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Which UFC on Fox 7 bout are you most intrigued by and why?
RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Maybe I'm a stoopid mark, but the more Frank Mir talks, the more I buy into him. And the more I see him fight, the more I remember that talk is cheap. But right now, I think his fight versus UFC-newcomer Daniel Cormier has all sorts of interesting subtext to it. I mean, ok, I know Cormier's likely to smash him, and that afterward Mir's going to come up with four score and seven excuses for why he lost. But right now, that's kind of a cool fight in my universe.
And to play a little MMA snob, I'm interested to see what Tim Means can do against Jorge Masvidal as well. That should make Shawn Ennis happy...
C.J. TUTTLE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
While the obvious answer would be seeing Melendez make his debut versus Henderson, I am personally most excited to see how Nate Diaz bounces back following his loss to Henderson himself. Now that the hoopla surrounding his brother has passed and after hearing the fact that he distanced himself from Gracie shows me that he is ready to develop into a more well rounded fighter. Not to mention where the fight is being staged in Northern Cali, I see a dominant knockout of Thomson.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I'm most interested in Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez, but most intriguing would probably be Chad Mendes vs. Darren Elkins. I want to see what happens between those two because I'm not sure who wins.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Any time one of your heros retires, it is sad. I am sad Frank Mir is on the back end of his career, but he is. He needs to retire. I believe he is still a top ten ranked fighter in his weight class and that says a lot about the state of the heavyweight division. Weak. Weak. Weak. I am most intrigued by the Cormier vs Mir match up. Mir is WAY past his prime and will consider retirement after Cormier beats him at UFC on Fox 7. I am excited about this fight, because this will be Cormier's coming out party. This is his UFC debut and he can show us he is one of the best fighters in the world with a dominating win against Mir. I think after he beats Mir, he will drop to 205 and fight Jon Jones late this year or early next.
BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Diaz and Thomson has my attention, as Diaz needs to basically murder him in the cage to prove his title run was not a fluke. Mir is going to get squashed so that bout doesn't intrigue me at all. Diaz will be the highlight for me.
DAN MOORE, MMATORCH UK CONTRIBUTOR
It's really hard to pick one specific fight because the card from top to bottom, looks impressive. It's a shame that Dan Hardy couldn't fight Matt Brown because I'm sure that would've been a fun and exciting bout to watch. Nijem vs. Jury should be intriguing too with both guys heading in the right direction on solid win streaks.
Any of the UFC vs. Strikeforce fights should be fun to watch and full of intrigue. Not only the higher profile match ups like the title fight and other main card bouts. But fights on the undercard like Means vs. Masvidal and Carmont vs. Larkin that might just throw up a few surprises on the night.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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