UFC 118 Main Card Predictions

and here we go.................... Winners in bold.

Edgar VS Penn - I don't think we saw the same BJ Penn that decimated Diego Sanchez when he fought Franikie Edgar at UFC112. I think Penn took Edgar lightly and I think there was a nagging injury or sickness there too. The best words Frankie Edgar ever heard were "and NEW UFC lightweight champion....", followed a few days later by the worst words he had ever heard, "instant rematch with BJ Penn." I know I always pick BJ to win and I'm a BJ superfan, but the guy is insane when he's on his game, and I think he's on his game for this fight. He's been trying to stand and be a kickboxer in his last couple fights but I'd like to see him work some of his bjj and ground and pound in this fight. BJ by submission.

Couture VS Toney - Unless James Toney connects perfectly with Randy's chin as Randy goes for the takedown, he's not coming close to winning this. I think Randy will take a few moments to gauge his distance and Toney's timing then throw a jab or two to keep Toney on the defense before taking him down and beating the shit out of him. Couture via TKO, ground and pound. Toney will probably call Randy a homo afterward.

Maia VS Miranda - My three favorite jiu-jitsu guys are on this main card (Penn, Maia and Diaz) and I honestly do not know anything about Mario Miranda. I'll take Maia via submission for the safe bet.

Florian VS Maynard - I like Kenny Florian, I think he's a much better fighter than he showed when he fought BJ Penn the first time. He's a very complete fighter and if he really did train his wrestling with Georges St. Pierre as he claims then he's going to be able to nullify "The Bully's" attack, at least enough to win a decision. I think Florian wins via TKO and then the UFC has to try and promote Penn/Florian II, which should be closer than their first fight from a year ago.

Diaz VS Davis - Nate Diaz has always been fun to watch and Marcus Davis has gotten his bell rung a couple times in the last year or so. I loved it when Ben Saunders lit him up with his knees in their match-up. Diaz does not have knockout power but he can use his jab as a way to set up his jiu-jitsu and put Davis to sleep. Diaz via submission.

And yes, I am well aware I picked all the betting favorites. They are favorites for a reason.

Updates!

Spent last weekend relaxing in Minnesota visiting. One of the highlights of the trip was going to Lee's Liquor Lounge and actually getting to meet and hang out with the bar owner (Lee, obviously). He's owned that corner for over40 years, was a childhood friend of Herb Brooks (Do you believe in Miracles?!) and was very cool. He gave us a private tour of the building and all that jazz. Can't recommend that joint enough.

My friend Scott Godlewski is doing that art on a new Dracula book from Boom that came out this week, try and track it down, it's got some beautiful comic book goodness inside. There's a nice little review here.

Here are some sketches I've done recently, they are both available for sale in my Etsy store as well as a Trevor Bruttenholm sketch I did. New pages are popping up weekly over at the Jesus Christ: Name of Gun comic I'm doing. Not everyone is digging me on the art, but I'm not everyone's cup of tea, I understand that. I'm going to try and do better on the next chapter of pages. Thanks for stopping by.

Suits!

For the rest of the year as part of my daily sketch challenge over at the Sketchjam!, I am going to try and focus on problem areas I have. First up is people in suits. I've always had a problem with collared shirts and suits, so I'll be doing a bunch of them to try and work it all out.

35 min. Pencil & Ink. This sketch is also for sale in my Etsy shop.

Influence Map

click for full size

This was started on deviantArt but I thought I would post it here as well. This is a visual sort of map to who I feel influences me. You'll notice mostly comic artists on there. I never consider myself a fine artist so I tend to think in terms of how "this guy handles this" and this guy "brings this" when I draw comics. So that's why most of my influences are other comic guys. Some are very obvious, Kirby, Oeming and Toth. Others you might question. Marc Silvestri drew (to me) the most exciting run of comics I ever read when he was on X-Men. Rob Liefeld, for all the hate he gets, was super exciting and new and really made me want to be an artist in the first place. Other guys on there are fairly new (in terms of comic artists) but I am always thinking about how would Eric Canete draw this or how would Cory Walker ink this and make it looks simple and dynamic at the same time. When I color I tend to try to think a little outside the norm, and nobody does crazy palettes and makes it work better than Rico Renzi in my opinion.

So anyway, there it is and feel free to ask questions or comment away.

Fantastic Four

This is a recent commission featuring a bunch of really awesome characters. This was a whole lot of fun. If you want a commission of your own feel free to order one on the paypal sidebar to the right.

UFC 117 Main Card predictions

My picks this month are going to short and sweet. -

Junior dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson - JDS via TKO

Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida - Almeida via decision.

Clay Guida vs. Rafael dos Anjos - The Carpenter Guida via decision

Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves - This is a tough one. I'll go with the wrestler in Fitch.

Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen - Silva takes this any way he wants. Hopefully by vicious knockout.

Unpublished pitch

Along with RISE I was also part of another pitch last year that was sent out to publishers. "Blackmail" was the working title and it was written and co-created by writer Mark Sable. Mark has written books including Grounded and Hazed at Image comics and Unthinkable at BOOM!. The idea behind Blackmail was that a vigilante and a crime boss face off against each other from behind masks, only to be best friends in real life. It was all about hidden lives, sacrifice and of course, Blackmail. We showed it to a couple different publishers but it never gained a foot hold anywhere. We're hoping to work together on something else soon. Meanwhile, pre-order his new book RIFT RAIDERS from Kickstart Productions.

I really tried to reign in on my cartooning on these pages to convey the darkness and mood that we wanted. I'm still pretty happy with these, which is extremely rare, and yes, on page two that guy does piss himself.

X-Men Villains!

Over on the Daily Sketchjam I have been drawing a series of quick sketches, all X-Men Villains A-Z. I'm on N so far. Here is what you have been missing. Adversary, Bishop, Callisto, Death, Emma Frost, Fabian Cortez, Garrok, Harpoon, Iron Patriot, Juggernaut, Kierrok & Lady Deathstrike. (Click for full size) I've also added a Paypal button to the right sidebar for anyone interested in getting a commission. Thanks for stopping by.