UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche Preview

Tonight is UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche. This event makes UFC history for featuring the first ever women's fight in the UFC. The UFC has come a long way over the years and the fact that their first ever women's UFC fight is headlining a PPV that also features a couple of future UFC Hall of Famers is a good step in the right direction for the company.

UFC 157 Predictions:

Main Card on PPV:

Women's Bantamweight Championship: Ronda Rousey (C) (6-0) vs. Liz Carmouche (8-2)

A couple of years ago the UFC looked like it had no plans in the near future to bring women's fighters into the UFC. Now tonight we will get to see the debut of women in the Octagon. Both women competing in the first ever UFC women's fight are coming over from Strikeforce after the company had shut down operations.

The champion Rousey came over to the UFC as the champion so she will be coming into this fight as the current and first ever UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion. Before coming to the UFC she managed to go undefeated in her first six fights winning all of them by armbar in the first round, with only one of them actually lasting longer than one minute. She could really be looked at as Women's MMA's version of Mike Tyson at this point.

Her opponent Carmouche is coming into this fight on a current two-fight win streak. Her only losses have come to former Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champions in Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen. On paper she seems to be a more well-rounded fighter than Rousey, in that she's actually won fights outside of just armbar. With five wins via (T)KO and two by submission she definitely brings more to the table than Rousey does from what we've seen.

What this fight is going to come down to is whether or not Carmouche can keep the fight standing. If Rousey is able to get this fight to the ground and grab a piece of Carmouche's arm this fight will be all over quick, and her arm might not be all intact when the referee finally separates the two. Making a case for Carmouche to win this fight is very difficult because I just don't see her having any chance against Rousey who is considered to be the best women's fighter in the world at this time. This isn't the fight people wanted to see as most wanted her to fight Cris "Cyborg" Santos but we will have to take what the UFC has given us. Sorry Carmouche this fight won't end pretty for you.

My prediction: Rousey wins via submission (round 1) to retain UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship

Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida (18-3) vs. Dan Henderson (29-8)

This fight could have been the headliner at any UFC event and the winner of this fight will be getting the next shot at the light heavyweight title which is currently held by Jon Jones. Jones is fighting Chael Sonnen later this year so the winner of this fight will challenge the winner of the title fight more than likely by the end of the year.

Machida is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and in his first 16 fights was untouchable, going undefeated and winning the championship over then champion, Rashad Evans. Machida also owns notable wins over Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn, Sokoudjou, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Randy Couture and most recently Ryan Bader. Before Jones came into the picture in the light heavyweight division most people that followed the UFC thought that he would be the future of the division and would remain untouchable for some time. After losing three of his last five fights he will now be trying to get back on track and move forward to winning back the championship that he lost almost three years ago.

Henderson is a former PrideFC Welterweight and Middleweight Champion (PrideFC's welterweight division was about the same weight as the UFC's middleweight division and their middleweight division was about the same as the UFC's light heavyweight division). Henderson is coming into this fight on a four fight win streak which includes who some consider the greatest fighter of all time in Fedor Emelianenko. Some of Hendo's most notable wins include Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Renato "Babalu" Sobral twice, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Rich Franklin, Michael Bisping and most recently Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

This is a fight where two guys will be trying to keep it standing and attempt to knock the other guy out. Both guys bring very different backgrounds into this fight with Machida using karate and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu while Henderson has a background in wrestling.

I doubt that this fight goes to the ground unless one of these fighters are trying to earn points.Neither guy wants the fight to go there because they are both at their strongest when they are standing. Machida fights a defensive style while Henderson will likely charge at him and try to land his very powerful "H-Bomb." The "H-Bomb" is the nickname that was given to his overhand right punch that knocked out Bisping at UFC 100. If Machida is going to win this fight he's going to have to fight defensive and make Hendo come at him. He's not going to knock him out so he's going to have to fight smart and win this fight via decision. For Hendo he's going to have to do what he's done so many times and try to land some shots that will likely put Machida on the mat and earn him his title shot.

My prediction: Henderson wins via KO (round 2)

Bantamweight: Urijah Faber (26-6) vs. Ivan Menjivar (25-9)

Urijah Faber was 21-1 and regarded as the best fighter not featured in any of the UFC weight classes at the time a few years ago. Since then he has managed to split his next 10 fights (going 5-5) at both featherweight and now bantamweight and is no longer considered the greatest featherweight of all time (Jose Aldo). The former WEC Featherweight Champion will be coming into this fight against a guy that has been around for a long time and a guy that he once fought over seven years ago.

