UFC 58 3/4/06

To my knowledge only the first two have been announced by the UFC.

David Loiseau vs. Rich Franklin
A much deserved title shot for The Crow. I want to see this one so bad, I mean right now. Loiseau is an exciting and unorthodox striker with good defense on the ground and some ground and pound. Mainly his elbow which is absolutely deadly. I remember watching replays of one fight ( I can't remember who the opponent was) and I knew the elbow was coming and still it had connected by the time I could say 'there it is'. If he gets the mount....well, don't blink that's all i'm saying. I'm hard pressed to chose the winner in this one as they are both so good but I think Franklin is just a little better overall so my money would be on him.

GSP vs. BJ Penn
The winner of this gets Matt Hughes....oh joy! Penn is an amazing ground guy and he'll look to take it there as soon as Big John says to 'get it on!'. GSP is probably the best all around fighter in the class and hell maybe in the UFC, period. He has lost to Hughes once already though and Penn beat the champ......and on the ground no less. GSP will try to keep this on the feet as long as possible but he won't let himself become vulnerable to do it. He's training in BJJ with the Gracie's to bone up as we speak. Well maybe he's eating dinner right now but you get my meaning. I'm taking GSP on the strength of his all around game, especially the striking which Penn will have to get past if he wants to do his thing.

Jonathan Goulet vs Diego Sanchez
I know absolutely nothing about Goulet but I am taking Sanchez. Surprised aren't you? Diego is a grappling wizard with great takedowns and submissions and is aggressive as hell. We'll see if Goulet can handle that.

Sam Stout vs Kenny Florian
Another Canadian I know nothing about and so is getting the short end of the stick. Florian by submission but he might take a beating before he gets it.

Kristof Midoux vs Tom Murphy
Don't get me started on Murphy. I think that fighters that don't even try to fight should be dealth with similar to a horse that can't race. I only know Midoux by name but i'm taking him.....and I hope it's by ground and pound knockout and since Midoux is BJJ and Murphy a wrestler it could very well be.

In all it looks to be a dynamite show if this is how it turns out. Regardless of the rest the top two bouts make it a must see. I wonder if Matt Hughes will get the winner of the GSP/Penn bout or if he'll fight Parisyan first. I think that Parisyan shouldn't lose his supposed #1 contender status just because he couldn't go at the time of the scheduled fight with Hughes at the last UFC. That being said GSP and Penn are both better fighters at this point. Karo needs to work on his striking in my opinion but I do really want to see how he can counter a Hughes takedown with his own throws. And we might even see Matt standup for a bit with someone who's striking is somewhat vulnerable.