UFC on Fox Preview

I'm going to try a new method of previewing big UFC shows. Instead of going fight-by-fight, I'm going to list the top 5 fighters that have the most to gain and/or lose in their fight.

1) Flyweight Division

The UFC's newest male division has yet to win over viewers, and during ads for this weekend's show I don't find it a coincidence that they just advertised a world title fight and left out the word "flyweight" because of a possible bad connotation. This extends to a certain extent to the feather- and welterweight divisions as well, with Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber being the only two guys who move the needle. From what we've seen so far from the 125 pounders, there seems to be a lot of fast movements, but not too much action has taken place. Champion Demetrious Johnson and challenger John Dodson have a chance on national television to put on a great fight and perhaps begin to create a buzz for the flyweights.

2) Glover Teixeira

Dana White and the UFC have tried to portray Teixeira as a monster, even saying that Shogun Rua reportedly turned down a fight against the newcomer. He is on an eight year, 17-fight win streak, but because of visa issues, he only made his UFC debut last year, disposing of Kyle Kingsbury and Fabio Maldonado. The 33-year old Brazilian faces what is no doubt his toughest challenger to date, in Rampage Jackson on Saturday. Another dominating performance could stamp his ticket to bigger future fights and make him a contender in the 205 pound division. However, a loss could serve as a huge setback.

3) Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

At one time Rampage was considered the most dangerous light-heavyweight fighter on the planet, including wins over Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, and Wanderlei Silva. However, more recently 34-year old had to deal with professional struggles both inside and outside the Octagon. Jackson was in Dana White's doghouse for pushing back his fight with Rashad Evans because he wanted to play Mr. T's character in the A-Team movie. Following that loss with two unimpressive victories against Lyoto Machida and Matt Hammill and two consecutive losses to Jon Jones and Ryan Bader has Rampage thinking about the next step in his career. In the lead up to this fight, with his Zuffa contract expiring, he is saying that he is done with Dana White and the UFC, even playing video games during this week's press conference. Whatever decision he makes, whether it's to stay in the UFC, go to Bellator, or even try a boxing career, Rampage is going to want to make a good impression for his future employers.

4) Clay Guida

Clay is another fighter in the boss' doghouse. After main eventing a show in June of 2012, "The Carpenter" is riding the pine pony by fighting in the prelims of this event. Once considered one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, Guida had an embarrassing performance against Gray Maynard, taking his caveman technique to a ridiculous level. Guida was literally running away from Maynard during the fight and trying to avoid contact. Now, Clay is making his featherweight debut against Hatsu   Hioki with a chance to get his good reputation back.

5) Anthony Pettis

In December of 2010, Pettis defeated Ben Henderson with the now famous "Showtime Kick" to become the last WEC Lightweight Champion, and a guaranteed fight with then UFC Champion Frankie Edgar. However, a razor thin decision win by Edgar against Gray Maynard resulted in an immediate rematch, and Pettis decided to fight instead of staying on the shelf for over a year, losing to Clay Guida and pushing his title shot further away. Ironically, the man he beat on WEC's final show, Henderson, jumped ahead of him and is the king of the 155-ers. Now Pettis has a good chance with a win against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone to become the new #1 contender and a rematch for a belt he never really lost.

Title Game Previews and MMA News

With no local football, no big UFC show, and basketball season rolling along, and spring training not starting up for another few weeks, things have been quiet here at Costa's in the Cage. Here are some quick thoughts on the recent news in sports.

NFL

The Jets are reported to name John Idzik, a Seahawks executive, as their General Manager soon. Seattle has drafted well recently and that's a lot more than I can say about Mike Tannenbaum. Speaking about the Jets, the post-season press conference was pure comedy. From Woody Johnson saying he wants Rex Ryan to help him choose his boss, to Rex saying he wants a fresh start and wants to instill his personality on the team (he couldn't do it after the first four years!!!). I'm still a Rex Ryan fan, but it might have been better if the team just started with a clean slate instead of keeping the head coach and firing the GM and offensive and defensive coordinators.

