength or whether he control it by simply keeping busy with his strikes.  His conditioning is extremely underrated.  However, Sonnen is walking into as powerful and as intense a fighter as there is in this division.  Marquardt could possibly underestimate Sonnen, but even then his power and experience should get him through it.  I don’t see Marquardt overlooking him.  He will come out strong and make one statement:  Nate Marquardt is more deserving of a title shot than Vitor Belfort.  Prediction:  Marquardt.
• Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman: I don’t like this as a main event because it actually cheapens the legitimacy of Couture’s recent accomplishments.  Coleman has hardly fought anyone near the caliber of the guys Couture has fought.  Coleman needs to get Couture on his back and stay there, and that simply won’t happen.  Couture will force Coleman against the cage and wear him down.  After he’s done with that he’ll finish the old man with strikes.  Prediction:  Couture.

Predictions Record:  66-28 total, 4-2 for Strikeforce:  Miami

Predictions Percentage:  70.2%

Strikeforce: Miami Overview with Predictions

Strikeforce: Miami

It’s been a while since I posted anything but since I have there has been some interesting news in mixed martial arts.  Firstly, Brock Lesnar is coming back in the summer to fight one of the top UFC heavyweights but that’s pretty obvious news that everyone talked about a week ago.  In the past I’ve been pushing to see Gray Maynard get a shot at BJ Penn because I can’t stand it when the most “exciting” fighter gets a shot over a less exciting but tougher fighter, and Gray Maynard is almost always the less exciting fighter.  In his fight with Nate Diaz, which I felt he clearly won, he managed to not only show that his stand-up has weaknesses but that he can and will let a fighter get into his head.  If an overrated loudmouth like Nate Diaz can get into your head Maynard will be a mess in a fight with Penn.  He simply doesn’t belong there and I’m not sure he will for some time.  That’s not to say he won’t get a shot soon, one more win against a top guy and he has to, but I still can’t picture Maynard shouting “I want to fight BJ Penn!”, and that is the difference between a challenger like Maynard and a challenger like Kenny Florian.  Florian wanted that fight and deserved it.  Maynard doesn’t want it and he only deserves it because he’s there.  Edgar is a more exciting fight for Penn but it should be an easy night for the lightweight champion.   Anyway, Strikeforce has patched together another exciting card for this Saturday night and my predictions are below.  Note that I’ve limited my picks to just calling the winner and I’ve provided my record after the picks.

Main Card

• Welterweight bout: Jay Hieron vs. Joe Riggs: It’s always disappointing that some promotions do not intend to show any undercard fights as filler if the main card fights go faster than their scheduled length.  It’s also disappointing when a great match-up like this won’t likely be seen on television at all.  That happened to Jay Hieron before but I think this is going to appear on the EAS live stream, which is something I guess.  Anyway, Riggs has seen his best fighting at 170lbs but he’s also likely seen the best fighting of his career already pass him by.  Actually, it’s been a while since we’ve seen either of these two guys fight anyone at this level.  Hieron has battered people since his reign as IFL welterweight champ, but Riggs comes in pretty hot too.  Still, Hieron is too intense right now and despite a lackluster performance against Jesse Taylor in his last bout, he will very likely take a veteran like Riggs seriously enough.  Look for Hieron to control the pace with his strength and consistently batter Riggs wherever the fight goes.  My prediction:  Hieron.
• Middleweight bout: Melvin Manhoef vs. Robbie Lawler: What a match-up this will be.  Lawler should fight smart here and use some of that wrestling pedigree.  If he can employ some ground-and-pound here he can win but not quickly.  He needs to set the pace early and control Manhoef from the top, wear him out, and then look to finish.  Earlier in his career Lawler demonstrated some ability to submit opponents and Manhoef has been especially vulnerable to that in his mixed martial arts career.  That’s what Lawler needs to do here but something tells me Lawler might think he can trade with Manhoef, and if even for just a few minutes that could prove to be a very bad choice.  Manhoef’s stand-up is incredibly dangerous.  My prediction:  Manhoef.
• Heavyweight bout: Herschel Walker vs. Greg Nagy: No matter how you cut, this is a freak show fight but I admire Walker in his interviews leading up to it.  He’s a classy guy and this will probably be better for the sport when a different person could make it much worse for the sport.  However, I hope he doesn’t get too confident after beating up on a hand-picked opponent like this.  Walker is no doubt getting some great training and he was a world class athlete.  I doubt we can say the same for Greg Nagy, a fighter I literally know nothing about other than he is an inexperienced and small heavyweight.  My prediction:  Walker.
• Heavyweight bout: Bobby Lashley vs. Wes Sims: Another at least quasi-freak show fight.  Lashley and Sims isn’t quite the mismatch some people are making it out to be.  Then again if you saw Sims on The Ultimate Fighter 10, you know he is a veteran way past his prime, which was only a prime that pitted him as fodder for Frank Mir years ago when the UFC’s heavyweight division lacked the talent it has now.  Lashley is very big and strong and that alone should get him a win here.  I’m glad to see him easing his way into mixed martial arts, after all we cannot forget that this was a guy who couldn’t finish Jason Guida.  My prediction:  Lashley.
• Women’s Lightweight Championship bout: Cristiane Santos vs. Marloes Coenen: I like this match-up but Coenen hasn’t really displayed the ability to defend against Santos’ very substantial ground attack.  Santos should also be able to outperform Coenen on her feet, but it would be a riskier strategy.  I’m looking for Santos to tear Coenen to the ground and do everything she can to beat her in the first round, but she will be ready to settle in for the rest of the fight if she can’t.  Santos is an exciting and incredibly talented fighter that will transcend the idea that a poster girl is needed to cement the legitimacy of women’s mixed martial arts.  My prediction:  Santos.
• Welterweight Championship bout: Nick Diaz vs. Marius Žaromskis: Nick Diaz’s stand-up is smooth, fast, and technically some of the best boxing in mixed martial arts.  The problem is, he lacks the power to knock out a guy like Marius and the longer he stands with who I see as, along with maybe Dan Hardy and Paul Daley, the most dangerous stand-up fighter in the world at this weight class, the riskier the fight gets for Diaz.  Diaz absolutely needs to take this fight to the ground as soon as possible and if he does so and keeps it there he might expose Marius’s lack of ground game.  On the other hand, top ground-and-pounders and wrestlers in this division have tried and failed to keep him down long and he has proved evasive on his back.  Those same opponents were then quickly dispatched with the best head kicks since Crocop’s hey day.  Diaz better stick and move and be about two or three steps ahead of this this guy at all times if he doesn’t take him down.  If not, he’d better duck and stay down, hoping for illegal blows.  My prediction:  Zaromskis.

