George Sotiropolous fighting Kurt Pellegrino July 3 at UFC 116

[Vendrell]

Great match up for George. Pellegrino is on the rise putting 4 good wins together of late but I think George takes this one. He's got the bjj to handle Pellegrino and his stand up just keeps getting better.

Great card with Brock vs Carwin and Wand vs Sexyama as well.

 

[Crimson Azure]

So is this a step up, down or sideways?

looks sideways to me but I guess after a few wins in a row hes got the form & one of the two will go on towards a fight with Florian or Sanchez in the future.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

So is this a step up, down or sideways?

looks sideways to me but I guess after a few wins in a row hes got the form & one of the two will go on towards a fight with Florian or Sanchez in the future.

I'd say sideways too. I like Pellegrino and have been impressed with his last couple of fights, but his losses to Stevenson and Diaz lead me to beleive he'll eventually get caught by George.

116 is shaping up to be a great card though.

 

[TheLastEmperor]

is this just a rumor and has it been announced? if true should be a good card with sexyama/wand and lesnar/carwin on it.

 

[Vendrell]

None of the card has been officially announced but this is how it's shaping up.

By the way, I think Sanchez has gone back up to welterweight after his loss to BJ.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

None of the card has been officially announced but this is how it's shaping up.

By the way, I think Sanchez has gone back up to welterweight after his loss to BJ.

Yep, fighting Jon Hathaway at 114 (I think). Interesting fight for him to take.... Hathaway's not a big name, but has looked very impressive thus far. If Diego beats him, it means little, but if he loses it brings up serious questions about his future.

 

[Magnum]

Yeah after UFC 111, I said that a Pellegrino / Sotiropolous fight would be a perfect matchup, great to see Joe Silva thinks so also! Kurt has improved leaps and bounds and I reckon George and him would be similarly matched on the ground. On the feet, I’d give George the slight advantage but Kurt would have the better wrestling. I think George could probably do enough to win a decision or possibly a sub if he rocks Kurt first, so long as he doesn’t spend significant amount of time on his back, it should be a win for him.

 

[the_interloper]

Good i spose, doesn't seem like it will add much to his CV if George wins, other than improving his record of course. Would love to see George v Florian, though i'm thinking his stand up would want to improve even more if he was to fight the man with the razor sharp elbows!

 

[Spadge]

Would love to see George v Florian

^this! George vs Kurt should still be a great matchup though
Really impressed with George in his last few fights and loved the way he dominated Stevenson pretty much for the whole fight

Also looking forward to Lesnar/Carwin. Carwin surprised me with the treatment he gave Frank Mir so it should be a good matchup. Hard to see him beating Lesnar though

 

[NineteenEighty4]

Doesnt Stirro tend to struggle against opponents with a pure wrestling background?

Recall he had real trouble with that farm boy on TUF who kocked him out in brutal fashion.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Doesnt Stirro tend to struggle against opponents with a pure wrestling background?

Recall he had real trouble with that farm boy on TUF who kocked him out in brutal fashion.

That was a brutal KO, but he was affected by an eye poke in that one. From memory, he'd started well against Speer and was controlling the fight. The eye poke occurred, he didn't take sufficient time to recover from it and got caught with a couple of big right hands to end the fight.

Pellegrino's a good wrestler, but I'd rate him a notch below Joe Daddy in that department and George was able to get a convincing win in that one.

 

[Magnum]

Good i spose, doesn't seem like it will add much to his CV if George wins, other than improving his record of course. Would love to see George v Florian, though i'm thinking his stand up would want to improve even more if he was to fight the man with the razor sharp elbows!

No I rate Pellegrino nudging the Top 10, just like Sots. I think Pellegrino is a tougher test than Joe Daddy was as he's in some great form. George is certainly not ready to take on Florian yet (perhaps he is, but I don't think he's earned it yet). Perhaps with a good victory over Kurt, he can go a step towards that. Remember there are still quite a few good fighters with Sots gunning for shots at the very top level. Griffin, Sherk, Maynard, Miller, Tibau. You'd think he'd have to dominate Pellegrino to skip over some of these guys.

