UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar

Tonight is UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar. Tonight's main card on PPV features five fights including a featherweight championship fight and three possible number one contender fights. There are also four fights being aired live on FX, as well as two on Facebook.

UFC 156 Predictions:

Main Card on PPV:

Featherweight Championship: Jose Aldo (21-1) (Champion) vs. Frankie Edgar (14-3-1)

Aldo hasn't lost a fight since 2005 and has run through everyone he has fought. While in the WEC he defeated Alexandre Franca Nogueira, Jonathan Brookins, Rolando Perez, Chris Mickle and Cub Swanson before defeating Mike Brown for the WEC Featherweight Championship. He then defended it against Urijah Faber and Manny Gamburyan before the WEC was completely brought in to the UFC.

Most people thought that he'd receive better challenges once he came to the UFC, but he has gone 3-0 and has been just as deadly as before. With unanimous decision wins over Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian, he has most recently defeated Chad Mendes by KO almost a year ago.

Frankie Edgar is making his debut in the UFC Featherweight division after already having held the UFC Lightweight Championship. In Edgar's first UFC fight everyone found out who he was when he won against Tyson Griffin at UFC 167 in what was the fight of the night. He won his next two fights over Mark Bocek and Spencer Fisher before losing against Gray Maynard in what was the first matchup between the two.

After his loss he went on a roll where he defeated Hermes Franca, former champion Sean Sherk and Matt Veach before defeating B.J. Penn for the UFC Lightweight Championship. Many thought that the result was controversial so the two fought for a second time in which Edgar won again. Edgar then fought Gray Maynard a second and third time, drawing in the second fight and winning the third to remain champion.

After finally proving that he was the #1 lightweight in the world for good he then lost his title to Benson Henderson, who he then rematched and lost against again for a second time. Edgar is coming in to this fight on a two fight losing streak but has fought twice in the time that Aldo has had off so he won't have as much ring rust.

For tonight's actual fight you can throw out any possible chance of these guys getting tired. Both of them have gone the full five rounds before and haven't had endurance trouble. When it comes to standing the slight advantage will go to Aldo because of his more versatile striking, however on the ground I give the edge to Edgar due to his wrestling.

While most of the guys that have fought Aldo haven't been able to get him to the ground, I think Edgar is the best fighter that Aldo will have ever fought. I see Edgar's wrestling being the key to this fight. If he is able to get Aldo on his back, Edgar will win this fight. If this fight stays standing then this fight will more than likely go Aldo's way.

My prediction: Edgar wins via TKO (round 3)

Light Heavyweight: Rashad Evans (17-2-1) vs. Antonio Rogerio "Lil Nog" Nogueria (20-5)

Evans won the second Ultimate Fighter Tournament and is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Nogueira is a legend from the now defunct PrideFC that has competed against some of the best in the world and has beaten them.

Evans' notable wins include Stephan Bonnar, Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, Thiago Silva, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Tito Ortiz.

Nogueira's notable wins include Guy Mezger, Kazushi Sakuraba, Alistair Overeem twice, Dan Henderson, Luiz Cane and Tito Ortiz. He also had a fight against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in the 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix that is regarded as one of the greatest fights of all time.

The current rumor circulating the internet is that with a win Evans would then drop down and challenge Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Championship. This would mark the first time that Evans would ever step foot in the middleweight division and is something that might actually suit him better because of his small size.

While many are thinking Evans will walk through Nogueira, I'm expecting Nogueira to pull out the victory. If Evans tries to stand with Nogueira he will find out the hard way that his boxing is not at the level of Nogueira's who won has had a very successful amateur boxing career, having won gold for the South American Championships in 2006.

My prediction: Nogueira wins via KO (round 2)

Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem (36-11, 1 NC) vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (17-4)

Overeem was coming into the UFC as the guy that would eventually take over the decision. He ends up beating Brock Lesnar which makes him the #1 contender and everyone realizes that he is going to be a force in the heavyweight division. Afterwards he ends up failing a drug test due to having too high of testosterone levels. This will be his first fight in over 13 months now and the likelihood of him coming into this fight as big as he previously has is very slim. Anyone could tell you that putting on about 50 pounds of muscle within 2 years is going to look fishy. Across the Octagon from him will be another guy with a history of testing positive for steroids. "Bigfoot" Silva tested positive for boldenone in 2008 while in the EliteXC.

Steroids and other drugs have been a problem with sports everywhere including the UFC as of late and is something that I think should be tested for more often. If these guys are being tested more frequently, then they won't have the opportunity to take anything in between drug tests and won't be able to get away with anything.


Overeem's five most notable wins include Vitor Belfort twice, Igor Vovchanchyn, Fabricio Werdum and Brock Lesnar. Silva's five most notable wins include Wesley "Cabbage" Correira, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski, former PrideFC Heavyweight Champion and arguably the greatest fighter of all time Fedor Emelianenko and Travis Browne.


As for tonight's fight, steroids aside, I see this one ending quickly. Both of these guys are going to stand in front of the other and just throw bombs at each other. In Overeem's last 11 fights only 1 has gone past the first round. He hasn't lost any fights since 2007 when he was knocked out by Sergei Kharitonov. "Bigfoot" has only been to the decision 3 times in his career and his last five fights have all avoided going to the final bell.