Predictions Record:  62-26 total, 10-0 for The Ultimate Fight Night 20.

Predictions Percentage:  70.4%

This Film is Not Yet Rated is a Documentary that had Impact

This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006)

Kirby Dick is certainly preaching to the quire when I viewed his documentary that attempts to skewer the MPAA. It’s certainly not a bold attack but it obviously has its merits. Kirby makes the assertion that the MPAA has several double standards. Primarily with regards to violent content versus sexual content and nudity, heterosexual content versus homosexual content, and content in big business Hollywood versus independent films. These are key points in Dick’s anti-MPAA film and I was glad to see a film point this out and gain some mainstream attention for doing so. But these contentions were only contemplated for about twenty minutes in this film, so Kirby Dick took it in another direction. He wanted to find out who exactly these “raters” are, and I really just didn’t care.

The MPAA and any centralization of power that has control of our freedom of speech should be abolished and that is an issue for the most part not tackled here in This Film is Not Yet Rated. Keep in mind; I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a rating system. I’m just saying there should not be one that partakes in an overall system that deters films that typically get NC-17 ratings from being made at all. Currently, the incentive to make a film like The Dreamers as opposed to a film like Rambo 4 just isn’t there and the incentives should be the same. Why shouldn’t I be able to go to the theatre up the street to watch an un-butchered Todd Solondz film rather than drive into Kendall Square to see the version he intended? It may not be a top priority for a lot people but it is for me, as it is both impeding on the spirit of the first amendment as well as preventing me from enjoying what is likely to be a very thoughtful and pure film untouched by the far dirtier hands of corporatism.

The private investigators hired by Dick to learn more about the MPAA.

Dick’s motives are there to express the same sentiments but by hiring a private investigator to stalk these raters is really sort of missing the point. Not to mention those scenes were not nearly as entertaining or as interesting as the interviews with filmmakers and insights about the MPAA as a whole. The filmmakers we see here include Darren Aronofsky, whose film Requiem for a Dream needed to be cut down for sexual content to get an R-rating, and with that rating the ability to make more money. That R-rated version saw very limited release on video and Aronofsky’s film was released unrated in theatres and therefore it had a limited release. It was one of the best films of 2000 and had it been released with a profit-worthy adult rating it would’ve likely been a success. Other filmmakers that suffered similar issues with the MPAA and appeared in this film include Wayne Kramer (The Cooler), Atom Egoyan (Where the Truth Lies), Matt Stone (Team America, South Park), Kevin Smith (Clerks), Mary Harron (American Psycho), John Waters (Pink Flamingos) and many others.

Director Kirby Dick

All in all though, it almost seemed as if there was more to say about these filmmakers scenarios. Why didn’t Dick focus on that? Why didn’t he aggressively interview some people at the MPAA? Why didn’t he challenge the other side more? Even in the ironic scene where Dick finds out his film that challenges the ineffective existence of an NC-17 rating actually gets that very rating, he really seems far too docile. I was outraged while watching that part but Dick is certainly more reserved, maybe he likes the irony and intended to obtain it. It did cap off the documentary and prove Dick’s point quite efficiently though. If Dick went off on the Hollywood film industry’s favoring of money over taste and constructed his arguments beyond the MPAA instead of the private investigator scenes, this would’ve worked great. But he didn’t do that. He didn’t even point out the issues between films outside of NC-17 and R-ratings. I’ve seen some films get PG-13 ratings that are designed for kids and in no way deserve anything higher than PG, which I think is even more crucial considering the audience is children. Then of course there is that struggle for films to tone down their R-rated content to get a PG-13 and reap the benefits of a wider audience which really just exposes how art is by absolutely not means the priority. What about those films?

I know I spent a lot of time ripping this film but that is only because I care so much about this subject. Kirby Dick put together an overall flawed but funny, and at times witty little film that contains a premise of great meaning to motion picture as an art.  Over the years since its release things have changed and I hope will continue to do so.

My rating is 4 out of 5 stars.

One of the Most Important Films of 2007

Lust, Caution (2007)

Lust, Caution is an Ang Lee film based on a novel of the same name, which is in turn based on a short story called The Spyring. The story takes place in Hong Kong and in Shanghai during the late 1930s and early 1940s. This of course was when imperial Japan occupied much of northeastern China. Shanghai was ruled by traitor Wang Jingwei’s collaborationist KMT puppet state. It is a story about a group of students who plan to assassinate a prestigious collaborator named Mr. Yee, played brilliantly by Tony Leung. The plot of the assassination is centered around using the attractive “Mrs. Mak” (Tang Wei) to entice him. Mrs. Mak is actually the seemingly shy and unassuming student Wong Chia Chi. The film begins by focusing on her finding the resistance’s agents and her own rise among them, but it soon stays focused on her transformation to Mrs. Mak and her interactions with Mr. Yee.

Wei Tang in one of the film's hyped nude scenes.

I just recently saw the 2007 documentary Nanking which goes over the infamous massacre of 1937, arguably the most horrific two to three months in the history of humanity. I also recommend that documentary but especially as a precursor to the exciting espionage film we have here in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution. I’ve read about the Rape of Nanjing before, but watching that first really fired me up to root for the resistance in this film and helped to enhance the experience overall. Lust, Caution really does have it’s share of unpredictable moments and the way it unfolds was surprisingly compelling and uneasy, but I don’t want to give too much away. Suffice to say, there are some remarkably intense moments in this film and I am not talking about the well-publicized sex scenes.

Mr. Yee and Mrs. Mak in a seen from the film.