Now let's talk about the playoffs (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! YOU CAN'T TALK ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS!!!)

The Falcons and Matt Ryan got the monkey off their back by winning a playoff game, now they have a chance to make it to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1999. The 49ers were preseason favorites to get to this game again, but nobody would have thought that Colin Kaepernick would be the one leading them there. On paper, the 49ers are the more complete team, with a suffocating defense and a read-option offense led by Kaepernick, while the Falcons are pretty much one dimensional, living and dying with Matty Ice. That being said, the Falcons play really well in the Georgia Dome (they are 33-6 at home in Ryan's career), and despite not blowing teams away, they have found ways to win all season. I'm going with the Falcons to win the game 24-20

On the AFC side, we have a rematch of last year's Championship Game, with the Ravens visiting the Patriots. The Patriots have been playing their best football as of late, winning nine of their last ten regular season game, and blowing away the Texans last weekend. The Ravens are a tough physical team, and usually give the Patriots fits (coming a missed field goal away from forcing overtime last year), and the team wants to send Ray Lewis out with another ring. I hate to say it, but I don't see it happening. Tom Brady is playing his best football plus Stevan Ridley is a legit running threat. I'll take the Pats to win the game 35-24.

MMA

The MMA world had two historic events this past week, with Strikeforce's final show and Bellator's debut on Spike TV. Once Zuffa bought Strikeforce in 2011 the writing was on the wall that the organization would eventually be absorbed into the UFC, and struggles with Showtime eventually ended the relationship. I see this as a positive, allowing MMA fans a chance to see some dream fights with Gilbert Melendez, Daniel Cormier, and Luke Rockhold in the Octagon. I wouldn't be surprised if Showtime and Scott Coker have plans of bringing mixed martial arts back to the network before the end of the year in some capacity.

Bellator's debut on Spike TV last night officially made them the second biggest MMA promotion in the world. I never really watched much of their fights on MTV 2 because of a bad timeslot on Friday night,  but will try to watch it more often on Thursday. Spike is banking on TNA Impact's audience to stick around after wrestling to watch MMA, the same way they put the first Ultimate Fighter on after WWE Raw back in the day.

Speaking of The Ultimate Fighter, the new season is set to debut this week in it's new timeslot on Tuesday after struggling to pick up steam on Fridays. This season going to be coached by Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, and is supposedly going through several production changes to take the focus away from shenanigans happening in the house and have more of a UFC Countdown feel to it. I'm looking forward to this year a lot and it could be a make or break season for the fledgling franchise.

This weekend is the first of three straight UFC weekends, culminating with the Super Bowl weekend super-fight between Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo. This weekend's show is headlined by Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort. Dana White has said if Bisping wins then he will be next in line to face Anderson Silva. Bisping is hitting his prime as a fighter, winning five of his last six (including a close decision loss to Chael Sonnen). Belfort is a dangerous fighter in his own right, with knockout power, but he doesn't have the stamina he used to. If he can't hit Bisping early, I see this being a long night for the Brazilian.

NBA

Despite not playing their best basketball as of late, the Knicks still hold the 2nd best record in the Eastern Conference and are 2 1/2 games up on the Nets for the Atlantic Division crown as we near the halfway point in the season. MVP candidate Carmelo Anthony is playing the best basketball of his career, and the team is getting back to full strength with Amar'e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert back and Raymond Felton expected to return at the end of the month. The team has two big statement games with the rival Brooklyn Nets coming to town on Monday and then a rematch with the Celtics on Thursday (with some added juice following 'Melo and KG's incident a couple weeks ago). The biggest problem I see with team so far is that they can get taken out of their game by big physical teams, like the Bulls. Mike Woodson has to try and find a way to keep the team's composure in those games. At this point, anything short of at least making the second round of the playoffs will be a huge disappointment for the blue and orange.

2013 UFC Preview

2012 was a down year for the world's biggest MMA promotion. Top draw GSP only fought once, they lost Brock Lesnar to WWE, injuries ruined main events, and Jon Jones canceled a pay-per view event (that bastard!). 2013 is shaping up to be a great year with potential superfights between former Strikeforce champions, Anderson Silva open to moving up or down a weight class to fight GSP or Jones, as well as the debut of the women's division led by Ronda Rousey. I'm going to give a quick preview of each weight class so you're prepared for the new year.