Ivan Menjivar has been fighting since 2001 and is now in his fourth different weight class. The former welterweight fighter has moved down three weight classes and lost over 30 pounds over this time frame. When he and Faber met the first time back in 2006 he lost the fight via DQ after illegally kicking Faber while he was a downed opponent. Menjivar spent almost four years retired between late 2006 and mid 2010 and since coming back has gone 5-2.

Neither guy really has a weakness and both are pretty good on their feet as well as the ground. This should be an entertaining fight for 15 minutes and should be a candidate for fight of the night.

My prediction: Faber wins via unanimous decision

Welterweight: Court McGee (14-3) vs. Josh Neer (33-12-1)

I don't agree with this fight being on the main card tonight and think that the Brendan Schaub-Lavar Johnson fight was more deserving. Anyways this fight features McGee who won the 11th season of the Ultimate Fighter and Neer who has fought just about everybody and everywhere over his 40-plus fight career.

McGee is coming into this fight on a two fight losing streak and with a loss here, he could be looking at finding a new place to fight. He hasn't fought close to as many times as Neer and hasn't fought as tough of competition either. McGee will be making his welterweight debut tonight and the change in weight classes could help him.

Neer comes into this fight on a two fight losing streak as well, and is facing the possibility that he could be released from the UFC for the fourth time. He holds notable wins over Melvin Guillard, Joe Stevenson, Din Thomas, Mac Danzig and Duane "Bang" Ludwig.

Neer has beaten and fought much better competition his entire career than McGee and has fought at welterweight for the majority of his career so he should have the advantage over McGee. I think all signs are pointing to Neer winning this fight and I think he'll finish the fight. I see McGee eventually getting gassed and not being able to handle the weight cut late in the third.

My prediction: Neer wins via TKO (round 3)

Welterweight: Josh Koscheck (17-6) vs. Robbie Lawler (19-9, 1 NC)

This fight could go one of two ways. Koscheck could use his superior wrestling and hold Lawler down for three rounds or he could stand with Lawler in a fight where there could end up being fireworks by the end. I'm hoping for the second way.

Koscheck seems to be in a hard place right now in the welterweight division. He has two losses to the current champion and probably won't be getting a title shot anytime soon. He just lost to Johny Hendricks in his most recent fight and with the UFC trimming its roster he could also be on the chopping block if he fails to perform as well as he has for most of his career. He holds notable wins over Diego Sanchez, Chris Lytle, Frank Trigg,  Paul Daley and his opponent's training partner Matt Hughes.

Lawler is making his UFC return after not fighting for the organization in over eight years. He has never really gone on a long winning streak since leaving the UFC but has managed to put on great performances against the best guys in the world outside of the sport's number one organization. He's another fighter that with a loss could be on his way out if he doesn't perform well tonight. He holds notable wins over Chris Lytle, Frank Trigg, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, Melvin Manhoef and Matt Lindland.

This fight will be Lawler's first welterweight fight in almost nine years so if he's going to win the fight he is going to have to win it early. He's never been a fighter to do all that well late in fights due to him giving it his all early. All Koscheck really has to do is get this fight to the ground for a win, but with the fear of 100 fighters being cut in the UFC he might go out and try to win in a more exciting fashion. If this fight stays standing for the entire first round, Koscheck will probably be the fighter that won't be standing at the end.

My prediction: Lawler wins via KO (round 1)


Quick Picks:
Preliminary Card on FX:

Heavyweight: Brendan Schaub (8-3) vs. Lavar Johnson (17-6)
My prediction: Schaub wins via KO (round 1)

Lightweight: Michael Chiesa (8-0) vs. Anton Kuivanen (17-5)
My prediction: Chiesa wins submission (round 2)

Featherweight: Dennis Bermudez (9-3) vs. Matt Grice (15-4)
My prediction: Grice wins via submission (round 3)

Lightweight: Sam Stout (18-8-1) vs. Caros Fodor (7-2)
My prediction: Stout wins via TKO (round 2)


Earlier Predictions:
Preliminary Card on Facebook:

Welterweight: Kenny Robertson (11-2) vs. Brock Jardine (9-2)
My prediction: Robertson wins via TKO (round 2)

Welterweight: Jon Manley (7-1) vs. Neil Magny (7-1)
My prediction: Magny wins via unanimous decision

Welterweight: Nah-Shon Burrell (8-2) vs. Yuri Villefort (6-1)
My prediction: Villefort wins via submission (round 2)