Well, the Reds head to New York for a weekend series with the Mets.  To make matters worse they face two left handers this weekend, one of them being Santana.  This could be a rough weekend for the Red Legs.  I guess only time will tell. 

This season has been quite a disappointment, but I think that I might have had unrealistic expectations for the 2008 season.  With 13 potential free agents on the roster are we just in a holding pattern waiting for the future to get here.  I want to win, but I want to do it the right way and I want it to last and not just be a one or two year thing.

In the meantime, I will cheer for the team that is on the field and hold off on making any judgements for awhile.

Not a bad run for me. I missed the Starnes fight along with the Day fight, but other than that I was close to right on the money. Starnes was the only bet I missed and I more than covered with a couple other bets.

Quick Results

George St. Pierre over Matt Serra (Ref Stoppage)

Rich Franklin over Travis Lutter (TKO)

Nathan Quarry over Kablib Starnes (Decision)

Micheal Bisping over Charles McCarthy (TKO)

Mac Danzig over Mark Bocek (Submission)

Jason Day over Alan Belcher (TKO)

Demian Maia over Ed Herman (Submission)

Rich Clementi over Sam Stout (Decision)

Cain Valesquez over Brad Morris (KO)

Jonathon Goulet over Kuniyoshi Hironaka (TKO)

Here were my picks:

Georges St. Pierre (-500) vs. Matt Serra (+300)
St.Pierre proves that the first fight was a fluke and pound out Serra in the second round. Winner: GSP (Ref Stoppage)

Rich Franklin (-350) vs. Travis Lutter (+250)
A more focused and calculated Rich Franklin will impose his will and Matt Hume's gameplan in route to a unamious decision victory. Lutter will walk away from this fight bruise and battered. Winner: Franklin (Decision)

Nathan Quarry (-265) vs. Kalib Starnes (+205)
Interesting fight. Quarry doesn't look the same after neck/back surgery, but he has only fought once. I think Starnes pulls off a submission victory in this one. Winner: Starnes (Submission)


Michael Bisping (-330) vs. Charles McCarthy (+260)
I'm not real interested in this fight to be quite honest. I'm not a fan of Bisping, but I think that he will be too much for a Charles McCarthy who hasn't fought for quite some time. Winner: Bisping (TKO)

Mac Danzig (-550) vs. Mark Bocek (+350)
Danzig should put on a clinic and tap out the Canadian Bocek fairly easily. Winner: Danzig (Submission)

Jason MacDonald (-165) vs. Joe Doerksen (+135)
This one is probably going to be a snorefest. A good fight, but a boring fight. Doerksen looks to avenge a previous loss to MacDonald in this one, but comes up short. Winner: MacDonald (Decision)

Alan Belcher (-450) vs. Jason Day (+300)
Belcher is a little too well rounded for Day and proves to be too much for him. Winner: Belcher (KO)

Ed Herman (+140) vs. Demian Maia (-180)
Herman has had his struggles and I think that trend will continue here. Maia is slick on the ground and will pull off a submission victory at some point. Winner: Maia (Submission)

Rich Clementi (+120) vs. Sam Stout (-160)
Clementi is on a roll and Stout has shown poor takedown defense in the past. Clementi will weather the storm early and secure a submission victory late in the fight. Winner: Clementi (Submission)

Brad Morris (+200) vs. Cain Velasquez (-260)
Velasquez will show off his wrestling ability and "ground n pound" in this one. Winner: Velasquez (Ref Stoppage)

Kuniyoshi Hironaka (-240) vs. Jonathan Goulet (+190)
Hironaka has mad Judo skills, but Goulet is fighting in his home country. I'm gonna go out on a limb on this one and say Goulet by TKO late in the second round. Winner: Goulet (TKO)

I just now got to check out this week's episode.  Some interesting happenings this week.  Bradley gets sent home for having a rash, a form of Herpes.  Schultz comes back with that awful accent and horrible haircut. 

During the fight this week Jesse Taylor put it on Mike Dolce.  I honestly expected a better fight than we got.  I will say that Taylor needs to work on the how to apply a rear naked choke and how to get his hooks in.   The fight was painfully sloppy at times.  Taylor kind of  reminds me of his coach, Griffin, when he was on the show. 

The two Cincinnatians are both on Team Forest.  So, we won't see them fight in the first round of the competition.  Everyone seems to think that Luke is the weakest fighter left on the show.  I'm not too sure why, but I'm sure they have a reason.  I look for Luke to get a rematch with Schultz again at some point during the show.  I can't wait to see Brown fight again either.

