UFC 110 Picks

UFC 110 in Australia takes place tomorrow and with the excitement of attending my first UFC event I’ve left it a bit late to post my picks up. With nothing better to do to kill the remaining 12 or so hours before the first preliminary fight, here’s my picks for tomorrows event:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Cain Velasquez
Pick- Nogueira by 2nd round submission
While I agree that Velasquez is probably the safe pick in this fight, I don’t see any way he can win this fight inside the distance and against a finisher and a survivor like Nogueira that is dangerous. As good as Velasquez is, his game revolves around his wrestling and his explosiveness. His power has appeared overrated in his last three fights with an inability to finish Cheick Kongo despite the numerous advantageous positions and strikes he landed, a controversial stoppage against Ben Rothwell where he again landed numerous strikes that were taken as comfortably as one could take numerous strikes from a 230lb Mexican fighter and a one sided beatdown that went way longer then it should have against Denis Stojnic. Velasquez’s striking is technically below average and his lack of positional knowledge on the ground could get him into trouble against a Jiu Jitsu master like Nogueira.

Nogueira has two big advantages in this fight; boxing and jiu jitsu. Velasquez has proven he can take a punch from a top level MMA striker in the fight with Cheick Kongo, but if he chooses to keep the fight on the feet Nogueira will outbox him en route to a unanimous decision win. If Velasquez decides to use his wrestling to take the fight to the floor, he won’t gain the superior positioning against Nogueira that he has enjoyed in previous fights. I have no doubt that Nogueira could sweep Velasquez as he has swept plenty of good fighters in the past who have solid top games (most notably Fedor Emelianenko although it did him little good). While Nogueira’s pure jiu jitsu isn’t on the absolute elite level, his game is among the best for MMA as he works off his opponents strikes. I think Velasquez will probably be ahead on points early in the fight, but will likely fall victim to one of Nogueira’s chokes during a scramble sometime during the middle of the fight.

Wanderlei Silva vs Michael Bisping
Prediction- Silva by 1st round knockout
I honestly think that Bisping is scared of Silva. He’s trying to put on a brave front, but he seems to be reacting to whatever Wanderlei does. At the weigh in he seemed to be comfortable until he had to stare Wanderlei down. This is where Wanderlei is at his best, when he has an opponent who he can intimidate. Bisping’s only real shot in this fight is if Wanderlei’s weight cut severely effects him (he looks a hell of a lot better then he did when he fought Franklin so I assume he’s done it better this time) and then he’d have to employ a hit and run style and win on points. I think Wanderlei’s almost reckless style will overwhelm Bisping and he’ll be able to utilise his clinch game and overall just punish ‘The Count’ until he can’t take anymore. Silva by brutal, one sided knockout.

Joe Stevenson vs George Sotiropolous
Prediction- Stevenson on points
I think the UFC are banking on a big win by George so they can use him as they used Bisping to build shows around him in Australia. I think they will be spoilt as Stevenson’s top game will be a bit too much at this stage of Georges career. If George can keep the fight standing, he’ll punish ‘Daddy’ as Stevenson’s stand-up has always been poor, but Stevenson is a solid wrestler and I believe he’ll win a unanimous, but highly competitive decision while utilising his top game.

Keith Jardine vs Ryan Bader
Prediction- Jardine on points
Bader is still completing his game and one of the areas he lacks is in the stand-up. Jardine is coming off a big knockout loss and back to back losses, but with the quality wrestlers he has to train with I think he’ll be well prepared for Bader’s takedowns. Bader on the other hand has no one to replicate Jardine’s unorthodox (thats a kind way of putting it) striking style and I think once Jardine gets into a rhythm, Bader will have a hard time getting anything going against him.

Mirko Cro Cop vs Anthony Perosh
Prediction- Cro Cop by 1st round knockout (hopefully a head kick)
Well most people were disappointed when Ben Rothwell pulled out on Friday, but I sort of wasn’t. Being the old school PRIDE fan that I am I’m sort of hoping to see Nogueira pull of a come from behind submission win, Wanderlei destroy someone and Cro Cop win by head kick knockout. He has a much better chance of knocking out Perosh then he did Rothwell (I’d have picked Rothwell in their fight). Perosh is a UFC veteran, having dropped fights to Jeff Monson and Critian Wellisch and he is a solid ground fighter having competed in Abu Dhabi, but he has been the victim of some knockouts in the past (one of them to James Te-Huna, who fights on the prelims) and I expect nothing different from him here.

