We have an awesome satellite radio show on Sirius 211/XM 147 Fantasy channel. I caught some conversation between regular experts Jeff Erickson and Chris Liss on Thursday as they wanted to know what the masses thought about boxing or MMA.
Instantly, Liss responded that he knew Kevin Payne would be upset on any MMA backlash, as I love MMA. He's right and wrong. I love MMA but I'm not upset. MMA is and will going forward the top dog in fighting PPV. Here's why:
The heavyweight division in boxing is horrible. It's the Klitschko brothers and nothing else. They don't lose and won't fight each other. Where is Bald Bull or Little Mac when you need them (Glass Joe was weak, no)?
There could be an interesting fight if Manny Pacquiao ever fought Floyd Mayweather, Jr.. That didn't happen for whatever reason, read the rumors. Pacman is now fighting Antonio Magarito on November 13. Yawn…
So boxing is doing great…
Let's look at MMA.
Being a married man, there are few times I can convince the wife that it's a good month to drop fifty-five bones on the HD PPV. She rolled her eyes at the news that we were ordering this PPV but nonetheless it's going to happen.
Lesnar is fighting an undefeated guy, Cain Velasquez, who appears to be good. First, Cain knows something about wrestling, being a 86-17 wrestler at Arizona State during his tenure there. Velasquez has an 8-0 MMA record, winning one decision and knocking out the seven others.
As of today, Lesnar is a -160 and Velasquez is +130 if you want to roll the dice in Vegas. I'd roll with Cain here. I think Lesnar was getting killed by Shane Carwin until he (Carwin) was gassed out as the first round ended and Cain won't make the same mistake.
Next I'd take Matt Hamill over Tito Ortiz (who has only proved recently that he can take out our biggest porn actress of our generation). But that's it; Hamill is legit.
If there are two underdogs to root for, go Brendan Schaub and Paul Taylor in my book.
Enjoy the fights!