Main Card on PPV
Heavyweight Championship: Cain Velasquez (11-1) vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (18-4)
Prediction: "Bigfoot" wins via 2nd round KO.
Last 3 Fights for Velasquez:
UFC 155 - Junior dos Santos II - Win by unanimous decision for Heavyweight Championship
UFC 146 - Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva I - Win by TKO (elbow & punches) at 3:36 of round 1
UFC on FOX 1 - Junior dos Santos I - Loss by KO (punches) at 1:04 of round 1 for Heavyweight Championship
Last 3 Fights for "Bigfoot":
UFC 156 - Alistair Overeem - Win by KO (punches) at 0:25 of round 3
UFC on FX 5 - Travis Browne - Win by TKO (punches) at 3:27 of round 1
UFC 146 - Cain Velasquez I - Loss by TKO (elbow & punches) at 3:36 of round 1
For the second fight in a row, Velasquez is fighting a guy that he has already met inside the Octagon before. In the first encounter between the two Velasquez came out victorious and many are thinking this fight will go the same exact way.
While Silva's chin is in question, Velasquez was knocked out last year as well. When I look at the three main factors of the fight in stand-up, wrestling and BJJ; I see this fight being very even. In my opinion the stand-up is even with Velasquez having the wrestling advantage and "Bigfoot" having the jiu-jitsu advantage.
I think in the first round we will see a lot of Velasquez applying the pressure and using his wrestling to win the round. In the second round I'm expecting Silva to realize he doesn't want a grappling match and eventually throw some heavy blows that will likely catch Velasquez early in the second. If Silva isn't able to finish Velasquez early in this fight then expect a lot of what we saw in the second Velasquez-dos Santos fight.
Heavyweight: Junior dos Santos (15-2) vs. Mark Hunt (9-7)
Prediction: Hunt wins via unanimous decision.
Last 3 Fights for dos Santos:
UFC 155 - Cain Velasquez II - Loss by unanimous decison for Heavyweight Championship
UFC 146 - Frank Mir - Win by TKO (punches) at 3:04 of round 2
UFC on FOX 1 - Cain Velasquez I - Win by KO (punches) at 1:04 of round 1 for Heavyweight Championship
Last 3 Fights for Hunt:
UFC on Fuel TV 8 - Stefan Struve - Win by TKO (punches) at 1:44 of round 3
UFC 144 - Cheick Kongo - Win by TKO (punches) at 2:11 of round 1
UFC 135 - Ben Rothwell - Win by unanimous decision
As good and exciting as the main event will be, I think this is the fight to watch. The main event will likely end early by KO, but I just don't see either of these guys getting knocked out. These two guys have the heaviest hands in the heavyweight division as well as the strongest chins. Hunt has only been knocked out once while JDS has never been knocked out in his career.
The winner of this fight will likely get the winner of the Velasquez-Silva fight at some point later this year and which ever way this fight and the main event end, that fight later this year will definitely be worth watching.
This fight will likely not to see the ground once in 15 minutes unless someone knocks the other guy down, so I'm not even going to bother to write about the ground games of each fighter. As for standing on the feet, I'm giving Hunt the slight advantage overall as he is a former professional kickboxer. Dos Santos might have the better hands, but Hunt will be a lot better at using kicks and knees than JDS is. I think this fight will go the full time and in the end Hunt will be victorious. Hunt asked for this fight when Overeem got hurt and with a win tonight he could finally get that UFC title shot.
Light Heavyweight: Glover Teixeira (20-2) vs. James Te Huna (16-5)
Prediction: Teixeira wins via 2nd round submission.
Last 3 Fights for Teixeira:
UFC on Fox 6 - Quinton "Rampage" Jackson - Win by unanimous decision
UFC 153 - Fabio Maldonado - Win by TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5:00 of round 2
UFC 146 - Kyle Kingsbury - Win by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 1:53 of round 1
Last 3 Fights for Te Huna:
UFC on Fuel TV 7 - Ryan Jimmo - Win by unanimous decision
UFC on Fuel TV 4 - Joey Beltran - Win by unanimous decision
UFC on FX 2 - Aaron Rosa - Win by TKO (punches) at 2:08 of round 1
Teixeira came into the UFC known as a guy who was really impressing everywhere he fought and also Chuck Liddell's training partner. Now in three fights in the UFC he might be one of the scariest guys at 205 and a future challenger to Jon Jones.