Preliminaries
Stephan Bonnar vs Krysztof Soszynski
Prediction- Bonnar on points
Bonnar’s a handful when he’s on his game and I think he’ll be on his game tomorrow. It’s a pickem fight I feel and I think he’s due to pull one out.

Chris Lytle vs Brian Foster
Prediction- Foster on points
This fight will be fight of the night. These two live for the war and I expect nothing less. Foster is the less battle hardened of the two, but he brings more physical tools to the fight and thats where I think he wins it.

CB Dollaway vs Goran Reljic
Prediction- Dollaway on points
It’s been a long wait for the return of Goran, almost two years and I think Dollaway is too much too soon after such a long lay off. Goran looked good when he defeated Gouveia, but I think Dollaway will be hungry for a big win and will grind out a tough decision.

James Te-Huna vs Igor Pokrajac
Prediction- Igor by 1st round submission
I’m not holding out much hope for the Kiwi kickboxer. His ground game is pretty average and Igor is an experienced wrestler and once it hits the ground Te-Huna will be a fish out of water.

Sanchez edges Guida in war at TUF9 Finale

In what has to be the fight of the year in MMA so far for 2009, TUF1 Middleweight champion Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez scored a split decision over Clay Guida in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale. Both guys seemed eager to start the fight, with Sanchez staring Guida down during his walk to the Octagon and the fighters engaging in one of the most intense staredowns during the referee’s final instructions. That eagerness boilt over as both men opened with a huge flurry that lasted a good 20 seconds with Sanchez rocking Guida against the cage. The two traded heavy strikes for the opening minute of the first round with Sanchez’s ever improving stand-up skills allowing him to tattoo Guida with a variety of clean shots, one of which knocked Guida’s mouthpiece out. Guida then scored a takedown and began working his top game that has earnt him victories over Mac Danzig and Nate Diaz in his recent outings. Sanchez worked his way back to his feet and after a brief respite to replace Guida’s mouthguard, Sanchez again took the upper hand dropping Guida heavily with a head kick. Somehow Guida wasn’t unconscious when he hit the ground, and he rises before Sanchez can finish him. Sanchez went to work with his hands landing more hard shots that appeared to have broken Guida’s nose before getting a takedown of his own and landing several shots from on top before the buzzer sounded.

And that was just the first round…..

Guida came out for the 2nd round like nothing had happened and put Sanchez on his back early and began to control him from on top. Sanchez was just as aggressive from his back, throwing hard elbows that landed frequently as Guida appeared more interested in controlling Diego then doing damage. Sanchez was also busy with submission attempts, looking for the kimura on more then one occasion although Guida’s defence was tight. The fighters exchange strikes on the ground at the end of the round with Sanchez landing a series of elbows that cut Guida’s forehead open before the buzzer. Sanchez scored early in the third with strikes as Guida attempted to land punches to set up a takedown. Midway through the round Guida shoots in for a takedown which fails an Sanchez tries to capitilise by taking his back. Guida defends and Sanchez ends up on bottom but with a rear (?) naked choke locked in as he is still half around Guida’s back. Guida escapes again and looks to capitilise but Sanchez keeps him busy defending submission attempts as the fight ends and the debate about who won begins.

While Sanchez did the most damage by far, Guida was successful in controlling where the fight went for most of it. I scored a 10-8 round for Sanchez in the first and thought the 2nd and 3rd could go either way (I wouldn’t argue with a 10-9 in the first either) giving Guida the 2nd and Sanchez the 3rd. The judges were split with 29-28 Guida and 29-28/29-27 for Sanchez giving him the split decision and likely a shot at the winner of Florian-Penn at UFC 101. It truly was one of the best fights I’ve seen in MMA and both fighters stock rose significantly from the fight.

In the Ultimate Fighter Finals it was a UK clean sweep with Ross Pearson edging Andre Winner in the Lightweight Final and James Wilks choking out DeMarques Johnson in the opening round of the Welterweight final. Also on the card, Chris Lytle survived a scary first round in which he was dropped to score a unanimous decision over Kevin Burns and TUF2 Welterweight Joe Stevenson showed an improved overall game decisioning TUF5 Lightweight champion Nate Diaz.