The sex scenes by the way only make up about ten minutes of total screen time. Altogether there are only three or four scenes that contain sexual content or nudity within this two and a half hour movie. Yet, because the film is NC-17 we seem to only be hearing about those scenes, although the film’s success has possibly encouraged similar content. I love when a film draws controversy, especially for perfectly natural reasons, but it is even better when it’s a film that is effectively telling us an important and interesting story. In fact, I’d go as far as to say the film has been denounced by some for its most beautiful moments. The sex scenes are actually among the most compelling I’ve ever seen, perhaps it was just a little too close to the bedroom for the MPAA? I would’ve given this film a heavy R rating for one pervasive murder sequence but even if you do happen to have a teenager you can control enough to keep them from seeing a movie they want to see, don’t worry about the sex scenes.

A still from one of the film's elaborate and beautiful sex scenes.

Ang Lee is incredibly versatile and lately he has created some hugely significant films. He has convinced me his films are always going to be worth watching out for. Lust, Caution has it all. It is interesting, suspenseful, shocking, sexy, and beautiful. The screenplay, the score, the cinematography, and the performances are far stronger than any other film released as an NC-17. That means a lot for us waiting to see a marketable non-pornographic adult rating in the United States.

My rating is 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

The Book of Eli is a Fun but Self-Rigteous Dystopian Thriller

The Book of Eli (2010)

By now, I’m sure every fan of the Fallout video games knows that the book Eli (Denzel Washington) is protecting is the Wasteland Survival Guide, while every Christian thinks it’s the bible.   The Book of Eli is on the surface a great action thriller, but a major bummer of a movie in terms of its view on humankind.  It’s like The Road but only it assumes humanity requires religion in order to be civilized, a point I personally despise and disagree with vehemently.  Nevertheless, if we can pretend that in this little fictional futuristic world the word of god is imperative, else we all become cannibalistic sociopaths, then the Book of Eli can be forgiven.   I on the other hand will take its fundamentally preachy storytelling into account as a stern critic. For those reasons, the movie bothered me deeply.

Gary Oldman as Carnegie

The year is 2043 and the world has been a post-apocalyptic nightmare for thirty years.  Tribes roam the wasteland raping and pillaging while Eli (Washington) “goes west” with his book in his backpack and divine intervention as his protection.  Along the way he meets sexy Mila Kunis, whose acting is just above modeling; big old mean Ray Stevenson, who naturally rules every scene he is in; Tom Waits, one of my favorite musicians who becomes a futuristic tinkerer; a blind Jennifer Beals, who, like most women here is constantly the damsel in distress; and of course the always awesome baddie Gary Oldman, who does his very best Jack Nicholson while still piecing together some seriously cool villainy.  Obviously there are major spoilers here so I’ll keep somewhat restrained, but Oldman’s character is bent on finding the bible and using it to control civilization, while Eli hears voices that tell him to bring it elsewhere, and use it for better purposes, I guess.

Eli

Other than my huge gripes with some of the film’s messages and altogether pessimistic assumptions of human individualism, I think this was a very good movie.  The action scenes are state of the art, the sound editing is not flawless but still works, the art direction and cinematography are exactly what I want to see in this kind of movie, and the soundtrack works extremely well with everything else.  The performances of Stevenson, Oldman, and of course Denzel, are all great within this kind of movie, and maybe even a little bit beyond those expectations.  Microcosmically and more specifically in terms of its dialogue, the screenplay is also worthy of some praise.  I can even say that the unlikely twists at the end were both unpredictable and effective, however the final few seconds of the movie were not only unnecessary but actually kind of silly and out of place.

Mila Kunis as Solara and Denzel Washington as Eli

It’s a good all-around package, but if there is a niche audience hoping to see bloody machete/gun fights and some good old fashion bible-thumping, then it is going to be absolutely awesome for them.  In fact, all those Church groups that got together to see The Passion of the Christ should reunite for some more gore and god.  The Book of Eli requires faith in god and belief in the bible to enjoy what it is fully.  I’m not so sure I can give it more than a mixed review altogether though, because if I’m troubled by the messages I can only begin to imagine what others more critical of the institution of religion might actually think.  I’d simply like to think it’s much more than the authority of the bible which makes us less primal than animals.

My rating is 3 out of 5 stars.

My Favorite Film of 2009

Moon (2009)

The one and only drawback of a truly great movie, like debut director Duncan Jones’ Moon, is that it is a film which unravels in a way that makes it difficult to talk about without giving away significant plot points that are better left unsaid for any viewer.  In fact, I’ll say now that while I certainly do not plan to give away key details, I still caution potential readers here that the film is likely more effective if you know absolutely nothing about it at all going in.  Duncan Jones is an English filmmaker who is young enough that we can expect many more intelligent and engaging films from him in the near future.  He is also the son of musician David Bowie, of who I am a huge fan.

Rockwell as Sam Bell

Moon is a film that stars a nearly solitary Sam Rockwell in what is actually more than just another great performance in a nearly immaculate acting career; this is Rockwell’s best work and it would be a damn shame if he was not nominated for the Oscar for best actor.  Rockwell’s character is the everyman Sam Bell and he is accompanied throughout the movie by his kindly robot friend voiced by Kevin Spacey.  There was a time when Spacey was the best actor in the business so it’s nice to see him at least voice a character in an inspired film like this.  Anyway, all these elements I knew going in and I thought I was going to watch something like 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, based on the great Tevis novel and starring Moon’s director’s daddy, the one and only thin white duke, as the earthbound alien of course.  For those who have seen Moon, you now know how little I knew going into it.

The moon has helium-3, something rare on Earth, and likely quite useful in terms of fuel alternatives.  So Sam Bell, a married man and father, was contracted by a company called Lunar Industries to oversee a very ambitious project to extract this clean fuel alternative from the dark side of the moon.  His contract of three years will end in just two weeks and he will be free to go home and see his wife Tess and his now toddler age daughter Eve.  During his time on the mostly automated lunar base, Sam has only had two forms of communication; one with GERTY, a robot assistant (Spacey), and the other is just regular recorded transmissions from his family and the company he works for.  The satellite that allows live communications to and from Earth has been down indefinitely and Lunar Industries has little interest in making it a priority to fix.  So Sam Bell has been alone for a very long time.  That is only about 10% of the story but I’ll stop there.

A view of Earth from the moon in the movie. Not a bad shot for a $5 million movie.

