Featherweight bout: Chan Sung Jung vs Dustin Poirier

The Korean Zombie has earned a name and a fan base for his awesome fight against Leonard Garcia (the first match) where they went toe to toe and Garcia walked away much worse off, but took a split decision. Many thought the Zombie won that fight. In the rematch Chan won via submission rather quickly. More recently he KO’d Mark Hominick inside 7 seconds. One of the fastest knockouts ever in the cage. So lets just say Chan Sung Jung is something to worry about. However, he is fighting Dustin Poirer who is currently fighting incredibly well. He finishing and dominating fighters in rapid fashion. This is such a tough call here as the Zombie is good everywhere. While Poirer’s strengths are in the ground game. However, he is very strong there. I can’t remember if Chan Sung Jung’s submission defense was any good. Even though my memory is sketchy there, I think it is decent. He is going to need it. This fight is closer to pick em, but I think Poirer is going to be favored heavily. In that case The Korean Zombie for the upset.

Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs Jorge Lopez

Not enough fight knowledge of Jorge Lopez to make a call.

Lightweight bout: Donald Cerrone vs Jeremy Stephens

Despite Stephens possessing strong knockout power. Cerrone is better overall. On the ground is where Stephens has had the most problems. Luckily for Stephens, Cerrone likes to fight Stephens strengths which is the wild standup brawl.

Bantamweight bout: Yves Jabouin vs Jeff Hougland

Pass

Light Heavyweight bout: Igor Pokrajac vs Fabio Maldonado

Igor Pokrajac (Prooooooopriiiiiiaaaaaaaaak)

Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs Tom Lawlor

A very interesting fight. Both are crafty, Lawlor is better everywhere. However, MacDonald’s size may be a slight issue for Lawlor. Lawlor has fought similar sized fighters before and won, (CB Dolloway) was finished with a guillotine in rapid fashion.

Preliminary Card Predictions for UFC on Fuel 3 Shown On Facebook

Middleweight bout: Brad Tavares vs Yang Dongi

Pass

Lightweight bout: Cody McKenzie vs Marcus LeVesseur

Pass, but like watching McKenzie land that special choke – The McKenzitine.

Lightweight bout: TJ Grant vs Carlo Prater

Also a very interesting fight. Both are excellent on the ground, while Prater is probably better there. However, TJ Grant is an excellent wrestler and if he gets on top of Prater I think Grant will win. Prater has also had up and down performances. I like TJ Grant here.

Lightweight bout: Rafael dos Anjos vs Kamal Shalorus

Another awesome fight. Shalorus has let me down the last 3 fights. I think Dos Anjos will win here.

Bantamweight bout: Jeff Curran vs Johnny Eduardo

Pass – but always like to see if Curran is going to get the win. The guy is getting up there in age.

Bantamweight bout: Alex Soto vs Francisco Rivera

Pass

UFC On Fox 3 Main card

Lightweight bout: Nate Diaz vs Jim Miller

I’ve got Diaz here. The length, height, reach, and ability to avoid the jiu jitsu of Miller should be enough to net Diaz a win. Diaz is the underdog on this fight, but wouldn’t be surprised to see the lines move.

Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs Johny Hendricks

Johny Hendricks time has come. He has quietly fought his way to the contender status. Mostly off the tv spotlight. Only after a fast KO of Jon Fitch is Hendricks getting moved up in the ranks.

Middleweight bout: Rousimar Palhares vs Alan Belcher

Rousimar is the best at leg locks….period. Nobody is better, nobody is close. Belcher is known for being crafty and avoiding his opponents strengths and coming out ahead. I think Belcher is going to avoid the leg lock and outpoint Palhares for a win via decision.

Heavyweight bout: Pat Barry vs Lavar Johnson

Barry gets alot of attention for his funny interviews and entertaining fights. However, he hasn’t shown that he can really hang with the heavyweights. With Lavar Johnson having momentum behind him, I expect Barry to not make out of the 2nd round.

Prelims On (Fuel TV)

Lightweight bout: Tony Ferguson vs Michael Johnson

Tony Ferguson – he is too good.

Flyweight bout: John Dodson vs Tim Elliott

Dodson – he is also too good.

Welterweight bout: John Hathaway vs Pascal Krauss

I like the way Hathaway fights. He was impressive going back to his fight against Diego Sanchez many moons ago now, but overall he has won some tough decisions while only losing to Mike Pyle. I’ve never seen Krauss fight, he’s 10-0 against European competition, while Hathaway has the UFC experience and the stiffer competition tests. I got Hathaway.

Flyweight bout: Louis Gaudinot vs John Lineker

Pass

Lightweight bout: Danny Castillo vs John Cholish

I can see Castillo winning here despite him having trouble against submission guys.