Te Huna has also been very successful as of late in the UFC and has only suffered one defeat in his time fighting in the Octagon. His only UFC defeat came to Alexander Gustafsson, who is currently considered as the best challenge to the champion, Jon Jones.
I think this fight might be pretty even on the feet, but am giving Teixeira the slight advantage there. On the ground I think Teixeira will have a clear advantage as he has never been submitted while Te Huna has suffered defeat via submission three times (a fourth by injury). I see this fight going past the first round as they will likely feel each other out first with Teixeira ending it in the second round. With this win I think Teixeira will likely need one more victory before earning a shot at Jones sometime in 2014.
Prediction: Maynard wins via unanimous decision.
Last 3 Fights for Maynard:
UFC on FX 4 - Clay Guida - Win by split decision
UFC 136 - Frankie Edgar III - Loss by KO (punches) at 3:54 of round 4 for Lightweight Championship
UFC 125 - Frankie Edgar II - Split draw for Lightweight Championship
Last 3 Fights for Grant:
UFC on FOX 6 - Matt Wiman - Win by KO (elbows & punches) at 4:51 of round 1
UFC 152 - Evan Dunahm - Win by unanimous decision
UFC on Fuel TV 3 - Carlo Prater - Win by unanimous decision
While I don't know too much about Grant coming into this fight he has been on a bit of a roll inside the Octagon. I don't really know if I believe the hype surrounding him as he has only defeated guys outside the top 15 of the lightweight and welterweight divisions. Maynard will definitely be the biggest test of his career tonight.
Gray Maynard has never been a guy that ends fights. Maynard uses his great wrestling to get his fights to the ground and then is usually able to keep his opponents there for 15 or 25 minutes depending on the length of the fight. He has been a very successful fighter in the UFC with only one loss in his career so far and could be looking at another title shot with a win tonight against Grant.
This fight is being looked at as a possible #1 contender's fight with the winner fighting Benson Henderson later this year for the UFC Lightweight Championship. Maynard will likely win this fight by using his wrestling and strength and not allowing Grant to really do anything. Unless Maynard finishes Grant tonight, or looks a lot more impressive than he has as of late I just don't see him having a shot against Henderson for the title.
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone (19-5, 1NC) vs. K.J. Noons (11-6)
Prediction: Cerrone wins via 1st round submission.
Last 3 Fights for Cerrone:
UFC on FOX 6 - Anthony Pettis - Loss by TKO (body kick & punches) at 2:35 of round 1
UFC 150 - Melvin Guillard - Win by KO (head kick & punch) at 1:16 of round 1
UFC on Fuel TV 3 - Jeremy Stephens - Win by unanimous decision
Last 3 Fights for Noons:
Strikeforce: Marquardt vs Saffiedine - Ryan Couture - Loss by split decision
Strikeforce: Tate vs Rousey - Josh Thomson - Loss by unanimous decision
Strikeforce: Melendez vs Masvidal - Billy Evangelista - Win by unanimous decision
Both of these guys were at the top of smaller promotions prior to coming to the UFC. Cerrone challenged for the WEC Lightweight Championship, losing all three times, with Noons winning the EliteXC Lightweight Championship and being unsuccessful in knocking off Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship.
This fight is Noons' first fight in the Octagon as he is finally coming over from Strikeforce. Noons is probably more known for his rivalry with Nick Diaz more than anything else in his career at this point and since the last Diaz fight he hasn't been all that successful. Including the second Diaz fight he is now 1-4 in his last five fights. Noons was once considered one of the best guys in the weight class while with the EliteXC and Strikeforce and may be a loss tonight from getting his walking papers.
Cerrone is also coming into this fight off of a loss. While Cerrone has been very successful so far in his career, he just seems to be that fighter that can never win the big one. He lost in all three of his WEC Lightweight Championship bouts, and probably would've earned a title shot had he not lost to both Anthony Pettis or Nate Diaz in the UFC.
This fight is definitely a must win for Noons, while Cerrone could possibly be alright with a loss. I think that Cerrone definitely is the much more well-rounded fighter and should be able to beat Noons. His biggest advantage over Noons is on the ground as Noons used to box and kickbox so I'm expecting Cerrone to get the fight to the ground and submit Noons early. This will more than likely be the first and last appearance of K.J. Noons in the UFC.
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