Moon is timeless, even visually the sets are reminiscent of older films, but it is also incredibly authentic and modern. Moon really is a film about humanity in a primal sense that just escapes words, but it is wrapped-up brilliantly in a very sound and believable science fiction setting.  In addition, the cinematography and soundtrack serve to make the whole picture more seamless and cohesive and are among the best efforts within their respective film-making trades of 2009 as well.  However, it is the screenplay that might deserve the most praise of all.  The dialogue is witty and speaks surprisingly to either the thoughtful or angry anarchist, or even just your everyday thinking independent.   These ideas are of course in stark contrast to the elements of this mystical “Lunar Industries” authoritarian entity, as they are in nature, which is once again a timeless theme in both general story-telling from Orwell to Alan Moore, and in both past and contemporary paranoia toward corporatism and big active governments.   This is a smart movie but it is also incredibly engaging even in a more superficial understanding.

GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey), is a more optimistic view on fictional artificial intelligence.

There were a lot of great movies in 2009 and it’s been a while that I can say so early on that I’ve seen most of them.  District 9 was a great movie for many different reasons and perhaps I’ll get into that in another review.  I also loved Star Trek and Drag Me to Hell, but it’s this little $5 million dollar space movie that gripped me most of all.  It is a perfect movie and I cannot recommend it enough.

My rating is 5 out of 5 stars.

Daybreakers is an Unoriginal, Overstylized, but Hilarious Trainwreck of a Movie

Daybreakers (2010)

Sam Neil is so evil in this movie that you will definitely need a diaper.

There are flashes of Daybreakers that if taken out of the context of the film as a whole would not only be interesting, but might actually make me sure I was watching at the very least an aesthetically pleasing film.  I find movies like Evil Dead 2 to be aesthetically pleasing, so it’s really not a stretch.  When I first heard about Daybreakers I thought the concept was far-fetched but now that I’ve seen it, I actually thought that was one of the film’s strengths, along with the always game consummate professional Ethan Hawke.  Hawke either thought he was in a blockbuster that was sure to transform into some kind of action vampire franchise, or he just went all out to show that even when in an irresponsible and callow film like Daybreakers, he can still get the job done.  The other cast members, including Sam Neil and Willem Dafoe, were either lifeless mannequins watching their resumes get scarred up or they just took the campiness to another level.  Sam Neil reveled in his role as the film’s villain.  He dressed evil, his tone was evil, his hair was slick and vile, his smile was sinister, and his actions were very very naughty; but yet he delivered his dialogue like senna delivers dead bacteria from your lower intestine.  Furthermore, Willem Dafoe was actually worse, probably because he got the brunt of the film’s worst lines, and despite being in all-out tongue-in-cheek mode, even a great actor like Dafoe will struggle in being sincere with lines like “we’re the folks with the crossbows!” and “fuck it, let’s have a barbecue”, among others.

Humans are being farmed for blood in Daybreakers but the vampires have the common decency to cover the human bewbies. Well, at least in this edited shot from the trailer.

Nosferatu-like starving vampires are one of the film's few bright spots.

Anyway, so Daybreakers takes place about ten years into the future.  The world has been taken over by vampires and the vampires can’t figure out a way to sustain blood for their starving population as the human population dwindles.  Oh yeah, like our whole reliance on oil!  I get it!  Listen, if you want an insight on peak oil I suggest you read about it.  The idea is original and somewhat interesting, after all I love a good vampire movie but I love a good dystopian setting even more.  However, despite a decent concept, the screenplay was bad enough that it extended to not only making dialogue unbelievable and unlikely, but also the film’s entire arc disregarded far too many details to ignore.  The action scenes were silly as well, especially when considering the action films that have come out over the last few years by comparison.  Oh, and if you’re rating this on the standard of horror films, then I guess you’ve got your funny gore, but even that did not work toward making me forgive the film’s many flaws.   Besides, the gore and fire and what not was assisted with some very obvious CGI.  One thing I can say, the starving vampires were pretty cool.

"We're the incorrigible actor folks with the uninspired lines and crossbows."

Sure to be one of the film’s most praised strengths is its visual style.  It is a dark futuristic vampire yarn that takes place in a matrix movie after all, so yeah, it looks pretty rad if you’re twelve.  Saying that the film’s visual style is unoriginal is itself a tired and hackneyed point hardly even worth making.  The music is techno metal garbage that only says one thing about the mood in each varied scene; and that’s “vampires, gore, and fire will get you fucking pumped!”.  Did I enjoy watching Daybreakers?  Of course I did, it was a fun and gory, albeit stupid, ride; but there is no way I can recommend it.

My rating is 2 out of 5 stars.

Anatomy of Hell is an Unpleasant and Ugly Movie

Anatomy of Hell (2004)

It is not often that I see a film and feel uncomfortable and disgusted. Especially when I have some understanding of the ground I’m going to cover before engaging in a Catherine Breillat film-watching experience. I actually enjoyed her film Fat Girl tremendously, and I even liked and recommend the more obviously gratuitous movie Romance. If Breillat is a voice for womenkind, then those graphic films had a more concrete bone to pick with mankind. Anatomy of Hell is a film that tries even harder to successfully offer the idea that pornography, which in some cases this film turns out to be, can in fact be made effectively by a good director, albeit the means here as opposed to pornography are intended to serve a far more worthy end. Breillat is a filmmaker with merit but this particular film’s message, if it exists at all, is so abstract that it gets completely lost and suddenly the accusations that Breillat is intentionally trying to offend us creep up from the dark again to spoil her valiant crusade against the crimes of man. It is a shame because I really cherish the idea that a filmmaker of Breillat’s boldness can and does exist.

Italian pornstar Rocco Siffredi in a still from the movie.

Anatomy of Hell, or Anatomie de l’enfer, is actually adapted from Breillat’s novel Pornocratie. It follows an unnamed and troubled woman (Amira Casar) who meets an unnamed homosexual man (Rocco Siffredi) under some pretty dire circumstances. After their initial encounter she makes a strange request that the man watch over her for four days. During this time the conversations get very obscure, probably a bit pretentious, and of course the dialogue seems to me completely unlikely to come from anyone’s mouth. I will admit my French is not good enough to follow these scenes without subtitles so perhaps the conversations went over my head due to poor translation, but I doubt it.

Amira Casar

I guess the point of the film was not completely over my head. Breillat clearly wants us to look into the rawness of a woman no matter how ugly and unpleasant it has the potential to be. However, in my view, she goes far beyond that for the sake of shock and I’m not so sure I’m willing to forgive that, so the film really fails for me. There are things that happen in this film that are absolutely disgusting in any right-minded person’s eyes. And that is coming from someone who gave Salò and Sweet Movie decent reviews.