TUF9 Finale

The Ultimate Fighter 9 “US vs UK” concludes tomorrow with the usual final card featuring the final bouts as part of the main card. There was a lot of hype around this season being the best yet, I don’t quite agree with it to be honest. While some of the tension between the two teams was good, the rivalry with the coaches wasn’t up there with some of the other seasons and the antics in the house were pretty tame I thought. I was sort of waiting for someone big to happen in the house for the entire show and nothing happened.

The finals pit DeMarques Johnson (US) against James Wilkes (UK) in the Welterweight division and in the Lightweight division Andre Winner and Ross Pearson of team UK do battle. I think Johnson will have too much experience for Wilks, who seems a little green at this stage. As much as I didn’t like Johnson (or anyone from team US), he probably had the most well rounded game in the house and Wilks showed some weaknesses in his game in his two fights against Lester. The all UK Lightweight final should be a cracker and I’m really not sure who to pick. I’m going with Winner to win on points in what could be fight of the night (if the main event doesn’t live up to expectations).

The main card has some interesting non-TUF fights with a pivotal battle in the lightweight division between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida headlining the card. This fight provides us with the clear next contender behind Florian and Penn in my opinion. Maybe Gray Maynard is up there, but I think with Sanchez’s success at welterweight and Guida’s resume as well as the performance he showed in losing to Huerta that the winner of this fight should get the next crack. I think Sanchez has the better finishing skills out of the two, but Guida’s wrestling, pace and cardio could make the fight very interesting. Sanchez has dealt with fighters like Guida before and seeing how he doesn’t have to deal with the strength of a 170lber in this fight, I think he won’t be as troubled by the wrestling skills of Guida. Plus Sanchez is known to set a pretty high pace himself and also has great cardio. The x-factor here is the weight cut for Sanchez, if it effects him Guida will just outwork him. I think it won’t, especially since this is the second time he’s cut this far now and I think Sanchez will prevail by unanimous decision or late stoppage.

The other interesting fight on the card sees the two men who most recently lost to Guida and Sanchez doing battle. Nate Diaz fights Joe Stevenson in a battle of former TUF champions and one both men can’t really afford to lose. Diaz had a strong run of victories post TUF but stumbled in his chance to join the elite against Clay Guida at UFC 94. Stevenson struggled a bit post TUF before winning enough straight fights to earn himself a shot at BJ Penn’s title. Penn made light work of Stevenson which has started a run of bad results for ‘Daddy’ as he is going into this fight with back to back losses against Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. Both guys have great grappling skills, but Diaz’s stand-up is much crisper and provided Stevenson can’t take him down at will I think Diaz will batter him on their feet and maybe even score a stoppage late in the fight.

UFC Updates: Evans vs Machida (not Rampage)

Just thought I’d post something different seeing how there’s limited action over the coming weeks until the K-1 event at the end of March. A few big fights have been announced over the last few weeks. I’ve beek keeping a MMA schedule on the main page (when I get around to updating it anyway) so if you want to see who’s on what card that’s coming up this might be a good place to check out.

Evans to fight Machida, not Rampage
That’s right, like I said Rampage fighting three times in a little over five months was too much especially considering one of those was a hard fought fight with Keith Jardine who is a strong, powerful bastard. Machida will instead get his shot in probably the least exciting fight for a UFC title since the Pat Miletich reign at Welterweight. This fight could be very boring, but then again I’ve been wanting to see what it takes to beat one of these guys for a while so at least that’ll satisfy that bit of curiosity for me, that and the fact that Rampage will likely tear apart whoever wins this fight.

TUF 9 Finale features Sanchez-Guida and Diaz-Stevenson
The two main fights apart from the Finals for TUF 9 will feature another round robin of lightweight clashes. After Nate Diaz and Clay Guida beat Josh Neer and Mac Danzig respectively, Diaz fought Guida and Danzig took on in bouts following. The same has happened again with Guida and Diaz, who will meet Sanchez and Stevenson in respective bouts. The Guida-Sanchez fight has serious implications with the winner probably next in line to battle BJ Penn (or Kenny Florian) as both guys have been in good form and are on winning streaks. Diaz and Stevenson should be another good test for Diaz and one that I think he’ll pass. The big thing will be whether or not he can finish ‘Daddy’ because he’ll deserve serious props if he does.

Coleman to face Bonnar at UFC 100
UFC 100 features a hall of fame member in what will be a sad showing as he’ll likely lose to one of the UFC’s average Light Heavyweights. Former UFC and PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman will take on TUF1 Runner-up Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100. Bonnar should win this fight on conditioning alone as Coleman struggles to fight for more then two minutes without being short of breath.

