Nokaut's Slaven Vujic caught up with Croatian fighter Zelg Galesic to get his thoughts on UFC 81. Zelg broke down the main event between Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, as well as the Frank Mir/Brock Lesnar fight. Below is what the Cage Rage veteran had to say...
Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Sylvia may not be the most entertaining of fighters, but he certainly knows how to use his skills. His striking is unusual but really effective. He has fought some of the best strikers, such as Andrei Arlovski, and beaten them at their own game!
Nogueria is a really durable fighter with a strong chin and amazing ground skills. He has fought with all of the greats in this sport and is therefore very experienced. He has has also greatly improved his stand up game of late, although saying this,
Sylvia's reach advantage will not do him any favours.
I feel that Nogueira will have big problems taking Sylvia to ground, since he needs to step in with strikes as Sylvia sprawls effectively. Should the fight go to the ground, it will probably just be a matter of time before Sylvia to gets back up onto his feet, as I have seen him doing so against Jeff Monson, who has one of the best ground games in the business.
Prediction: Sylvia to win by Judges' Decision after 5 rounds.
Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar
Frank Mir in the past has had his great time in this sport, but since his motorbike accident, we have not seen the old Mir. In is latest fights, he has been out of shape and I wonder whether he has been given this match up with Lesnar, to make a name for Lesnar, or, to put Mir back on track? Lesnar is relatively new is in this game. He has been a sportsman all his life and is an absolute mountain of a man. In his one professional MMA fight at K-1 Dynamite, we didn't see much, so we don't know what to expect from him. I see this fight starting with Frank throwing high kicks and trying to expose Lesnar's chin, however, Lesnar is likely to take the fight to ground straight away.
If I believed for one second that Mir would come back into the shape of his life, i would immediately say Mir by submission in the second round, after the strong man Lesnar gets tired of Mir's ground attacks. Somehow, I doubt this and I think it is more likely that we will see a gassed out Mir coming into the second round, and Lesnar winning by ground and pound late in the same round.
Prediction: Lesnar TKO round 2