My rating is 2 out of 5 stars.

Ultimate Fight Night 20 Overview and Predictions

Ultimate Fight Night 20: Maynard Vs. Diaz

Last night at WEC 46 Ben Henderson defeated Jamie Varner with a dramatic submission to become the undisputed WEC lightweight champion.  I must admit I was rooting for him, if only because I recall seeing the preachy Varner on inside MMA one night and he has still left a bad taste in my mouth.  He’s still a real tough dude though and that was just one fight on last night’s WEC card that was spectacular.  Featherweight Urijah Faber seems to have begun not only his road to recovery but also his road to another title shot.  Faber’s recent losses, both to former champion Mike Brown, were mostly due to his simply not being as strong as Brown.  I kind of thought Brown had the same issue with current champ Jose Aldo, so to me Faber’s chances of winning are a little suspect but I’m flexible.  Either way, a Faber Vs. Aldo match-up is potentially a huge money maker and given last night’s gate and Faber’s poster boy status, we could see WEC’s first ever pay-per-view.

Note that I didn’t write predictions for last night’s event, and other than plain laziness and the fact that my predictions are often wrong, I have my reasons.  One is that I have Direct TV and I do not get the Versus network because it is owned by Comcast.  I used to say fuck Comcast for that and many more reasons, but now that the UFC is going to air some cards on Versus in 2010, I now say fuck Direct TV.  Versus could eventually become legitimate competition for ESPN further down the road, especially if MMA takes off the way I think it will, so Direct TV should just pay to get the station back.  Comcast does not have HDnet though, which is a problem for me and my love of Bas Rutten and some good Japanese MMA.  Verizon Fios has both but what is with its availability around Boston?  WBZ Patriots play-by-play guy Gil Santos lives right up the street from me and was doing an on-air add for Fios, and all I could think of was how he’s definitely not getting it.  The other reason I didn’t write predictions is simply because I have seen some of these fighters and I don’t want rely on snippets and internet data.  So sorry for that, maybe next time.  Anyway, UFC Fight Night:  Maynard vs. Diaz is tonight, and my predictions for that are below.

Preliminary Card

• Welterweight bout: Rick Story vs. Jesse Lennox: Rick Story’s only recent loss is to undefeated John Hathaway but he also beat up on a very tough Brian Foster and holds a win against fellow up-and-comer Jake Ellenberger.  I think Story’s wrestling and versatility might be a little too much for former WEC welterweighter Lennox.   My prediction is Story by submission in the second round.
• Lightweight bout: Thiago Tavares vs. Nik Lentz: Lentz is exciting and Tavares is young enough and experienced enough that he still might show he can be legitimate competition at 155.  We will see I suppose but I like this match-up for Tavares.  Thiago has some improvements he needs to make and this fight might afford him the ability to both apply new lessons and gain some more confidence.  He’s a great talent and I think he’s going to start showing that more and more.  My prediction is Tavares by submission in the first round.
• Welterweight bout: Mike Guymon vs. Rory MacDonald: Both guys are making their debut and both guys are likely hungry to continue to win, especially on the big stage.  MacDonald is undefeated, only twenty years old, and seems to have a wide arsenal of strikes and submissions.  MacDonald could be a very big deal in the future and he’ll start that now.  My prediction is MacDonald by KO in the first round.
• Lightweight bout: Kyle Bradley vs. Rafael dos Anjos: Dos Anjos is one of those Brazilian fighters that just looks like you would need to shoot him in the head to finish him in a fight.  That’s basically what Jeremy Stephens did with his uppercut in their fight, but truth be told dos Anjos was handily winning that fight until that gigantic punch.  The UFC then threw him at even stiffer competition but he adapted and went the distance with Tyson Griffin, who if he was consistently healthy would likely be in title contention right now.  Bradley was a punching bad in his last few fights before winning a very controversial stoppage against Phillippe Nover.  Bradley could hold his own here but I don’t see how he could finish off dos Anjos and dos Anjos could make this a very quick fight if he takes it to the ground.  My prediction is dos Anjos by unanimous decision.
• Middleweight bout: Gerald Harris vs. John Salter: I’ve never seen Salter fight and I don’t know anything about him.  I hate it when that happens but this guy is almost a total unknown and is a replacement for Mike Messenzio anyway.  Harris on the other hand is a former TUF guy who happens to be on a huge tear and just won the Shark Fights middleweight title.  I think he’s ready for this level and he is a tough guy not to like.  My prediction is Harris by TKO in the second round.
• Middleweight bout: Nick Catone vs. Jesse Forbes: It has been a while since we’ve seen TUF veteran Forbes but he has won a lot of fights since and is pretty much on par with Catone as it is.  The only difference is Catone has lost his last few fights.  That could mean Forbes will come in hot and keep rolling or Catone will fight as hard as he ever has to keep himself in the UFC.  Catone has faced tougher opposition in the last few years and appears to be pretty durable.  My prediction is Catone by unanimous decision.

