By: Brad Walker, MMATorch Contributor This idea came about during the 11 for '11 series, and I asked if I could do a column for it, but they were already assigned. So, Jamie Penick said, "what about a 12 for 2012?" ... I thought to myself, what heresy is this? A 12 for '12 at the beginning of the year? How could we be so bold...? Then it dawned on me that I wanted to do BOLD PREDICTIONS for the upcoming year in mixed martial arts. It also dawned on me that I was two thirds of an idiot for not realizing that Jamie's idea was actually far more intelligent than mine. So here it is: my 12 bold, insane, borderline crazy, what-the-hell-is-he-smoking predictions for the year of the presumed apocalypse, 2012.
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12.) UFC merges in the women's divisions Oh yes, I said that, loud and proud like Nostradamus on a bender. At some point Dana White has to realize whether or not HE likes it, the fans are into women's MMA. Stars are breaking out, Miesha Tate is huge right now, and Ronda Rousey has become the arm-bar assassin that we all root for even though she's only four fights into her career, while Gina Carano has become completely irrelevant to the sport. The torch is being forcefully passed, and we all know that it's not going to Cris Cyborg. The likes of Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey and Felice Herrig will be the faces of women's MMA for the years to come, and Dana White will bring them into the UFC fold.
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11.) Another former pro-wrestler will debut under the Zuffa banner Don't ask me who it will be, because I'm going to say Dave Bautista and, in turn, be dead wrong. Bobby Lashley doesn't really count in my book because of how quick he entered and exited Strikeforce, but I have my eyes on some names in the midst of WWE and TNA who have legitimate wrestling backgrounds and could make a splash. We won't be seeing another Brock Lesnar anytime soon, if ever, but we may get treated to another incredibly underrated former pro-wrestler hopping over from fake-beating-people-up to scrapping inside the cage, full contact.
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10.) Fedor will return to fight in Strikeforce (or UFC) Dana White has spent so much time, even recently (see TMZ.com) telling people how much Fedor sucks. There's only one problem with that, Fedor has beaten numerous former UFC Champions. So is Dana White in turn saying that Mark Coleman, Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski also sucked in their prime? I'm not going to sit here and say that Fedor is going to make some epic comeback to be the best again; I'm simply implying that he doesn't entirely suck. Give him a shot, let him fight someone, anyone in the heavyweight division, and let's see Dana White prove a point, or get proven wrong.
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9.) Brock Lesnar will not make a return to WWE Ok, I know technically this isn't MMA related completely, but it was just two weeks ago. Brock has had a hell of a time in the last couple years of his life, and been in some pretty bad situations. After finding out he can really beat the crap out of people, why would he want to go back to pretending to beat people up? He's made enough money in MMA and his past with WWE that monetary concerns certainly don't plague him on a daily basis. I think Brock will go home to Minnesota and work with the members of Team Deathclutch rather than putting on his black speedo and throwing other guys around in a pretend-violent fashion.
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8.) Georges St-Pierre will not be the Welterweight Champ at the end of the year And no, I don't mean he won't be the Undisputed Champion, I mean GSP won't even have a belt. I truly believe that Nick Diaz is going to steamroll his way to the top. The division isn't remarkably deep at the moment, but there are enough fighters with talent to keep it interesting. GSP being out of action while Diaz is feeling great is bad for GSP, bad for the UFC and great for the Stockton Slap. Mark my words; the end of his era is upon us.
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7.) None of the remaining Strikeforce Heavyweights will make an impact in the UFC I kind of feel bad saying this actually, because I want to believe that Daniel Cormier, Josh Barnett or "Bigfoot" Silva will have an impact, but I just don't see it happening. The one with the best chance is probably Cormier, due to his wrestling and striking abilities, but people are so die hard on "Bigfoot" coming in that it's saddening. Am I the only one who saw him get decimated by Cormier in the first round? Barnett has a longer history with steroids than Major League Baseball, so why is Dana White even going to give this guy a legitimate shot? They make take some wins, but I really don't think that they're going to be of any relevance.
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6.) Melvin Guillard will get a title shot I just took a breathalyzer test, and it is telling me that I am legally sober, take that how you will. Guillard is an exciting and explosive fighter who has potential to knock anyone in that weight division out... except for maybe Donald Cerrone, that dude has a chin made of adamantium. Melvin doesn't have the best record or the best credentials, but he does have a rumored number one contender fight coming up. He will win that, and go on to face Frankie Edgar; we all know the early flurry is not Edgar's friend, and Guillard has the ability to make that the beginning and end of the fight.
5.) Alistair Overeem will not lose a single fight this year Ok, so maybe that's not as bold as I was hoping for it to sound, but considering his next fight is against Junior dos Santos, it's not an easy prediction to make. Ok, I lied; it's a really easy prediction to make because I believe the UFC does not currently have a heavyweight who's going to beat The Reem. He balances his submissions with his knockouts and he's a dangerous as hell fighter; hell everything about this guy - except his voice - is scary. Until I see someone beat him at this point in time, I'm not going to believe that someone can.
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4.) Jon Jones (still) won't defend his title against Rashad Evans We may find out this is true in a couple of weeks when Rashad takes on Phil Davis. I'm seeing other circumstances also falling into place in my mind because I don't know if Jones will HAVE the title long enough to defend it against Rashad. As I said in my LHW stock exchange I honestly believe Dan Henderson has the power to stop Jones in his tracks and take the belt. One way or the other, this fight won't happen, at least not for the title.
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3.) Frank Mir will be the #1 contender at least twice this year Now, you're asking yourself "How is that going to happen?" Well, good readers of MMA Torch let me tell you; Frank Mir is going to fight someone, be named the number one contender, and then lose. Then get himself into another eliminator match, and win, to again become the number one contender. That makes sense in my ridiculous inner monologue, so hopefully it translated well. Frank Mir has been a perennial contender for the better part of a decade, and that won't end anytime soon. He has been looking better and better as of late, and he has stacked on the muscle weight properly. Watch it, Mir will get two title fights, or at least one before the end of the year and one at the start of 2013. If we all don't die in December, that is.
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2.) Rampage Jackson will leave the UFC And when I say that, I mean on his own accord. My prediction is that he will show up to fight in Japan, destroy Ryan Bader, and get so into it that he jumps to DREAM. Sure, when he gets to DREAM there's not exactly a whole lot of people worth fighting at 205, but he will be with the crowd that he loves. I love Rampage, not the one that fights now, but the one that fought in Pride. We're not likely to see his fire return as long as he doesn't love the American fans, so he's going to depart from the UFC in search of less money, and a better record.
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1. �And my most ludicrous, insane, ridiculous, how-can-he-say-that prediction is:
Anderson Silva will not only lose the title this year, he will not win a single fight Let's face it, "The Spider" is getting older, and with each fight you can see how much less he seems to care about taking home a decisive win. He went from running away for the last two rounds to killing people inside of three minutes. Chael Sonnen will take Anderson apart and submit him; then Vitor Belfort will add insult to injury by taking him out in a rematch. Yes, I am aware that the chances of this happening are about the same as the chances of Rich Hansen buying season tickets to the Packers, without losing a bet. The same as the chances of me putting on a Chicago Cubs jersey, and not kicking my own ass, or the same as Tim Tebow finishing an interview without the phrase "lots of Prayer." These predictions were meant to be mostly bold, but at least kind of likely. This may not live up to that, but it's something I wouldn't be too surprised to see.
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Thank you all for reading, and don't forget to follow me on twitter at @BradMMATorch
Happy New Year to all of you Torch fans, and be sure to keep checking back for more!��
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Staff_Editorials_19/article_12123.shtml
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