After weeks and weeks of hype, the fight is finally here. We’ve done a lot of build up on our own to this fight over the last few days.

We previewed UFC 94 with MMA writers and hardcore fans.

We recapped all three of the UFC Primetime specials which documented the last few weeks of preparation for the fight.

Last night, we took a look back at their first fight which happened at UFC 58.

We’ll be back when the show starts with full play by play.

1. Clay Guida vs. Nate Diaz

Diaz was using his tremendous reach advantage to pepper Guida constantly. Guida looked out of sorts for the first two and a half minutes. Diaz was relentless. He wasn’t really hurting him badly, but it was obviously frustrating Guida. He couldn’t get inside. Diaz went for the shot and immediately dropped to his back. Guida did a great job with the wrestling staying on top of Diaz. Guida hit a big slam too and scored with elbows on the ground. It will be interesting to see how that round is scored. It was literally half Diaz’s round and half Guida’s round.

Heavy wrestling round for Guida, though Diaz had a great sweep near the end. Diaz was trying for the submission, though he wasn’t all that close.

Pretty good round. Diaz owned him again for the first half and I thought Guida was in a bit of trouble. Then, Guida was able to get a hold of him and kept him at bay for the rest of the round. This fight is all about how the judges are going to score the boxing versus the wrestling. Whatever they count more, will decide who won the first and third rounds.

Winner: Clay Guida by way of split decision

2. Dong Hyun Kim vs. Karo Parisyan

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The first Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn fight was a number one contender’s match in the welterweight division. Matt Hughes was the top dog and each guy wanted another shot. Penn beat Hughes to win the welterweight title at UFC 46, but would sign a contract with K-1, forfeiting his title. In a match to claim the vacant welterweight title that Penn forfeited, the UFC pitted Hughes and St. Pierre. Hughes beat St. Pierre by catching him an arm bar just seconds before the first round was over.

At UFC 58, St. Pierre faced a returning Penn for a shot at Hughes. The card had a USA vs. Canada theme with Rich Franklin vs. David Loiseau as the main event. The match is mostly famous because it was a true battle, but also because of the scoring. It was only a three round fight. Penn clearly won the first round while St. Pierre clearly won the third round. It’s the second round that’s debatable and two judges gave St. Pierre the round while one gave Penn the round, thus giving the fight to St. Pierre by split decision. Many people actually think Penn won the fight, including Cactus Jim who said so during our preview for UFC 94. I thought St. Pierre won the closest of decisions when I originally watched it. I’m going to watch it again and see if I come to the same conclusion.

Round One

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Here are the weights courtesy of Figure Four/Wrestling Observer:

Matt Arroyo (3-2, 171) vs. Dan Cramer (0-0, 171)

Jake O’Brien (10-2, 205) vs. Christian Wellisch (9-3, 206)

Chris Wilson (13-4, 170) vs. John Howard (10-4, 171)

Thiago Tavares (17-3, 155) vs. Manvel Gamburyan (10-4, 155)

Jon Fitch (21-3, 171) vs. Akihiro Gono (28-13-7, 171) weighing in with large Afro wig

Stephan Bonnar (14-4, 206) vs. Jon Jones (7-0, 206)

Nate Diaz (10-2, 156) vs. Clay Guida (24-6, 156)

Karo Parisyan (26-5, 170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (11-0-1, 171)

Lyoto Machida (13-0, 206) vs. Thiago Silva (13-0, 206)

Georges St. Pierre (17-2, 170) vs. B.J. Penn (13-4-1, 168) for the UFC welterweight title

The key for St. Pierre and Penn is how much larger St. Pierre looks in the actual cage. Penn says he doesn’t have to cut weight and St. Pierre is probably naturally a middleweight. Dave Meltzer noted on his post about the weigh-ins that GSP looks smaller as he gets older, sacrificing size in order to make 170.

Dana White has been saying that he believes this will be the UFC’s biggest show in their history. That’s pretty ballsy to say considering they did enormous business in November and December. But they have done everything to try to make it so. With the UFC Primetime hype machine behind it, UFC 94 is definitely a must see show. Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn are two fighters at the top of their weight classes at at the apex of their careers. It’s a one of a kind superstar fight.

I have asked MMA writers and hardcore fans for their predictions for the three top fights on Saturday night.

Here is the panel:

Bryan Alvarez – Bryan runs the Figure Four Online/Wrestling Observer website and writes and edits the Figure Four Weekly Newsletter.
Mike Coughlin – Mike writes columns for Figure Four Online/Wrestling Observer, hosts Five Star Radio MMA Show, and is raising money to fight cancer. Donate, if you want to help him.
Oliver Copp – Oliver co-hosts Tough Talk with Mike Sawyer at Figure Four Online/Wrestling Observer.
Vince Verhei – Vince co-hosts the Bryan & Vinny Show at Figure Four Online/Wrestling Observer and writes The Vinny V Sports Report.
Ed In San Antonio & Peachmachine – They host Drunkcast. ROH superstar Bryan Danielson is scheduled to be on the show tonight.
DakkonMC – Dan is a longtime wrestling and MMA fan and all around good guy.
Mike Strangis – Mike is a BJJ instructor at Heroes Martial Arts.
Josh Bennett – Josh is an all around great guy (helped me get tickets to UFC 84) who also takes BJJ at Counter Strike MMA Academy.
Stevie J – Stevie runs Angry Marks and is also a frequent contributor to Fight Game Blog.
Big D – D is the host of Big D and the Superfriends and also writes for Angry Marks and Fight Game Blog. In the latest episode of his podcast, Big D, Panic, and I (near the end of the show) talk UFC 94.
Duan Greally – Duan is a writer for Fight Game Blog.
Alan Counihan – Alan is a writer for Fight Game Blog.
Cactus Jim – Jim is a writer for Fight Game Blog.
Garrett Gonzales – That would be me, editor of Fight Game Blog.

Some have added just their picks, but others have added a little bit of commentary as well.

Clay Guida vs. Nate Diaz

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This week on The Contender we have our first Quarter Final match up as Felix takes on Troy.

Ryan is pretty beat up after his fight last week. He is taken to the hospital to get his cut attended to. He has to get stitches, and they tease that he may not be healed in time for his next fight.
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This is the last episode for this landmark UFC Primetime series. It has truly made this fight feel as special as it should. Though you can’t burn out doing these types of specials, they should definitely do it again for Lesnar/Mir in May.

GSP welcomes Rashad Evans into camp to help him finish his training. Rashad says he looks up to Georges in a lot of different ways. Evans barely looks bigger than GSP. GSP says he wants to make his training so hard so that it’s impossible that the fight will be harder than the training. Evans says Georges will beat BJ because he’s a better fighter and says he wants to see Georges knock him out. GSP says he’s either going to win the fight, or end up in the hospital. He says he may end up in the hospital anyways even if he does win.

Penn is running the rock which is a test of strength and endurance. Penn goes underneath the water completely and picks up a rock and runs with the rock on the sandy bottom. It’s crazy. Justin McCully, who is with the Penn camp, says it’s the most amazing cardio workout you can do.

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