Main Card

• Middleweight bout: Tom Lawlor vs. Aaron Simpson: Both fighters are basically undefeated but they are also relatively inexperienced.  I like Simpson, he appears to be getting better and better and seems to be very explosive.  Lawlor is kind of a wild card because of the kind of fighters he’s faced but he too can evidently pull off some fast finishes as he did against CB Dalloway.  My prediction is Simpson by TKO in the second round.
• Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Jay Silva: Before watching Leben in his last fight I would’ve considered this a huge mismatch but Leben was thoroughly beaten by wrestler Jake Rosholt, someone I think should still be fighting in the UFC for sure.  Leben just didn’t have that fearless killer gaze he gets while wielding his right hand like a battle-axe.  He looked beaten right from the get go and it was his first fight back from suspension against a very physically strong guy.  Still, Leben is a guy that looks different in every fight and he looked like a slightly more evolved fighter against Michael Bisping.  I’m betting we see him showcase that power once again, if only because he can against a guy like Jay Silva.  My prediction is Chris Leben by KO in the first round.
• Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs. Brad Blackburn: This could be fight of the night.  Amir is given both a gutsy guy in Bad Brad and also a guy with a ton of experience.  It also just happens that Blackburn is finding the most success in his career right in the UFC.  He is a hot fighter and he can be very explosive (he finished off Jay Hieron with punches).  Sadollah is hard to finish off but also extremely resourceful in the clinch.  This is a guaranteed barn-burner.  My prediction is Sadollah by submission in the third round.
• Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero vs. Evan Dunham: These are two guys destined for success down the road.  Escudero surprised everyone with his KO of Cole Miller and Dunham quietly stopped veteran Marcus Aurelio’s UFC return.  Dunham has shown to be extremely effective with his ground defense while absolutely nasty on his feet.  Escudero is unquestionably a wizard from the top but just recently added some serious striking to his game as well.  However, if he comes in thinking he can stand with Dunham he might be in trouble, but Efrain gets better and better with each fight and he’s by no means a stupid fighter.  He’ll look to take Dunham down and stay very busy from the top.  Still, Dunham’s physical strength here might be a major factor while dealing with Escudero from his back, as should his Jui-Jitsu.  Either way, in five years from now I could see these two in a rematch, but instead with a title on the line.  I’m going with the underdog this time.  My prediction is Dunham by unanimous decision.
• Lightweight bout: Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz: Nate Diaz has fought some very tough guys and lost a few recent decisions.  He even got banged up on his feet pretty bad before finishing off Melvin Guillard in his last fight.  He’s still young and definitely has talent but you have to wonder if he’s smart enough to pick up on his weaknesses and in this particularly fight whether or not he is strong enough to handle “the bully”.  I think Maynard is a beast and even though no one wants to see him fight Penn, he deserves a title shot already.  He seems to possess a significant strength advantage here and might even have better stand-up.  Maynard wants to finish a fight because that might be what he really needs to do to get that title shot, but he’s against a Diaz here and I can’t see the fight ending by any kind of stoppage.  Even so, I still see Maynard having an easy night.  My prediction is Maynard by unanimous decision.

UFC 108 and Dynamite!! 2009 Overview with Predictions

Dynamite!! 2009

For those who didn't see Strikeforce Evolution, Cung Le dominated his fight with Scott Smith until Smith knocked him out in the third round.

On the heels of Strikeforce’s third consecutive entertaining card, this upcoming New Year’s weekend is a pretty exciting one for hardcore mixed martial arts fans, but the casual fans might feel a little cheated, primarily due to the UFC’s injury scarred 108 card.  Dana White was recently asked if he would consider lowering the price of the upcoming pay per view, something he declined of course.  This card was going to shape up to be one of the best cards on paper of the year but more than half a dozen injuries has changed it entirely.  Since we found out Rampage would be off playing B.A. Baracus in A-Team, the card’s main event has featured Rashad Evans versus Thiago Silva instead, which for me is an incredibly appealing fight.  In addition, I’m not so sure the rest of the card is necessarily worse than every other UFC card this year either.  I’m actually kind of excited, the card just doesn’t have huge title implications and doesn’t feature big mainstream accessible names.  That’s alright though because we should get plenty of unnecessary fan favorite match-ups (well, at least as far as Japanese fans are concerned) over in Tokyo this New Year’s eve.  Dynamite!! 2009 may not have Fedor, or even Tim Sylvia versus Hong Man Choi, but it will feature a huge card that not only brings together it’s usual K-1 and MMA match-ups but it also features Sengoku fighters.  In fact, its greatest appeal is that this card has Sengoku champions fighting DREAM champions, which to Japanese fans might be something akin to UFC ,or at least WEC champions, fighting Strikeforce champions.  In other words, it will pack a stadium with 35,000 Japanese fans and if you can’t find a reason to celebrate this great sport on the first weekend of 2010, then you can sure bet the Japanese will.  With that said, I have both cards below with brief overviews and predictions, excluding Dynamite!! 2009’s K-1 fights.  I love K-1, I just don’t understand the match-ups sometimes, nor can I consider myself as much a student of the sport.

UFC 108: Evans Vs. Silva

Preliminary Card

• Welterweight bout: Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann: This fight will be featured on Spike for free an hour before the big event and should be a good one.  Kampmann has suffered some bad beatings in two of his last four fights but his loss against Nate Marquadt was forgivable if only because he seemed so small and dropped to welterweight right after the fight.  Too bad it happened again when he fought Paul Daley in his last fight at 170lbs.  So it’s gut check time for Kampmann, who certainly appears to be a very well-rounded fighter, but on paper should have more advantages on his feet than we’ve actually seen.  Volkmann was very game in his UFC debut, and only defeat, a little more than a month ago against Paulo Thiago, but this is once again a different class for him.  Kampmann should come out strong, keep elusive with his strikes, and conserve his energy if it goes to the ground.  He’s simply a more polished fighter but it won’t be easy.  My prediction is Kampmann by unanimous decision.
• Lightweight bout: Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon: I don’t like this match-up for Dan Lauzon.  He’s fought a lot of guys I know very little about since he was roughed up in the UFC, but he does certainly show flashes of being a very good mixed martial artist.  I still can’t believe how young he is.  Cole Miller on the other hand was completely outclassed in his last fight with Efrain Escudero.  However, Miller has beaten guys like Jorge Gurgel and even Leonard Garcia, so he may be the more accomplished fighter.  I’d be excited to see a new level from Dan Lauzon but I don’t see him being ready for this fight. This will also be featured on Spike before the pay per view event. My prediction is Cole Miller by Submission is the second round.
• Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Steve Cantwell: I like this match-up but it is a hard one to call.  Cantwell is a young fighter who has lost twice in a row where Matyushenko is a journeyman who has only lost to really tough competition, while beating some pretty tough guys along the way, especially now that he is fighting at 205lbs.  He’s more accomplished than most would think but he is also 38 years old.  Matyushenko doesn’t win pretty or fast but he shouldn’t need to.  We won’t likely see Cantwell again in the UFC for quite sometime unless either he displays vast improvements or Matyushenko finally shows his age.  My prediction is Matyushenko by unanimous decision.
• Middleweight bout: Mark Munoz vs. Ryan Jensen: There are virtually no implications with this fight but it might turn into a great flashy finish that the UFC can squeak into the broadcast for some excitement.  Then again it might just be two guys who don’t like losing just rolling on the ground.  I actually like Munoz at middleweight, you know, because nobody wants to see him get kicked in the head again like he did in his last light heavyweight fight with Matt Hamill.  Even though Jensen has faced slightly better competition overall, I can’t see Munoz fighting too stupid here and he should be the stronger guy.  My prediction is Munoz by unanimous decision.
• Welterweight bout: Mike Pyle vs. Jake Ellenberger: Mike Pyle has fast submissions and takes some serious risks at times.  He can be a very exciting fighter.  Jake Ellenberger has fought everywhere (IFL, M-1, Bellator) and is a guy that I think completely bullied Carlos Condit in his UFC debut during the first round, only to fade slightly afterwards.  He’s got explosive power and is another risky fighter that can bring some excitement.  This could be a brawl but Pyle is not only fast with his submissions in the heat of a good fight but he’s also very durable.  My prediction is Mike Pyle by submission in the second round.
• Lightweight bout: Rafaello Oliveira vs. John Gunderson: Oliveira got kind of bullied after the first round by Nik Lentz in his last fight and hasn’t faced really top competition in his career.  He almost had to fight Sean Sherk and surely would’ve been fodder.  Instead he fights another nearly nameless veteran in Lion’s Den fighter John Gunderson.  Gunderson currently trains with Xtreme Couture and has a lot more experience.  He seems hungry enough to put together a brief run in the UFC but it is hard to tell.  My prediction is Oliveira by split decision.