Heavyweights

After demolishing Junior dos Santos last weekend, Cain Velasquez has relinquished his top spot as the Heavyweight Champion. Alistair Overeem is coming off his suspension for performance enhancing drugs and is scheduled to fight "Big Foot" Silva in February, and after that he still has unfinished business with Dos Santos. Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier will be making his UFC debut after fighting on Strikeforce's final card on January 12th against Dion Starring. Fabricio Werdum is tied up taping Ultimate Fighter Brazil, and will fight Big Nog in the spring. Stefan Struve and Roy Nelson are two possible up and coming contenders to Cain's title. Frank Mir rounds out the top Heavyweight contenders, but I don't see him getting another title fight any time soon.

Light Heavyweight

Jon Jones had a dominant 2012, beating Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort. He has a little bit of damage control to do after refusing to fight Chael Sonnen on late notice caused an event to be canceled in August. MMA's biggest trash talker will get his title fight in April after this season of the Ultimate Fighter. Their is a logjam at the top of this division. Due to injuries, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida never got their title shots. They fight in February to determine the #1 contender. Alexander Gustafsson made a name for himself beating the legendary Shogun Rua at UFC on Fox 5. The Swede is still another victory or two away from getting his title shot. Glover Teixeira is looking to make a name for himself during his UFC on Fox 6 fight against Rampage Jackson. Glover is on a 16 fight win streak, with all of them coming from knockout or submission. There are rumors that Rashad Evans is debating a move to middleweight after his fight with Little Nog.

Middleweight

Champion Anderson Silva has a lot on his plate for 2013. Aside from fighting his own weight class, he has Dana White and fans clamoring for inter-division superfights against Georges St. Pierre and Jon Jones. The 37-year old Spider is arguably the best pound for pound fighter in MMA history. Michel Bisping is a victory against Vitor Belfort away from becoming the first British born fighter to compete for a UFC title. Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold and 9-0 Chris Weidman, as well as former Bellator fighter Hector Lomard are the future of this division.

Welterweight

This division was in lockdown for much of 2012. Georges St. Pierre's injury led to an interim title fight between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz in February. Condit won the fight but wanted to wait for a unification bout against St. Pierre (which he lost in November) and Diaz has been suspended after testing positive for marijuana. In March at UFC 158 the entire welterweight division is going to be on display, headlined by GSP finally getting his hands on Diaz. Rory MacDonald is one of the best young fighters in the sport, but he already stated he won't fight his mentor and training partner GSP, so it puts the UFC in a tough spot of matching him up with top level guys, but not #1 contenders. The heavy-handed Jake Ellenberger and Johny Hendricks are two of the most exciting welterweights in the game. Veterans Josh Koscheck and the returning Nate Marquardt round out the top of the division.

Lightweight

After two close decisions against Frankie Edgar, Benson Henderson dominated Nate Diaz in a star-making performance at UFC on Fox 5. Rumor has it that Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez is next in line for a title shot, in a superfight. Anthony Pettis and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone will finally get their hands on each-other at UFC on Fox 6, in a #1 contender fight. Jim Miller jumped up to the top of theU division after a grueling victory against Joe Lauzon last weekend. The UFC is reportedly in a tug-of-war with Bellator for their top star Eddie Alvarez. A knee injury has Gray Maynard on the shelf for the immediate future.

Featherweight

Pound-for-pound top five fighter Jose Aldo doesn't get the respect he deserves because of a perceived weakness in the division, but that's about to change. Former Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar is scheduled to fight Aldo at UFC 156 in a dream matchup years in the making. Edgar, a natural 155-er was getting overpowered by bigger guys in lightweight, so it will be interesting to see how he fairs against Aldo. It will be interesting to see where "The Answer" goes if he struggles in that fight. Clay Guida is following in Frankie's footsteps moving down to 145. An injury to Eric Koch forced him out of a title shot against Aldo, and is still awaiting his opportunity. Chan Sung Jung "The Korean Zombie" is a fan favorite because of his free-swinging style and should be considered a top contender. Chad Mendes has torn through the division, but after getting picked apart by Aldo last year I don't see him getting another shot for the time being.