Featherweight bout: Dennis Bermudez vs Pablo Garza

Pass

This fight will take place on April 21, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Philips Arena.

Strengths For Jon Jones

Length – Jones just has a tremendous wingspan and often has over 6 inches of reach advantage of most people he is fighting. Machida, Shogun Rua, and Quinton Jackson couldn’t land a punch on the rangier Jones. All 3 were defeated. All 3 were former champions as was Evans.

Variety – Jones really mixes up his striking and wrestling so that he is unpredictable. Between his greco throws and spinning elbows, Jones does some things no other fighter in mma pieces together.

Height – Jones’ height causes problems for a lot of fighters having to reach up to land.

Accuracy – Jones is highly accurate and usually it takes a few punches before Jones gets into a dominant position and finishes the fight.

Strengths For Rashad Evans

Elusiveness – Rashad’s footwork is constant as well as his head movement. Expect Jon Jones to take his time with Evans and try to find his timing. Evans makes it very difficult sort of like a light heavyweight Dominick Cruz.

Power – Rashad has more 1 punch knockouts and finishes than Jon Jones does.

Wrestling – I wouldn’t say his wrestling is a true advantage against Jones who himself is a very good wrestler in his own right. Although Jones doesn’t have the “pedigree”, Jones is plenty a good in this department. Evans has a very good wrestling get up game. He is hard to hold down. Jones is known for having a dominating/stifling top game.

Who Will Win? Evans or Jones?

Jones is overdue for being caught with something from somebody. The guy has avoided damage from everyone. Evans has always been a fighter with surprising fights and surprising strikes. Lidell, Salmon, that tall cowboy from the TUF finale….With Evans elusive striking and KO power and likely to be a huge underdog in this one. You have to think that Evans knows enough from training with Jones to know some his patterns and nuances. Same goes for Jones though there. I still can’t see how Evans wins this fight. With the extreme reach advantage and overall total fight control of Jon Jones, I gotta think he is winning this fight. As usual though, expect never die determination and surprises from Rashad. So if the odds are extremely out of whack, I might just be going with Rashad here.

Main Card

Light Heavy Weight: Gustafsson vs Silva

Thiago Silva was beasting TKOing people all over the place until he got TKO’d himself against Machida. While he came back with a quick KO against an aging Keith Jardine he was decisioned and almost won against Rashad Evans for a brief moment. Silva is taking on a rising star in Gustafsson. An exceptionally tall, precise striker, with excellent submissions. Gustafsson is not the KO artist Silva is, but he’s not a guy thats dropping 100 punches to take someone out. He is more of a 10 punch finisher. Alex is very good everywhere. If Gustafsson gets top control I think its going to stay that way until the ref pulls him off. Gustafsson also has a pretty good chin.

Its difficult not to take Gustafsson in his hometown, but I expect these odds to put this fight close to a pickem. I like Gustafsson as long as the odds stay tight.

I can see Gustafsson getting a takedown getting on top and getting the ref stoppage or a choke.

Light Heavyweight: Stann vs Sakara

Of all the fights Sakara has been in this matchup is pretty good for him. Stann is a standup puncher mostly which will play into Sakara’s strength. In any fight Sakara has that puncher’s chance due to his boxing background. Sakara has also worked on his wrestling and takedown defense.

Stann on the other hand has one giant hole and that is when he is on his back. He is very submittable something Sakara is adept too. Stann on the other hand is the stronger puncher, has a good chin, and his stamina is better than Sakara.

The difference here is ring rust. Sakara barely fights, while Stann has fought more regularly. However, if the odds are jacked 3-1 or higher for Stann, its worth a punt on Sakara.

I still think Stann is going to win though via overwhelm.

Middleweight: Thiago vs Bahadurzada

Should be an awesome fight two good punchers. Will pass though on playing.

Welterweight: Siver vs Nunes

Diego Nunes brings a lot to the table here. Slightly more athletic, less powerful though.

I got Nunes in the decision.

Featherweight: Johnson vs Maguire

Maguire showed a really good overall game and a matchup against DeMarques who also really blossomed since his stint on the TUF series should be an entertaining fight that goes the distance.

Maguire is really tricky and does a few things differently than other fighters. In his last fight he showed wild escapes and takedown setups that you rarely see.

Like I said I expect it to go the distance. Leaning towards Maguire.

Bantamweight: Pickett vs Page

Prelim Fights – Passing on all the prelims

Welterweight: Abedi vs Head

Light Heavyweight: Diabate vs Kruth

Middleweight: Carmont vs Cedenblad

Lightweight: Madadi vs Izquierdo

Welterweight: Thoresen vs Yousef

Featherweight: Young vs Wisely

The three fights I think are worthy are the main event Alvs vs Kampmann. My prediction here.