Main Card

• Lightweight bout: Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout: Joe Lauzon hasn’t fought in a while but has shown to be very well-rounded in his UFC career.  These are two exciting fighters with some names on there list of wins but Stout might be in over his head.  Lauzon has faced enough adversity in his career to deal with Stout’s stand-up, at least long enough to either figure him out and crack him while faking with a shot or just take him down and finish him fast.  Stout better come out swinging hard and fast because he’ll get frustrated and confused with time.  My prediction is Lauzon by submission in the first round.
• Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Duane Ludwig: Nice to see Duane “Bang” Ludwig in the UFC again but he’s got one tough hombre in Jim Miller.  Miller was set to face Tyson Griffin at one point and then Sean Sherk, but Ludwig is here as a replacement to deliver what should undoubtedly be fight of the night.  Miller is fearless, well-rounded, and has something to prove.  I’m a huge Jim Miller fan.  I think he’s smart, ever-evolving, and getting physically stronger and more capable of using his power and strength to his advantage with every fight.  Not to mention, he is tough as hell.  So is Ludwig and that’s why this fight is on the main card.  My prediction is Miller by TKO in the third round.
• Heavyweight bout: Junior dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel: Veteran headcase Gilbert Yvel comes to the UFC and he’s got to face the most overlooked heavyweight in the world in the explosive Junior dos Santos.  How can you not love dos Santos, this guy was a waiter a few years ago and now he’s knocking out top twenty heavyweights on a regular basis.  The UFC deserves some praise for putting this one together because hardcore fans know this fight means something to the heavyweight division, especially if one of these guys finishes the other fast.  Junior dos Santos will keep proving he deserves to be in the title mix.  My prediction is dos Santos by KO in the second round.
• Welterweight bout: Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley: Hazelett hasn’t fought in a really long time.  Daley just got finished destroying Kampmann in his last fight and arrived big time.  He wasn’t supposed to win that fight for a lot of reasons but Kampmann came in thinking he could stand with Daley.  Hazelett will not make that mistake.  He will try to take Daley down and to say he has an advantage there is an understatement.  Hazelett had some nasty submissions and looks better with every fight.  Can Daley prevent being taken down long enough to get in some his nasty fight finishing punches?  I guess we will see but Hazelett is definitely no weakling and his significant height advantage here gives him the leverage.  This is going to be a great fight and whoever wins should win fast and get even more attention in the welterweight division.  My prediction is Hazelett by submission in the second round.
• Light Heavyweight bout: Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva: The main event is actually a really exciting fight.  Both have only lost once in their careers and it was to current light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, and both by devastating knockout.  Since then, Thiago Silva destroyed Keith Jardine, Rashad’s close friend and training partner, with punches in the first round.  Rashad’s stand-up is smart and elusive but Thiago showed he can fight that way as well in his fight with Jardine.  Silva does not want to be on his back in this fight and that threat is a whole other dimension here that he didn’t have to worry about in any of his previous fights.  Silva will be inclined to move forward and into Rashad’s trap.  Evans’ intelligence and versatility are repeatedly overlooked, and so is his striking.  Silva is not that elusive.  My prediction is Evans by TKO in the second round.

Dynamite!! 2009 (MMA card)

• DREAM vs SRC, Middleweight bout: Melvin Manhoef vs. Kazuo Misaki: I love Manhoef.  He is explosive in a way like no one else in MMA.  However, when taken to the ground, he gets exposed.  Misaki has been fighting top guys at middleweight for years and beaten many of them via submission, all the while not getting knocked out in any of his losses.  I can’t see this going to a decision either because it will go to the ground at some point and when it does look for Manhoef to get exhausted fast and then submitted.  Still, Misaki may be tough but he has to somehow survive a huge onslaught as this fight begins.  My prediction is Misaki by submission in the first round.
• DREAM vs SRC, Welterweight bout: Hayato Sakurai vs. Akihiro Gono: Gono got knocked out worse than anyone has in a very long time in his loss to Dan Hornbuckle.  I like Gono, his level of class and respect for his opponents makes you really feel for him and I was glad he came back with a solid win after that frightening knockout.  Still, they’ve thrown him to the wolves here against an angry and powerful Hayato Sakurai, one of the sports most experienced welterweights who himself is coming off of a beating from Marius Zaromskis.  Look for Sakurai to explode and shut your eyes if you don’t want to see Gono in a stretcher again.  My prediction is Sakurai by KO in the first round.
• DREAM vs SRC, Lightweight bout: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazunori Yokota: This is a good match-up and it means something.  Kawajiri had been the top lightweight in the world before Takanori Gomi exploded onto the scene by beating Kawajiri, and then B.J. Penn and Shinya Aoki came along.  Well, Kawajiri is back and not without merit.  He is a great fighter.  Yokota is an up and comer who has not lost in a while and seems to improve with every fight while every fight he gets is tougher competition.  This is obviously tough competition.  I’m ready to see Aoki and Kawajiri either fight each other or take America by storm.  My prediction is Kawajiri by unanimous decision.
• DREAM vs SRC, Featherweight bout: Hideo Tokoro vs. Jong Man Kim: This was supposed to be a lay-up for Marlon Sandro, who I think would’ve been at a distinct advantage against Hideo Tokoro.  Jong Man Kim is a solid Korean fighter, it would seem anyway, I’ve hardly seen him fight and quite frankly I’m too lazy to track some of his fights down right now (this is a long article after all).  Still, I’ve never been impressed with Tokoro and Kim is young enough to rebound from his most recent loss to Kenehara.  My prediction is Kim by submission in the second round.
• DREAM vs SRC, Featherweight bout: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Michihiro Omigawa: I really wanted to see Hatsou Hioki or Marlon Sandro on this card because I believe they are the most dynamic fighters in the featherweight division other than perhaps Urijah Faber and Jose Aldo.  Hioki was absolutely robbed in what was in my mind the worst judge’s decision of 2009, which is of course really saying something.  Anyway, Omigawa gets to fight Takaya.  Omigawa’s win against Hioki is simply not a win of any kind, he was beaten every round in that fight and his fight against Sandro was a freak show call by the judges as well.  He is 6-10 in my eyes.  Still, he’s got a lot of momentum, he isn’t nearly as bad as his record suggests, and he is by no means fighting the best this weight-class has to offer.  My prediction is Omigawa by TKO in the second round.
  