My prediction: Silva wins via TKO (round 1)

Welterweight: Jon Fitch (24-4-1, 1 NC) vs. Demian Maia (17-4)

Don't expect a knockout in this fight. If this fight stays standing you will more than likely want to turn away. If this fight goes to the ground you will be in for a treat between one of the best wrestlers in the world and one of the best submission experts in the world.

Fitch is coming into this fight having just beaten Erick Silva while Demian Maia has won his first two fights in the welterweight division. Fitch and Maia have both challenged for UFC Championships in their careers with Fitch losing to Georges St-Pierre at welterweight and Demian Maia losing to Anderson Silva at middleweight.

Fitch's most notable wins include Thiago Alves twice, Diego Sanchez, Paulo Thiago and Erick Silva. Maia's most notable wins include Nate Quarry, Chael Sonnen, Kendall Grove, Jorge Santiago and Dong Hyun Kim.

Fitch is a fighter that takes guys to the ground and usually wins by decision. The main concern for him this fight is that if he wants to do the same thing he always does, he will be putting himself in the most danger. Having Maia underneath him will give Maia the best chance to win because Maia has won nine fights by submission. I don't think Fitch will be able to keep Maia on his back for 15 minutes without something bad happening to him.

My prediction: Maia wins via submission (round 2)

Flyweight: Joseph Benavidez (16-3) vs. Ian McCall (11-3-1)

As I stated last week during the flyweight championship, Flyweights=Speed. These two guys are both coming into this fight off of losses against the current champion Demetrious Johnson. Benavidez has only lost to current UFC champions in his career in Johnson and current bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. McCall has also lost to Cruz and Johnson along with Charlie Valencia in his early WEC days.

Before coming to the UFC McCall had a stint in the WEC where he went 1-2 in the bantamweight division. Without a flyweight division at the time McCall left and went to Tachi Palace Fights where he won three straight fights including a fight against Darrell Montague for the Flyweight Championship. Upon the UFC implementing a flyweight division he was brought in immediately. He has also defeated Jussier Formiga who at the time was considered the best flyweight in the world.

Benavidez has had a great career so far, but has fallen short in big fights. He has lost in a title-eliminator to Cruz, and the two times he fought for the title he has lost as well (Cruz and Johnson). While he has struggled in the biggest fights of his career he has defeated Jeff Curran, Miguel torres and Eddie Wineland.

Tonight's fight will likely determine who will fight Demetrious Johnson next for the title. These guys are probably the second and third best guys in the division as of right now and both guys are looking for revenge. I see this fight going the full 15 minutes as I don't see either of them giving up or being knocked out.

My prediction: Benavidez wins via unanimous decision 


Preliminary Card on FX:

Lightweight: Gleison Tibau (26-8) vs. Evan Dunham (13-3)
Welterweight: Tyron Woodley (10-1) vs. Jay Hieron (23-6)

These are the two main fights on FX and I see them both going the same way. Neither fighter in both fights is that much better than the other and both fighters in these fights fight very similarly of their opponents. I don't think anyone will be finished in either of them and expect both of them to go the full 15.

My predictions: Dunham and Hieron win via unanimous decision

Lightweight: Jacob Volkmann (15-3) vs. Bobby Green (19-5)

Volkmann has had a relatively successful UFC career so far. He has gone 6-3 in the UFC, losing to Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann at welterweight and Paul Sass at lightweight. The Sass fight is his only loss at lightweight and has gone 6-1 since dropping down to 155. Green is coming into this fight on a four fight win streak against relative nobodies while in Strikeforce. Every time he has fought someone of any notoriety he has ended up losing in the fight. I don't think this Green will last long in the UFC.

My prediction: Volkmann wins via submission (round 1)

Lightweight: Yves Edwards (42-18-1) vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg (13-3-1)

Edwards has been around MMA and the UFC for a long time now. He's been fighting since 1997 and made his UFC debut back in 2001 against Matt Serra. While hasn't had the most successful UFC career he has definitely done more in his career than his opponent. Vallie-Flagg is making his UFC debut after defeating Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante in Strikeforce. Vallie-Flagg hasn't lost in over five years but I'm pretty sure if Edwards fought those same guys he wouldn't have lost either.

My prediction: Edwards wins via submission (round 3)


Preliminary Card on Facebook:

Catchweight (139.5): Chico Camus (12-3) vs. Dustin Kimura (9-0)

For this fight I'm picking Kimura to win by kimura. The amount of bad jokes Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg will probably make about that will probably make the fight worth watching.

My prediction: Kimura wins via submission (round 2)

Bantamweight: Edwin Figueroa (9-1) vs. Francisco Rivera (8-2, 1 NC)

This is the first fight of the night between two guys that are coming off of a lengthy layoff. Figueroa was out for awhile due to injury over the last year while Rivera was suspended for testing positive for a stimulant in his last fight. Figueroa is the better fighter and should win this one.

My prediction: Figueroa wins via KO (round 1)