 

[Belnakor]

if they have another UFC in Australia i wouldn't be surprised to see Georges get a title shot just to pump up the crowd, if he is still winning

 

[NineteenEighty4]

Pellegrino's a good wrestler, but I'd rate him a notch below Joe Daddy in that department and George was able to get a convincing win in that one.

I thought Joe Daddy was more of a pure bjj guy with some submission wrestling thrown in?

Stirro was impressive at UFC 110 but I am still not convinced about him. Would like to see how he handles himself against another big puncher given question marks over his chin.

There are also some question marks coming out of the US relating to his habit of entering the Octogon with ankle braces, knee braces, and long shorts - effectively giving him alot of extra grip on his opponents when he is in guard. Some people say it is cheating? I say that Stirro is just testing the boundaries of the law.

 

[Nilz]

I thought Joe Daddy was more of a pure bjj guy with some submission wrestling thrown in?

There are also some question marks coming out of the US relating to his habit of entering the Octogon with ankle braces, knee braces, and long shorts - effectively giving him alot of extra grip on his opponents when he is in guard. Some people say it is cheating? I say that Stirro is just testing the boundaries of the law.

I would have thought he was a wrestler with a good guillotine. Remember the footage in season 2 of TUF with Joe doing the wrestling excersise with crawling around his partner 200 odd times without touching the ground? I recall him saying he used to do it when wrestling in high school.

As for the knee/ankle guards, i agree with you. It's no different to what Mir usually sports.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

I thought Joe Daddy was more of a pure bjj guy with some submission wrestling thrown in?

Stirro was impressive at UFC 110 but I am still not convinced about him. Would like to see how he handles himself against another big puncher given question marks over his chin.

There are also some question marks coming out of the US relating to his habit of entering the Octogon with ankle braces, knee braces, and long shorts - effectively giving him alot of extra grip on his opponents when he is in guard. Some people say it is cheating? I say that Stirro is just testing the boundaries of the law.

Joe has a black belt in jitz, but I'm pretty sure he came from a wrestling base. From memory he out-wrestled Pellegrino when they fought at 74, but it's been a while since I've seen that fight.

I'm not sure about George's chin either, but more because I haven't seen it tested since the KO against Speer. Tommy's a big, strong guy and landed a couple of clean blows that George didn't see coming after the eye poke, so it's not a huge surprise he got KO'd there. Kurt's not the kind of guy that will check his chin either, so it looks like those questions will go unanswered for a while yet.

 

[Big Daddy M]

I never even knew there was a combat sports section until now....

I think Pellegrino is a good match up for Sots. He has some momentum and is reasonably well known. I think Sots has what it takes to win this one. IMO his BJJ is better and should have a reach advantage on the feet.

I think the next step up will the test. It could be in the form of Florian or Maynard or I think if he gets past Pelligrino the next match is likely to be against Sherk or even Tyson Griffin.

Sherk would be a good win as he is a former Champ. Would also be a very tough fight for Sots.

As much as I like Sots I think both Florian and Maynard would be short favourites against him.

Florian's stand up is very sharp and I think Maynard would control where the fight was fought against him and he is a powerful puncher (wish he would finish some fights though).

 

[Nilz]

Kurt's not the kind of guy that will check his chin either, so it looks like those questions will go unanswered for a while yet.

I wouldn't be too concerned about that, the lightweight division is made up of wrestlers, no one in the top 10 is known for their punching/kick power.

 

[Vendrell]

It's official.

*Matt Serra voice* "YOU'RE PICKIN' HIM APART GEORGE!!! YEH GEORGIE BOY!!!"

 

[the_interloper]

I'm pumped, geez i hope he can pull it off and set up a possible stoush with K Flo maybe, he impressed the hell out of me at 110, awesome display!

 

[marcus1232]

After watching georges fight at ufc 110 i get the feeling that Pellegrinos style is tailor made for george. I doubt george will have to much problem getting him down and from there we all know the slickness he has on the floor.

George takes an easy sub in this one for me.

Where george goes after this has me confused a little the loser of maynard v ken flo maybe edgar when penn beats him in the rematch.
Or maybe even a fight against gomi.