The Demetrious Johnson vs Ian McCall fight. I like Johnson to win as the guy is unstoppable. I can see the odds shifting more than where they are now.

After seeing Constantinos Philippou’s last outing, I’m definitely picking him over Court McGee. Philippou has size, massive power, excellent agility, and what seemed to be good cardio. I think all of that will overcome Court McGee’s grinding style.

Cole Miller over Steven Siler – yes to Cole Miller only if the odds were to come down. This is a revenge fight because Siler beat Cole’s younger brother in the Ultimate Fighter tryouts and kept Micah out of the house. Expect insane tenacity from Cole Miller who often fights with emotion. The odds are too nuts on this one though as Miller can be great and disappointing just the same. Falls into the pass if odds stay here or skew even more in favor of Miller. If odds come down, Miller is worth the punt.

Strengths for Alves:

• Power Leg kicks – phenomenal leg kicks that are stronger than Kampmann’s, however, the output tends to fade in further rounds.
• Punching power – Has knocked out many with his hands

Strengths for Kampmann:

• Striking accuracy – Kampmann has excellent strike accuracy more like a boxer. He is not a KO artist with one big punch. He tends to have a high output of accurate strikes more like Nick Diaz. Kampmann has a very crisp technique though.
• Takedown defense – Kampmann has a good takedown defense and against Alves I don’t think he will have to worry about that too much as Alves likes to keep it standing.

This is a great matchup for national tv and I can see why UFC made it. They are both strikers with very different styles. Kampmann is ultra crisp that requires a number of strikes before he sets up a takedown, submission, etc. While Alves will use his weight and power to KO or TKO an opponent. Kampmann is known for his submissions as well, but against Alves its not likely happening. Alves is a Black Belt at jiu-jitsu and has been one for a long time. Alves also hasn’t been submitted in the octagon since his very first fight against Spencer Fisher. How that happened was most likely attributed Alves former cardio problem. However, that problem has been solved with both better training and better diet. Kampmann is no slouch at all, he is similar to Carlos Condit in so many ways with the height and length and crisp striking, but possesses agile submission game as well. There are two weaknesses I see in this fight. One Kampmann is susceptible to being knocked out and Alves is susceptible to coming in off weight.

UFC on FX: Alves vs Kampmann Prediction

Alves is favored slightly, its almost even at some sportsbooks at this point. Currently, 5dimes has Alves at -135. I think Alves is going to win. Kampmann is hard to finish, but Alves is on a mission and has improved tremendously. Kampmann has as well and its tough going against Kampmann as he is one of my favorite fighters to watch, but I think Alves’ power is going to be the difference in the fight. Plus Alves tends to push the pace more than Kampmann while again Kampmann sometimes plays the in and out game which in the eyes of the judges the aggressor gets advantage in the decision process. Slight edge to Alves.

This fight I think is going the distance with Alves dominating via ground and pound and power strikes. 30-27 decision.

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Miesha Tate vs Ronda Rousey

This women’s matchup is the main event on this card. There has already been quite a bit of trash talk going on between the two fighters. Both are also two of the prettiest in the business. This matters none to their skills however.

Miesha Tate’s Skillset: Wrestling, Top Control, Ground and Pound

Ronda Rousey’s Skillset: Judo (Olympic level), Clinch work, Best armbar in the business, Throws

Meisha is going to want to watch out for getting tied up and will probably be content to stay and trade on the feet, trying to win points. If the match somehow goes to the ground she is going to want to be on top. That is where she is comfortable. However, she won’t want to be in Rousey’s guard, she should probably aim to be in side control to have the best chance at avoiding being armbarred. Tate can also execute the head and arm choke from side control as she has done in the past.

Rousey will go right at Tate and charge her like other opponents. In judo they are used to just locking straight up. If Rousey gets taken down expect the armbar to make several appearances from the bottom. Nobody slaps an armbar on faster than Rousey.

We haven’t seen Ronda go past the first round, but if you train for a judo match then you will have cardio for a fight. So I don’t see that as a concern. I see this fight going Ronda’s way, via Osoto Gari to fast armbar. New champion.

Ronaldo Souza vs Derek Brunson

Derek Brunson looks like a serious rising star and an athletic phenom. Will probably use his agility to avoid submissions. If Jacare decides to trade, Brunson will be winning this.

Paul Daley vs Kazuo Misaki

Daley is going to win one of these days. No time like this match.

K.J. Noons vs Josh Thomson

Should go to the cards. Thomson and his kicks/takedowns and Noons with his punches and takedown defense. I think Noons wins this.