Post UFC 95 Thoughts

Sorry for this being this late. I’ve been busy with other stuff and really couldn’t be bothered posting it. The card was very good for one of those cards that lacked a big name. Sanchez-Stevenson was fairly unevenftul I thought mainly because Stevenson did nothing but follow Sanchez around (how he thinks he won is beyond me, just because you can take his punches and avoid his takedowns it means shit if you don’t do anything back). I’m not looking to see either of these guys again anytime soon to be perfectly honest, let alone in a main event.
The impressive performances came from Demian Maia and Nate Marquadt. Both guys dominated respected opponents and put themselves in the line for a shot at Anderson Silva. Maia I thought was by far the most impressive and out of everyone he has the best shot at beating Silva because of his wicked Jiu Jitsu skills. Silva has been taken down and he has been submitted before and Maia is among the best BJJ guys I’ve seen in MMA. Marquadt has well rounded skills and has improved since Silva raped him at UFC 73, but I don’t think he’s improved that much. Josh Koscheck getting KTFO was sweet as well.

Angry Matchmaker
Before I start, I’d like to thank Joe Silva for taking on board my suggestion of a fight between Cain Velasquez and Heath Herring, which will likely take place on UFC 99.

Demian Maia vs Nate Marquadt
Marquadt hasn’t beaten anyone decent since his loss to Silva, so a win over Maia is the win he needs to push himself into title contention. Maia is in the same boat although his wins have been over better opposition. A win over Marquadt, especially in a co main event or a Fight Night main event would build him up enough to make a Silva-Maia fight marketable.

Diego Sanchez vs Sean Sherk
This fight would let us know a lot about Sanchez. GSP, Hughes and Penn who are (were in Hughes’ case) elite fighters all dominated Sherk so this fight would be a measuring stick to see how Sanchez is. Also, Sanchez’s losses came to top wrestlers at 170lbs and Sherk is one of the top wrestlers at 155lbs.

I’d also like to say that the broadcast was excellent as they showed every fight which definately won’t happen everytime but the more fights they show the better. It’s better then filling up the broadcast with more ads so big props to the UFC there for giving the fans what they want yet again.

UFC 95 Predictions

I’m keeping this brief for a few reasons. First, I don’t give much of a crap about this card. The only fight that interests me is Demian Maia vs Chael Sonnen and the rest don’t really have an impact on anything. Second, I’m going to be away for a few days and couldn’t be bothered writing up a big thing on it.

Main Card
Diego Sanchez vs Joe Stevenson
Prediction- Sanchez by 2nd round TKO

Wilson Gouveia vs Nate Marquadt
Prediction- Marquadt on points

Demian Maia vs Chael Sonnen
Prediction- Maia by 2nd round submission

Josh Koscheck vs Paulo Thiago
Prediction- Koscheck on points

Dan Hardy vs Rory Markham
Prediction- Markham on points

Preliminaries
Junior dos Santos vs Stefan Struve
Prediction- Struve by 1st round submission

Brian Cobb vs Terry Etim
Prediction- Etim by 2nd roubd submission

Mike Ciesnolevicz vs Neil Grove
Prediction- Ciesnolevicz on points

Evan Dunham vs Per Eklund
Prediction- Eklund on points

Paul Kelly vs Troy Mandaloniz
Prediction- Kelly on points

UFC 91: Lesnar defeats Couture, Florian whips Stevenson

I’ve put this off a bit, First of all I was busy and it was hard to get on here and write this up (mainly because Main Event are cocksuckers and put the fight on a working day so I only saw it yesterday and since then I’ve worked 16 of the last 36 hours and out of the other 20 I’ve slept eight, driven to and from work for about two, trained four which leaves six hours that doesn’t include eating, showering and jacking off (about a 1-1-4 ratio there)) and secondly I wasn’t exactly eager to get on here and write about how one of my most unfavourite fighters of all-time knocked out my favourite fighter who is still alive.

