UFC 96 is scheduled for this Saturday March 7 2009. Not a very exciting card except possibly for the main fight between Rampage and Jardine. It's expected that if Rampage wins he will be facing Rashad Evans for the title. Picks were harder than usual due to the lack of luster in this card (not I am very good at picking fights anyway...)

Here is the card and my picks as usual, watch and enjoy

Main Card
Light Heavyweight Quinton Jackson vs Keith Jardine - Quinton by KO (round 1)
Heavyweight Shane Carwin vs Gabriel Gonzaga - Carwin by KO (round 2)
Welterweight Matt Brown vs Pete Sell - Brown by Sub (round 2)
Light Heavyweight Matt Hamill vs Mark Munoz - Hamill by KO (round 2)
Lightweight Gray Maynard vs Jim Miller - Miller by Sub (round 1)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight Tamdan McCrory (TC's Boy) vs Ryan Madigan - McCrory by KO (round 2)
Middleweight Kendall Grove vs Jason Day - Grove by Sub (round 1)
Light Heavyweight Tim Boetsch vs Jason Brilz - Brilz by Sub (round 2)
Light Heavyweight Brandon Vera vs Mike Patt - Vera by KO (round 1)
Lightweight Aaron Riley vs Shane Nelson - Nelson by Dec

Yo, yo...I was invited to join Tamdan's "posse" at a local sports bar tomm night but actually have to work. Soon enough I'm sure I'll meet the Barncat!

I've got to go with Jackson doing some major damage on Jardine. Jardine ought just retire and move to Hollywood where he can have a career as a perpetual bad guy. Ever since Jardine beat up on Griffin, I've been mad at him.

Why is the Brandon Vera fight a prelim I wonder?

Dana White is saying the loser of the Grove/Day fight is out of the UFC. That's f**cked if it's Grove.

Interesting you mention this as for several weeks now there is been a rumor that Vera is out of the UFC if he loses too.. This is the type of stuff Dana gets away with as the UFC has a virtual monopoly on MMA.

The fights were great and the results are in:

Main Card:
Light Heavyweight Quinton Jackson vs Keith Jardine - Jackson by Dec
Heavyweight Shane Carwin vs Gabriel Gonzaga - Carwin by KO (round 1)
Welterweight Matt Brown vs Pete Sell - Brown by TKO (round 1)
Light Heavyweight Matt Hamill vs Mark Munoz - Hamill by KO (round 1)
Lightweight Gray Maynard vs Jim Miller - Maynard by Dec

Preliminary Card:
Welterweight Tamdan McCrory vs Ryan Madigan - McCrory by TKO (round 1)
Middleweight Kendall Grove vs Jason Day - Grove by KO (round 1)
Light Heavyweight Tim Boetsch vs Jason Brilz - Brilz by Dec
Light Heavyweight Brandon Vera vs Mike Patt - Vera by TKO (round 2)
Lightweight Aaron Riley vs Shane Nelson - Riley by TKO (round 1)

Seven KOs/TKOs and three decisions. People were falling left and right. Some of the most impressive were:

> Grove with straight right to the jaw. Day falls to his back and the follow-up from Grove (TKO punches)
> Vera delivers a brutal kick to the leg of Patt for which Patt doesn't recover and the referee stops the bout
> On the ground McCrory mounts Madigan and delivers a quick stream of elbows and punches forcing s stop by TKO
> Hamill wins over Munoz by a nasty head kick that knocks Munoz out cold
> Carwin drops Gonzaga with a brutal right to the chin and charges in with follow-up punches

Two important non-KO points to mention:

>The dominance and impressive performance of Gray Maynard was evident. He is defineteley someone to watch!
>The less than impressive showing of Rampage over Jardine. It was obvious that Jardine's style makes it difficult to catch but it felt like Jackson had many opportunities but he couldn't close the deal. He stills defeats Jardine by unanimous decision. Next for Rampage is a Championship opportunity against Rashad Evans at UFC98 in May

This is my best performance picking fights so far. I was able to accumulate 15 points vs. 9 points on UFC 95. Maybe I'm finally learning to letting the numbers do the picking and stripping the emotional connection to my favorite fighter from the process.