Penn/Fitch is going to be a very, very interesting fight for a number of reasons. For one, Penn will pose a big threat to Fitch's "lay and pray" (not my words, but the words of his critics) strategy if he is able to utilize his world class BJJ effectively. His flexibility and skill on the mat will mean that he will stand a good chance of shutting Fitch's passive-aggressive-grappling offense down and force it back to the feet (if we assume that's where he would like to keep it). However, I fear that Fitch could do just enough (in terms of his takedowns and holding dominant positions) to out-point Penn over the three rounds. I'd hate for it to be the case, but I could see it happening.
We don't want to get ahead of ourselves when we say Penn is 'back' so-to-speak, as we really didn't see enough of him in the cage last night (is 21 seconds really enough to judge Penn by?), but I really like how Dana said this about how Penn looked coming in:
Quote:
|
"When he walked into the octagon tonight, he had that crazy, talking to himself, swearing to himself, hyped up (mentality). He had that energy, and he looked hyped up."
|
Whether or not Penn is back with full force is debatable, but it sure was good to see him fired up and looking more like 'himself' again.
__________________
Favourite Fighters: Griffin, Bisping, Belfort, Benavidez, A. Silva, Velasquez, Wandy, Guida, Faber, Alves, Aldo, Penn, Dos Santos, Manuwa, Oliveira
Least-Favourite Fighters: Ellenberger, Hendricks, Story, Sylvia, Browne.
0-1 on sig bets.