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This is the UFC 100 Mega Coverage edition of the Writers' Roundtable. We've got ten questions members of our staff will be tackling pertaining to the UFC's history or some piece of the UFC 100 card throughout this three week period leading to the July 11th pay-per-view, so check them out!
Question 7: What fight at UFC 100 is most likely to deliver an upset?
Frank Hyden, Torch Contributor:
I think Alan Belcher has a good shot at beating Yoshihiro Akiyama. Belcher just beat Denis Kang, so he's got the skills to do it. Mark Coleman could possibly pull off the upset over Stephen Bonnar if he uses his wrestling to control the pace. I don't know if this would be considered an upset or not, but I think Paulo Thiago is going to beat Jon Fitch. Thiago has such a great team behind him and the guy's a terror on the ground. I think he can submit Fitch. I don't think Mir beating Lesnar would be much of an upset and I think GSP will handle Alves and Henderson will beat Bisping. The undercard stuff looks pretty even, no real upsets possible there.
Matt Pelkey, Torch Columnist:
I'd have to go with Belcher over Akiyama. Belcher is on a roll lately, and Akiyama is still widely unknown to the U.S. audience, but rest assured Akiyama is the favorite here. Call it what you want, but the "Pride Curse" theory seems to have some legs. Maybe its fighting on a different continent. Maybe its the different rules. Maybe its the cage vs. the ring. Maybe its stricter drug testing. Call it what you want, but the Pride stars haven't had as much success inside the Octagon as some predicted. Belcher's last opponent, Denis Kang, was the latest to fall victim to the curse. I'm not calling the upset here. I'm just saying of all the fights on the card, and upset here would surprise me the least. Everyone seems to think Thiago Alves has the perfect game to dethrone GSP. Not gonna happen. An Alves victory would be far more shocking to me and one for The Talent.
Jason Bent, Torch Columnist:
Bonnar vs. Coleman is likely to upset all of us. To watch Coleman fight now is as exciting as watching two old people engage in sexual intercourse. Although, if the Germans have taught us anything at all about a penchant for seemingly unnatural fetishes; there is a market somewhere for septugenarian orgy films. The same cannot be said for a 'UFC: Best of Mark Coleman 2009' DVD release.
Jamie Penick, Torch Editor-in-Chief:
The fight least likely to surprise me with an upset would be the bout between Belcher and Akiyama. Akiyama is coming in as the favorite and is making the change to the cage for the first time. He's also not looked as great in his last two fights as he had up to the bout against Kazuo Misaki. A full on kick to the head on your way up from the ground will do that to you. Belcher is also on his way up, with an extremely impressive performance against Denis Kang highlighting that if he's on his game he'll be tough for anyone to beat. There's always the possibility that any fighter wins any fight, but on this card this fight would be the least surprising.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