Georges St. Pierre (-500) vs. Matt Serra (+300)
St.Pierre proves that the first fight was a fluke and pound out Serra in the second round.  Winner: GSP (Ref Stoppage)

Rich Franklin (-350) vs. Travis Lutter (+250)
A more focused and calculated Rich Franklin will impose his will and Matt Hume's gameplan in route to a unamious decision victory.  Lutter will walk away from this fight bruise and battered.  Winner:  Franklin (Decision)

Nathan Quarry (-265) vs. Kalib Starnes (+205)
Interesting fight.  Quarry doesn't look the same after neck/back surgery, but he has only fought once.  I think Starnes pulls off a submission victory in this one.  Winner:  Starnes (Submission)


Michael Bisping (-330) vs. Charles McCarthy (+260)
I'm not real interested in this fight to be quite honest.  I'm not a fan of Bisping, but I think that he will be too much for a Charles McCarthy who hasn't fought for quite some time.  Winner:  Bisping (TKO)

Mac Danzig (-550) vs. Mark Bocek (+350)
Danzig should put on a clinic and tap out the Canadian Bocek fairly easily.  Winner:  Danzig (Submission)

Jason MacDonald (-165) vs. Joe Doerksen (+135)
This one is probably going to be a snorefest.  A good fight, but a boring fight.  Doerksen looks to avenge a previous loss to MacDonald in this one, but comes up short.  Winner:  MacDonald (Decision)

Alan Belcher (-450) vs. Jason Day (+300)
Belcher is a little too well rounded for Day and proves to be too much for him.  Winner:  Belcher (KO)

Ed Herman (+140) vs. Demian Maia (-180)
Herman has had his struggles and I think that trend will continue here.  Maia is slick on the ground and will pull off a submission victory at some point.  Winner:  Maia (Submission)

Rich Clementi (+120) vs. Sam Stout (-160)
Clementi is on a roll and Stout has shown poor takedown defense in the past.  Clementi will weather the storm early and secure a submission victory late in the fight.  Winner:  Clementi (Submission)

Brad Morris (+200) vs. Cain Velasquez (-260)
Velasquez will show off his wrestling ability and "ground n pound" in this one.  Winner:  Velasquez (Ref Stoppage)

Kuniyoshi Hironaka (-240) vs. Jonathan Goulet (+190)
Hironaka has mad Judo skills, but Goulet is fighting in his home country.  I'm gonna go out on a limb on this one and say Goulet by TKO late in the second round.  Winner:  Goulet (TKO)

From MMAWeekly.com:

 Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight titleholder Rich “Ace” Franklin will look to get back to his winning ways this Saturday night when he takes on Travis Lutter. Both fighters are looking to find their way back to the top of the 185-pound weight class.

Franklin has been a mainstay in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio for many years, working with coaches like Jorge Gurgel and Neal Rowe, but for the fight with Lutter, the former champion has moved his camp to the Northwest and started training with Matt Hume.

In a recent interview with MMAWeekly Radio, Franklin divulged that after working with Hume for a short time prior to his second fight with Anderson Silva, he decided to split his camp between Cincinnati and working in Seattle with Hume. He believes the change will do nothing but positives for his overall game.

“Sometimes it takes an outside party to kind of subjectively look at how you’re training and you reevaluate things. You can look at mistakes you’re making or the complacency that you’ve developed in your training and it just gives you a fresh look at things,” said Franklin.

Working with Hume’s camp has given him a “one stop shop” for all of his MMA needs instead of working with multiple schools as he’s done for most of his career.

“The one thing that Matt does really, really well is he puts together a good game plan and he’s well rounded. It’s the first time that I’ve had a coach that basically takes care of all aspects of my fight game,” Franklin commented. “When I’m up here I have Matt Hume and Matt Hume basically runs the entire gambit. So it makes it a lot easier for me to get everything accomplished and everything’s on the same page.”

Facing adversity is something every fighter faces at some point in their career and after two losses to Anderson Silva, the Cincinnati native admits he’s learned a lot.

“Within the last year, year and a half of my life, I’ve fought Anderson (Silva) twice, and I’ve probably learned more about myself in this last year than I have in the previous 14 or 15 years of my life,” stated Franklin.

“When that happens you start re-evaluating strategies, career, all that kind of stuff, so I’ve basically taken a look at things that way. I’ll just say given the fact that I lost to Anderson the first time and was able to rebound back and just focus on the next fight, that’s the same thing I’ll do with this fight.”

Rebounding hasn’t been a problem for Franklin after tough losses. Following a trip to Japan and a loss to Lyoto Machida, he reeled off eight wins in a row, won the UFC middleweight title and defended it successfully twice. After the first loss to Silva, he returned to defeat Jason MacDonald and Yushin Okami to work his way back to a shot at the title.

Facing Travis Lutter will be a new challenge for the former high school teacher, and his opponent has not kept his game plan a secret, openly stating that he plans on taking Franklin to the ground and either pounding out a win or catching him in a submission.

“He basically knows what I’m going to do as well,” said Franklin about their respective game plans. “Travis is a smart guy, so he is smart enough to say ‘I’m going to shoot in and take him down’ and then possibly fake the shot and start throwing some punches. I can’t just completely discard his stand-up. There is enough danger there that I have to worry about that.

“The fact of the matter is that I’m not a tricky fighter either. The way that I fight, I try to impose my will on my opponent. If I can oppose my will on my opponent, it does not matter what he’s going to do, because I’ll take him out of his game plan. Somebody like Lutter, it’s the same thing with him, if he can effectively take me to the ground and take me out of my game plan, then it kind of makes things much more difficult for me to win my fight.”

Franklin’s fight is usually a brutal display of punching power that has put many opponents out and staring up at the lights to end their night. The former champion is looking for much of the same when he faces Lutter.

“Nothing tricky about what’s going to happen with me,” said Franklin. “The door’s going to shut, I’m going to walk out to the center of the ring, obviously Travis will walk out to the center of the ring as well, and I’m going to throw a few punches and, Lord willing, some of them will land.”