Bantamweight

Champion Dominick Cruz is out until at least November following his second ACL tear. Interim champion Renan Barao hasn't lost since his MMA debut in 2005. Urijah Faber is the most recognizable name, but after losing his last two title fights he moves to the back of the line. 21-year old Michael McDonald is scheduled to fight Barao in February.

Flyweight

One of UFC's two newest divisions is still growing. Demetrious Johnson defeated Joe Benavidez in the finals of a tournament to crown the inaugural Flyweight Champion. Mighty Mouse will defend his belt against Ultimate Fighter 14 winner John Dodson at UFC on Fox 6 in the main event. "Uncle Creepy" Ian McCall is pretty much the only other top contender at this point. This is such a specialized division, and if it doesn't catch some momentum this year I don't see it sticking around for long.

Women

Ronda Rousey has become an overnight sensation, winning all six of her fights in the first round via armbar in a total of approximately seven and a half minutes. Despite being against it at first, Dana White's hands were tied when Showtime's contract with Strikeforce was up and now the women's division is being absorbed into the UFC. Rousey is scheduled to defend her belt against Liz Carmouche at UFC 157. After a lot of talk back and forth, the main attraction for this division though, is if and/or when Cris Cyborg signs with the UFC to have a grudge match with Rousey (Cyborg is going to have to cut down to 135 pounds in order to fight).

Fixing the Jets

Well, at least it's finally over. No matter how you spin it (even though I saw it before the season), this year was a gigantic disappointment for Jets football. Before the team meets up again in July for training camp, it will look completely different. We already know that we will have a new GM and a new offensive coordinator. I am throwing my hat in the ring for the new Jets General Manager position. I will go through every position on the team and give my thoughts on who to keep and who to dump.

Offense

Quarterbacks

While this is the weakest position, I don't see much change coming in 2013. Mark Sanchez had his worst season since his rookie year, throwing for only 2,883 yards, and -5 TD/INT ratio (with a career high 9 fumbles), and the 31st ranked QB rating and 30th ranked completion percentage. After a promising start to his career, Sanchez looks completely lost now, and will now have to learn a 3rd offense in his 5 years. Unfortunately for the Jets Rutgers wouldn't trade a fat sandwich and Gary Nova for him. I think both the Jets franchise and Sanchez would do better if they seperare, butif we cut him we have to eat a $17 million cap hit.

Let's play a game.... What do Mohamed Sanu, Jeremy Kerley, Jonhny Hekker, and Kellen Clemens have in common? They all had more passing yards than Tim Tebow this season. Whether you believe anything coming out of the Jets' coaches and players mouths or not, you can't argue that Tebow is a good quarterback. If he showed anything in practice I doubt that Rex and Sparano would've kept throwing Sanchez to the wolves. The season got so bizarre that now Timmy is considered a bad locker room guy. There is no way he comes back to the Jets or maybe even the NFL.

Greg McElory's injury prevented us from getting a large enough sample on him. The fact that he was sacked 11 times is alarming, and I doubt that he's going to see much playing time next year with Ryan's job on the line. With the Jets cap situation there is a 99.9 chance that they won't sign a decent veteran like Mike Vick or Alex Smith to compete with Sanchez. Add in the fact that this a weak quarterback draft class and best case scenario is that you can make a trade for Kirk Cousins or Matt Flynn, and I'm not convinced that is much of an upgrade.

Running Backs

Believe it or not Shonn Greene was 14th in the NFL in rushing yards this season, with his second straight 1,000 yard season. Greene is a solid starting running back, but is nothing special. He hits the holes hard, but doesn't have the speed to get big gains when he gets into the second level of the defense. He is a free agent this season, and I wouldn't mind bringing him back for the right price.