• DREAM vs SRC, Featherweight bout: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Masanori Kanehara (SRC Champion): This is a great fight.  Kid Yamamoto has a serious enough challenge in front of him that should show off some of his dynamic skills.  Kanehara is a tough fighter and always makes for some excitement but Yammamoto is going to look to come back big after underestimating American wrestler Joe Warren in his last fight.  Kanehara is durable and should barely survive in a fight where he will be outclassed. My prediction is Yammamoto by unanimous decision.
• DREAM Heavyweight bout: Gary Goodridge vs. Gegard Mousasi: I thought this fight was going to be K-1 rules and knowing these cards it very well could change by the time New Years comes along, but for now we have Gary Goodridge; who is 43 years old, has lost five MMA fights in a row, and has gone winless in his last ten K-1 fights, against Gegard Mousasi.  No matter the rules, this fight is a big mismatch.  Mousasi is at a significant size disadvantage here but he is an MMA phenom and striking is one of his many strengths.  My prediction is Mousasi by TKO in the first round.
• DREAM vs SRC, Lightweight bout: Shinya Aoki (DREAM Champion) vs. Mizuto Hirota (SRC Champion): Unlike Mousasi’s match-up, Aoki’s fight, a lightweight champion versus champion match, is a huge risk.  Aoki is on the verge of big time MMA stardom with rumors that he will fight Gilber Melendez with Strikeforce in May.  That fight will be awesome but it won’t mean as much if Aoki loses to an unknown but dangerous fighter like Hirota.  Besides being Sengoku’s lightweight champ, I only know Hirota as the guy who destroyed Mitsuhiro Ishida at Shooto in May.  He can strike and he is strong.  It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that he fend off Aoki’s takedowns enough to knock him out.  I still think the odds are stacked against him as Aoki is a world class fighter and the number two lightweight in the world.  My prediction is Aoki by submission in the second round.
• DREAM vs SRC, Heavyweight bout: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Izumi: If decorated Judan Hiroshi Izumi (who should probably cut down to 170lbs to avoid future beatings) is going to get his first MMA win, I guess a guy like Shibata, who is best known for his “professional wrestling” career and persona, is the match to have happen.  Still, despite his losing record, Shibata has not looked horrible in his last few fights.  Izumi might gas and Shibata and could just lay on him.  Then again, Izumi was fearless with his punches in first MMA fight so we may see some fireworks in the early going.  This fight would be like if Kimbo Slice fought the Ultimate Warrior to Japanese fans, so it’s pretty rad for them.  To us, it’s just two Asian dudes doing the man dance.  My prediction is Izumi by unanimous decision.
• DREAM vs SRC, Heavyweight bout: Alistair Overeem vs. Kazuyuki Fujita: For those who think Overeem is taking weak fights and avoiding a real challenge in Fedor at Strikeforce, think again!  Well, never mind, he has fought some shitty competition lately but Fujita cannot be counted among them.  For those who don’t know, Fujita is the closest anyone has really come to defeating Fedor.  He almost knocked him out cold but Fedor regained his composure and won in the end.  Still, Fujita’s power and stand-up skill is certainly not to be overlooked.  The problem is Overeem’s power and stand-up skill is on a different level.  He poses a threat to anyone on his feet.  I’d love to see Overeem underestimate one of these guys in Japan and get caught. Fujita probably has the best chance of that, but I would not bet on it.  My prediction is Overeem by KO in the first round.
• DREAM Super Hulk Grand Prix 2009 Final: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: Minowaman and Sokoudjou have left a trail of battered and bruised giants behind them and meet in the final of the super hulk tourney.  Minowaman is resourceful, durable, and has great submissions.  Sokoudjou will come out with his usual barrage of stiff punches and leg-kicks and all Minowaman has to do is survive.  He survived Hong Man’s onslaught but Sokoudjou certainly has more precision.  This is actually going to be kind of interesting but Minowaman should prove too tough in the long run.  My prediction is Minowaman by submission in the second round.
• Sengoku Raiden Championship Heavyweight bout: Satoshi Ishii vs. Hidehiko Yoshida: Don’t let Yoshida’s record fool you, he is a highly experienced Pride veteran and has beaten some very tough competition.  He’s also lost quite a bit and he’s forty.  Sounds like a decent heavyweight debut fight for Satoshi Ishii, a highly skilled Judo champion who will not likely show up like fellow Judo champ Hiroshi Izumi did in his MMA debut.  There are a lot of reasons for that logic and one is because he’s actually pretty big and has a very serious interest in the sport.  Besides that, Judo is often shat upon as a base for MMA and it may not be the best start but there could be a lot worse (Sumo anyone?).  Oh yeah, one more reason that Ishii will make an effective transition to MMA, he’s training in Florida with American Top Team and Xtreme Couture.  My prediction is Ishii by TKO in the second round.