all i know is that travis browne is impressing the shit outta me lately. i could see him becoming an issue in the hw division in the next few years. at 6'7 dude has some SERIOUS knockout power. it looked like struve got hit by a concrete brick attached to a telephone poll when he went down. i can't think of too many heavyweights in the world right now that would give him serious trouble....and dude is only like 11-0-1 or something? I never even heard of the guy until a year ago.
i'd pretty much agree with your picks, aside from a few. i could see mitrione knocking out morecraft for sure. i wouldnt completely count out verdum in the sf tourney, but my money is for sure on overeem. if somehow brett rogers came out looking like a maniac and ended up winning the whole tourney it would be amazing...but thats just me looking for some extra excitement out of the whole thing...VERY doubtful lol especially after i saw the way overeem ragdolled his ass around the cage when they met.
i could see marquart beating johnson too, probably by decision as i can see johnson gassing if it goes the distance...should be a good fight though. barry will probably beat kongo with leg kicks, and if/when he does, he should fight browne in my opinion. they had some beef between them awhile back to settle too...winner of that should start taking on some "upper tier" HWs now IMO.
my money is jds as well, but carwin is a BIG dude. this is why i'd ultimately like to see a "super heavyweight" division eventually in the UFC. think about it, every weight class goes up by increments. most guys at hw are one of the following: 6 ft- 6'3 around 220-230. THEN there are the lesnars and browne and carwin mutants popping up more and more, and they will continue to appear as MMA grows. to me, that is a MASSIVE size differential to compete with, and it doesn't happen in any other weight class really. a dude that weighs in around 230 (probably had to PUT ON weight) and is 6'2 often fights a dude that has to cut weight to even reach 265...oh and he might be 6'7 or so lol (though height is obviously less of the issue here).
i used to think the massive weight/size differentials just made things more exciting in the HW division, but as a fan of MMA for 10 plus years, i am starting to see "size" become more of an issue...jds has the skill and talent to beat carwin on any day of the week IMO...but carwin is so big that it is CLEAR power advantage in terms of sheer weight that cannot be denied.
im pretty sure jds would have a difficult time hitting anything above 240 fighting weight, while carwin will do some serious cutting just to make weigh in. to me, this is the equivalent of a lw at 155 fighting a middleweight. people would be like the "wtf"?. jds is taller than carwin but weight is the issue here...still i don't see jds losing at all.
and pettis/guida will be a sick fight. both guys put on a show everytime.