Bilal Powell and Joe McKnight compliment Greene well, but are nothing better than 3rd down backs. I would take a flier on Marcus Lattimore late in the draft or if we trade down take Monte Ball late in the 1st round

Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends

Santonio Holmes will be back, like it or not. Like Mark Sanchez we gave him a player-friendly contract and it will hurt us too much to let him go. Plus, in the limited time before his injury he was playing more like the 2010 Holmes, including a 100-yard performance against the Dolphins. The late season acquisition of Braylon Edwards is something the Jets should have done two years ago. He gives us a deep threat that we severely lacked early in the year. Teaming him back up with Holmes should give whoever our quarterback is a solid 1-2 receiving threat.

Jeremy Kerley reminds me of a Wayne Chrebet or Jerricho Cotchery type player. He is a good slot receiver and is sure handed. Stephen Hill came out of college as a raw talent, and he just isn't an NFL quality player yet. He is able to get open, but Sanchez lost confidence in him after a case of the dropsies. Chaz Schillens proved why the Raiders got rid him. I don't think he's getting re-signed.

Dustin Keller never lived up to expectations. After a career-high 815 yards last season, nagging injuries cost him the season and he never really got going, catching 28 balls for 317 yards. When he was healthy he seemed to disappear at times during games. I feel like we should bring him back, but he may be asking for too much. Jeff Cumberland is a solid player. I would bring back the restricted free agent.

Offensive Line

Nick Mangold, D'Brickshaw Ferguson, and Brandon Moore will all be back. Austin Howard and Matt Slauson are decent, but we should look to upgrade at left guard and right tackle.

Defense

Defensive Line

Quinton Coples and Muhammad Wilkerson were starting to heat up as the season came along, combining for 10.5 sacks. Mike DeVito has probably played his last game as a Jet. Sione Pouha played poorly this season after getting his money in the offseason. He's going to need to be a run stuffer like he was in 2011.

Linebackers

As a whole, our linebacking corps is getting slow. Bart Scott, Calvin Pace, and Bryan Thomas are veteran leaders, but just aren't cutting it on the field anymore. This is an example of where Rex Ryan's loyalty may hurt the team. David Harris led the team in tackles, but he isn't playing like a Pro Bowler anymore. Rookie DeMario Davis has shown some promise so far, and gives us the speed that we lack. We definitely have to look to upgrade at this position. Maybe we can give Khaseem Greene from Rutgers a look.

Cornerbacks

After Darrelle Revis' season ending injury, Antonio Cromartie has stepped up his game. Enjoy Revis next season, because I don't see him coming back in 2013 when his contract expires. He is going to want too much money, and he's not going to stay on a rebuilding team. Kyle Wilson was picked on a lot after Revis went down. He wasn't worth a first round pick.

Safeties

After comments that he's not going to give a home team discount, LaRon Landry will be gone. Landry is a playmaker, but was his first healthy season in years. Yeremiah Bell had a great year. I would bring him back and he will start next season with Josh Bush or Eric Smith.

Coaching and Front Office

Mike Tannenbaum is officially gone. Tony Sparano is gone, but it hasn't been announced officially yet. Mike Pettine's contract is expired and is going to be up for some head coaching jobs, plus with the rumors that he is one of the leaks to the media he is likely gone. All-time great special teams coach, Mike Westhoff is retired. That leaves us with Rex Ryan and a lot of question marks for next season.

Rex Ryan was on top of the world two years ago, now there are a lot of people looking to put him on the chopping block. Rex is a great defensive mind and gets guys to play hard for him, but he is horrendous on the offensive side of the ball. Whenever we find a general manager and he starts looking for coordinators, it might be hard to get them on board with a coach who is entering a lame duck season in 2013. As a Ryan supporter, the team is between a rock and a hard place right now. Perhaps a complete overhaul could make this team better instead of plugging up holes on a leaky ship.

2013 is going to be the start of a period of change for the Jets franchise. The team has quietly been in a rebuilding stage, and now it is full-fledged. Woody Johnson has to have some patience if he believes that Rex Ryan is the man to turn this mess around, if not do everyone a favor and let him go now and start from scratch.