FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Roundtables ROUNDTABLE (pt. 1 of 2): Thoughts on the UFC 119 and 120 cards with their respectively "weak" headliners? Perez, Bacior, Hobaugh, Marsh and Hansen

Jul 29, 2010 - 1:59:42 PM

What do you think about the UFC 119 and 120 cards with Mir-Nogueira II and Bisping Akiyama as their respective headliners?

ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Sadly, I don't think much of them. I think those would have been great headliners maybe last year, but right now, both cards already have a ho-hum feel to them. Mir and Nogueira are coming off of loses, and really, it seems like a wasted match-up that maybe should have been done last year. Bisping is coming off of a win, and Akiyama a loss; and though both fighters have huge international fan bases, it just seems like a very underwhelming headliner. Though, it could also be similar to UFC 115 and UFC 108, where both cards had so-so headliners (Franklin vs Liddell, Evans vs T. Silva), but the actual PPV rivaled any of the other bigger cards this year.

MIKE BACIOR, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I feel that these are both not great headliners, but Mir-Nogueira 2 actually is a fairly interesting fight. Bisping-Akiyama is not exactly stellar, and I realize British fans are probably sick of seeing Bisping headliners by now (at least I am), but it really is not a terrible fight on paper. We have seen many, many times that often the least-hyped fights provide the most entertainment.

ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH SPECIALIST

UFC 119 will not have the worst buy rate of the year, but close. UFC 120 will be underwhelming.

GRIFFIN MARSH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I personally believe that UFC 119 main event between Frank Mir and Antonio Noguiera is a bout to determine who the 4th or 5th best heavyweight in the company is. It really has little relevance on title implications but none-the-less should be an entertaining fight. Both have excellent jiu jitsu and solid striking, but I believe Minaturo is well past his prime ( Punch Drunk ) and this fight is Mir's to lose. But the fight card itself could be very exciting and offer a great night of fights. The UFC has added Rogerio Noguiera vs. Ryan Bader and Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra, to name a few, to the 119 PPV card and either could bring home the "Fight of the Night" award.

I don't think the bout between Akiyama and Bisping is a good match. Akiyama has shown the ability to take a good punch (Chris Leben!) and has a solid ground game, while Bisping has struggled in the past against fighters who take a solid punch well and against fighters who are able to put him on his back. Most likely Akiyama will walk away the winner which brings up the question "what do you do with each of the fighters now?" The rest of the card has some giants with unbeaten John Hathaway against Dong Hyun Kim and 10-0 Heavyweight Travis Browne against Cheick Kongo.

RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

We covered this pretty well on the July 11 Sunday Conversation (a worthwhile download, by the by). 119 fits the UFC's modus operandi when hitting a new market. No title fight, underwhelming main event pitting two big names, and a solid undercard, but one without much in the way of title ramifications.

Essentially they're selling water to the thirsty, knowing that the fine folks of Indianapolis are going to sell out the house for any card that they have presented to them. So really, there is no reason for the UFC to give Indianapolis a card that in Vegas would do double the gate.

As for 120, my guess is that Zuffa is coming perilously close to alienating the one good overseas market that they have at the moment, and they'd better deliver in a big way with the next overseas show. That's the ten second recap of what we discussed on the July 11 Sunday Conversation. Available now at iTunes, or blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch. I'm a company man, what can I say?


UPCOMING ROUNDTABLE QUESTIONS

• What are your early thoughts on how Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez match up in their UFC 121 showdown?

[Frank Mir art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

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