Brock Lesnar 2nd round knockout Randy Couture
Basically Lesnar proved what Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga should have but couldn’t do after Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez did a few years back, and that is that Randy Couture doesn’t belong at heavyweight. Couture’s a freak and a legendary fighter and like all legendary fighters weight doesn’t play as much of an impact as it should with guys like this, but there’s only so much you can give away before it becomes a factor. When you’ve got a 60lb weight disadvantage against a guy who comes from the same background as you, all of a sudden those mistakess you make with your stand-up and submission games need to not be there and that’s where Couture lost this fight. If Couture was better at jiu jitsu he would have taken Lesnar’s back in the scramble in the first round and likely choked him out and if his stand-up was better he would have taken a few more of the many many many openings Lesnar leaves in his stand-up and likely knocked him out. I thought Couture had those parts of his game up to the level where he could take advantage of those, but with 60lbs of weight against him it made those advantages he had over Brock that bit more even.
Despite the win, I’m not sold on Lesnar that much. He has a good one two and throws good knees (it was a knee that hurt Couture about 5 seconds before the right hand that dropped him) and is a big strong guy who will take people down who don’t have good wrestling, but he reminds me of Tito Ortiz at Light Heavyweight when he was dominating. As soon as someone has a good enough skill set with the style matchup to take some of Brocks physical advantages away they’ll beat him. If Nogueira isn’t too shopworn to beat Mir then I can’t see what Brock can do with him. I’d pick Gonzaga to tear Lesnar apart within five minutes if he shows the form he did in that fight. Don’t even get me started on what the Affliction trio (Fedor, Barnett and Arlovski) would do to that guy. Lesnar has way too many weaknesses to deal with a big man with good skills. That was the first time we’d seen him try and outwrestle someone who can wrestle and even with the extra weight, his takedowns were easily stuffed (except for one) by Couture and if Couture had the extra lbs on his frame, the fight wouldn’t have been a contest. Brock to be beaten within a year; within one defence if Nogueira isn’t upset by Mir.

Now onto the rest of the card, which quite frankly was top notch.

Kenny Florian 1st round submission (Rear Naked Choke) Joe Stevenson
And what a rear naked choke it was! Florian totally dominated the fight and proved beyond all doubts that first of all he is a better fighter then he was when Sean Sherk manhandled him two years ago, and secondly that he is the top contender to BJ Penns crown should Penn stay at 155lbs. I don’t think Florian will hang with Penn, but he could make a competitive fight out of it. Who knows as well, we haven’t seen Penn in a hard fight at 155lbs since the rematch with Caol Uno at UFC 39 so we’re still not sure how good Penn’s cardio is; if Florian doesnt get blown away early he could make it interesting.

Dustin Hazelett 1st round submission (Crazy Armbar/Omoplata thing) Tamdan McCrory
That was just sick in both the figurative and literal translations. If anyone just watched the main event or for what ever reason hasn’t seen this, go and see it. The only other thing that needs to be said about this fight is that Hazelett has the best bumfluff beard I’ve ever seen.

Gabriel Gonzaga 1st round knockout Josh Hendricks
Time for Gonzaga to have his competition stepped up I think. Cheick Kongo would be the perfect opponent for Gonzaga to put himself right back into the mix against, either him or Junior dos Santos. Hendricks should be fighting the likes of Eddie Sanchez and they should be fighting in a small venue in Redneckville for a $50 winner takes all purse.

Demian Maia 1st round submission (Rear Naked Choke) Nate Quarry
Glad I was wrong here. Maia is a beast on the ground, that half guard sweep was beautiful and Quarry didn’t have an answer for him once he got on top. Actually, I don’t think there’s a middleweight out there who would have an answer for this guy on top of him. He’s one of those rare talents in MMA who can make anyone’s guard seem non existant. Put this guy in with Okami or Bisping or anyone else near the top of the middleweight picture because he’s ready.

Other Results
Jeremy Stephens 3rd round knockout Rafael dos Anjos
Aaron Riley UD3 Jorge Gurgel
Mark Bocek 3rd round submission Alvin Robinson
Matt Brown 2nd round submission Ryan Thomas

UFC 91 Undercard Predictions

This weekend sees probably the biggest UFC card of the year (so far anyway, UFC 92 has it well covered as long as the fights stay the same). Despite Foxtel showing a few live boxing matches on this Sunday and the UFC on the next morning (no, it wasn’t because of the boxing, it was because they had to replay Andre fucking Rieu’s fucking pansy arse concert, honestly the only PPV that would be worth buying with him in it is if they chose him to be Fedor’s freak matchup on New Years Eve!), this card is that big that I will be isolating myself from everything including the Jeff Lacy-Jermain Taylor clash on Sunday in order to be able to watch this fight without having anything spoilt. With the main event being of the magnitude that it is, I’ll do a seperate post later in the week for that fight. As for now, here’s the undercard. I’m hoping my recent form with boxing predictions is going to translate into this UFC card.

