UFC 101, Now With More ESPN

UFC 101 tomorrow night boasts an impressive card including B.J. Penn defending his belt against Kenny Florian. ESPN did a pretty good job of covering last month's mega-hyped UFC 100 and it looks like they're going to keep the support going. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Kenny Florian is the co-host of ESPN's MMA Live. Can anybody explain to me why ESPN can't televise MMA Live on one their 14 channels? ESPN's support of the UFC is great news for the sports, even if they still outsource most of their analysis to Sherdog.

As much as I like to cover MMA news, I don't much care for the previews and recaps. And apparently the guy who was going to write them for me quit. Which is reasonable considering I was paying him with profanity laced insults. It's that damn economy.

Okay, let's get in some quick picks. I went 3-1 at UFC 100 only getting screwed by the Yoshihiro Akiyama decision. So we're probably facing some regression. Lines-Bodog. Winners-Bold.

Anderson Silva (-360) vs. Forrest Griffin (+280)
Forrest is a good value here and he doesn't shock me anymore after upsetting Shogun. He's just never stopped anyone fighting at Spider's level.

B.J. Penn (-290) vs. Kenny Florian (+230)
I know B.J. trained his ass off for this fight, but he also said GSP is on steroids in an interview. Is he focused for this fight? I know Florian is.

Ricardo Almeida (-185) vs. Kendall Grove (+155)
When Almeida gets this fight to the ground, expect a quick finish.

Josh Neer (-250) vs. Kurt Pelligrino (+190)
I'm a little surprised Neer is this big of a favorite, but he has a nice size advantage.

Special Buy Me A Drink Promotion
If any of you guys are in the New Orleans area and looking for somewhere to watch UFC 101, shoot me an email. The first 100 people to meet me at the bar get to buy me a drink.