Scott Smith vs Lumumba Sayers

So much more experience in Smith than Sayers. Sayers coming off a big KO. Smith likes to take punishment though and I can see Sayers unloading and Smith crumpling. As a Smith fan it pains me to say that.

Sarah Kaufman vs Alexis Davis

Kaufman

Caros Fodor vs Pat Healy

Healy looking good lately.

Ryan Couture vs Conor Heun

This fight will be good.

Money saving Reduced Juice options are available now on the Sanchez/Ellenberger fight – Wager now.

See our Ellenberger vs Sanchez pick and the rest of the picks for tonight’s fight card.

Takes place at Saitama arena in Japan
Sunday, February 26, 2012

Lightweight Championship: Frankie Edgar vs Ben Henderson

I was such a huge fan of Frankie Edgar from way back when he took a close decision against at that time Tyson Griffin. When they fought Tyson Griffin was considered the 2nd best in the division with always an exciting fight and winner of many fight of the night bonuses. Edgar beat him. The new more technical Edgar is a different fighter. I really used to enjoy his fights when he utilized his wrestling style mostly. The new Edgar is really a tactician and utilizes incredible foot work, head movement, and boxing. Ben Henderson doesn’t have the footwork or head movement to avoid Edgar’s in and out boxing style. Nor will Henderson be able to contend with his speed. However, Ben Henderson will have a power and strength advantage. The other item that Henderson will have on his side is the unbelieveable skill of submission defense.

If Ben Henderson can’t get close to Edgar, then the fight is going to go Edgar’s way. The key for Henderson here is to get Edgar up against the fence and bully him. If the fight has any kind of close fighting (unlike Edgar vs Penn) then I think Henderson has a chance to TKO Edgar on the ground. Other than that Edgar wins a decision. However, as a fan of both fighters, and always interested in seeing the underdog win, I think Henderson will find a way to win. Like he did against Jim Miller.

Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs Ryan Bader

Is this Quinton’s last fight? Quinton used to fight in Pride long before he was ever in the UFC with an up and down record. He has said before fights were fixed or massaged in that organization. Quinton Jackson is revered in Japan and is a big name there. He built his persona with the chain and howl due to Japan’s love of the fighter walkout and pre-fight extravagant introductions. Quinton has shown to have conditioning problems in the past, but looked decent in his fights with Hammil and Machida. Even in defeat against Jon Jones, Jackson, looked better than expected.

I’ve wavered on this fight several times, but I’ll go with Quinton in Japan.

Heavyweight: Mark Hunt vs Cheick Kongo

As much as Mark Hunt has been around K-1 and only MMA for a few fights, he is stepping into the cage against someone has been a title contender and has fought the heavyweight’s best. Kongo won’t be taken down in this fight, but it would be interesting to see if Kongo will take Hunt down and use his strong top game to GnP him. I have Kongo winning this fight in so many ways.

Welterweight: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields

Jake Shields will have his hands full with Akiyama. Yoshihiro is good with punching and rolls through fighter’s defenses. Good thing for Yoshihiro is that Shields has very little defense. What Akiyama lacks Shields is excellent at. Submissions/submission defense.

Middleweight: Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch

Okami via TKO.

Featherweight: Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski

Two punchers. Palaszewski has been on fire lately and surprising.

Lightweight: Anthony Pettis vs Joe Lauzon

Awesome fight. Love the matchup of Pettis who has great striking and owner of one of the best kicks in MMA history against Joe Lauzon who is the ultimate smotherer straight to submission fighter. Pettis has excellent submission defense and a great guard as well.
Two ways this goes. 1. Pettis stays on the outside and frustrates Lauzon to where he can’t get his takedown – that will go decision/tko/submission Pettis. 2. Pettis throws a kick that Lauzon catches, takes him down and finishes with his rear naked choke.

I think Lauzon finds a way to get Pettis to the ground and win rounds.

UFC 144 Preliminary card (FX)

Lightweight: Takanori Gomi vs Eiji Mitsuoka

Gomi

Bantamweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee

The legend that is Kid Yamamoto has been fading a bit as he’s lost 4 out of 5 of his last fights. I see Yamamoto making a comeback here as he has always fought well in Japan. Fighting in Japan is different than any other country due to the crowd being quiet. Its not like the UK, Australia, Canada, or the USA. Its different. Yamamoto is used to it, Lee isn’t.

Middleweight: Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell

Cantwell has been chasing that momentum he had after beating Brian Stann in the WEC for the light heavyweight belt. He has lost his last 4 fights to decision. Some were surprising losses too. Fukuda is an experienced veteran and is no easy task for Cantwell, but he is also not that big of a threat. I see the robot getting a victory in the land of robots.

Bantamweight: Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso

Mizugaki