Main Card
Kenny Florian vs Joe Stevenson
Prediction- Florian on points
This is a good fight. Both guys have excellent ground games but the big difference between the two of them is that Florian is also a very dangerous striker. Stevenson has decent technique with his hands as far as Jiu Jitsu guys go, but he doesn’t have the sharp punching or the well rounded striking game that Florian has and I think this will be the deciding factor in what should be a close fight. However, I do give Stevenson the edge on the ground and I think he could submit Florian if the fight hits the ground. The fight is bound to be close and while it won’t have the anticipation of the main event, it could very well be fight of the night. Florian to take a close, but unanimous decision after he wins the stand-up battle after a stalemate on the ground.

Nick Cantone vs Amir Sadollah
Prediction- Sadollah by 2nd round knockout
I can’t see the UFC putting their TUF 7 champion who has only had a couple of professional fights (is it 1 or 2?) in against anyone too dangerous first up. This will probably be a fight to showcase Sadollah to the Pay Per View audience and I expect Sadollah to use his body kicks and knees to the head to systematically break Cantone down before knocking him out. However, I know fuck all about Cantone and I’m basing this off absolutely nothing other then me thinking the UFC won’t risk Sadollah against anyone too good.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Josh Hendricks
Prediction- Gonzaga by 1st round knockout
The second mismatch on the main card. Gonzaga is on his way back after those back to back losses and looked the business against an overmatched opponent last time out. Expect the same here. Gonzaga will take him down, pass his guard and elbow his face into mince meat before the referee stops the fight.

Demian Maia vs Nate Quarry
Prediction- Quarry on points
There is a very good chance that I score one out of five on the main card and this is very much a gamble. The safe money is with Maia who is on a tear right now while Quarry is never overly impressive. However, I think with Quarry’s previous experience training at team Quest with the likes of Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and Matt Lindland, his takedown defence is likely to be very good. I think he’ll force Maia to fight him standing up and pepper him with shots en route to a unanimous decision. It’d be much better for the division though if Maia submits him quickly as we’ll then have someone for Anderson Silva to fight.

Preliminaries
Dustin Hazelett vs Tamdan McCrory
Prediction- Hazelett on points
This is an interesting fight, but one I think Hazelett should win easily if he fights the right fight. I think McCrory will be tentative about taking Hazelett down early, but when he starts havig trouble with Hazeletts lanky frame and decent boxing skills he’ll try his luck in “McLovin’s” guard. Hazelett has excellent sweeps and submissions from his back and I think he’ll end up on top in each round and bust up McCrory en route to a shutout decision.

Jorge Gurgel vs Aaron Riley
Prediction- Gurgel on points
This could be a war as well. Both of these guys are as tough as they come (Gurgel especially who is rarely in a dull fight) and I think they’ll put on a show. Hopefully Gurgel fights like he should and take Riley down and actually uses strikes when he gets a dominant position. However, I think he’ll duke it out and it’ll be a harder fight then it needs to be, but Gurgel will prove that bit better in all aspects. Gurgel should definately avoid going to his back against Riley, anywhere else and he should be in control of whats going on.

Rafael dos Anjos vs Jeremy Stephens
Prediction- Stephens on points
Anjos is a Gracie Jiu Jitsu student who boasts a 11-2 record making his UFC debut. I think Stephens is probably a bit too much for him first up and he’ll expose Anjos’ lack of stand-up and win a boring unanimous decision.

Mark Bocek vs Alvin Robinson
Prediction- Robinson by 1st round submission
This will be my pick for submission of the night. Both guys are good Jiu Jitsu practioners, but Robinson being a Royce Gracie black belt has the edge. Boceks best chance is to keep this up, but I think even doing that he won’t be able to avoid going to the ground. Robinson to finish Bocek quickly with a rear naked choke.

Matt Brown vs Ryan Thomas
Prediction- Brown by 2nd round knockout
Brown steps in to replace fellow TUF7 veteran Matthew Riddle on short notice. That shouldn’t make a difference however as I think Brown will just overwhelm Thomas and pound him out in the 2nd round after a near 10-8 first round. Brown is simply just too powerful.