UFC 114: Rampage vs Evans Main Card Fight Predictions

So here's my predictions for the UFC 114 main cards. I just wanna clarify that I don't claim to be an expert on this, I'm just a huge fan of the sport! This is just based on my opinion and my judgment! :) I may be wrong with some or all of my predictions but who cares? its just for fun.. and its my money i'm burning anyways, not anyone else's... lol

Diego Sanchez vs. John Hathaway

Diego Sanchez via a late 2nd or early 3rd TKO/Submission

I don’t really know much about John Hathaway, he's practically new in the UFC so this fight is kind of his first test. I see that he's relatively bigger and stronger than Sanchez, he's got good boxing, and he’s a decent grappler and wrestler. So judging from that, I could say that he's a pretty well rounded guy. BUT! I think Sanchez is just slightly better than him in all these disciplines. Obviously, we’ve seen how well Diego's wrestling is, he's a much better striker, good boxing, very good leg kicks/high kicks, not to mention that he has a brown belt in BJJ. So basically if Hathaway is as good in boxing as what everyone says, Sanchez might just be able to get away with it since this dude can be very good on his feet, and IF Hathaway decides to take this fight to the ground (which he shouldn’t), then it is pretty obvious how this will end. Diego Sanchez is very dangerous on the ground, he's been known for his ground & pound and his submissions and he is able to control his positions very well. But, I’m not saying Hathaway isn’t a good fighter, I won’t really be surprised if he actually defeats Diego coz Diego hasn’t really been very good in his recent fights.

Antonio Rogerio Noguiera vs. Jason Brilz

Antonio Noguiera by TKO/Submission in the late 1st or early 2nd Round

I am frustrated with this card; this was supposed to be Antonio Noguiera vs Forrest Griffin! But anyways, let me start with Jason Brilz, he’s a really good wrestler, decent boxing, decent hands and is able to get take downs but seriously c'mon.. Him against Noguiera? Noguiera is awesome in either a top or a bottom position, so even if he gets taken down it won’t be much of a problem for him coz he will be able to find some way to get out of it or capitalize on the situation and turn it around and submit Brilz. He’s an excellent boxer and striker, great combos and footwork and has a bjj black belt. Obviously he is just too much for Brilz. If Brilz decides to box with Nog, then he's gonna get caught with those punches and get KOd or TKOd, if he decides to take it to the ground then he's going to get submitted. So yeah, I’d say Noguiera wins.

Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow

Mike Russow by a Unanimous Decision

Todd Duffee is so over hyped! He even says so himself, he's been over hyped since he got that 7 sec KO against Tim Hague at UFC 102. Ok he might have an undefeated record and a couple of other KOs under 20 secs but I still don’t think that’s enough. I think that he just hasn’t found the right guy who he can have a real MMA fight with. I’m not dissing on him or anything, I know he's got this really heavy, knockout powered hands but that’s pretty much what I know about this guy, all his KO/TKO wins were all by punches. I do believe he's got hands of steel, he just hasn’t found the guy who has the jaw and head of steel who can take his punches and who is fast enough to take him down. And with Russow's ability to pull a take down and with his wrestling and grappling, I think he may well be able to get this fight on the ground which is what I want to see badly! There aren’t too many fighters out there who have knockout power in their hands AND have a good ground game as well. And I’m sure Duffee isn’t one of them.

Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller

Michael Bisping by a Unanimous Decision

I HATE MICHAEL BISPING. And I hate it even more when I know he's gonna win the fight. The last time I ever picked his opponent over him was his fight against Dan Henderson, which I had no doubt Henderson was gonna win. But since his loss to Henderson, I just knew he'd gotten better which I really hate, mainly because he's got a really big mouth! lol

Moving on... Dan Miller, he has a decent stand-up, able to get submissions, black belt in bjj, BUT he's not that good of a striker, I was pretty bummed when he got out struck by Damian Maia, which we all know isn’t a very good striker. Bisping on the other hand has good kickboxing, known for his leg kicks, great wrestling and grappling, he improved his cardio as seen in his recent fights, and he's a technical striker and better than Damian Maia IMO. So with that said, if Miller fights Bisping on his feet, he’s gonna be in trouble, more trouble than he had with Maia's striking lol. I tried to picture this fight and what I saw is a similar pattern to Miller’s previous fights in which he gets to control the pace of the fight and inflicts as much damage as he can in the first 5 minutes then in the next 2 rounds he starts to make a lot of mistakes which could basically cost him this match. I cant call a TKO/KO win for Bisping in this fight though coz he's pretty scrappy, he doesn’t have heavy hands or as what they call it "soft punches"... but props to Bisping if he actually lands a submission on this one coz I hate to say this but his jiu jitsu is really underrated, I mean he has really improved in his bjj so its really not impossible for him to land a submission if this fight goes to the ground.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Sugar Rashad Evans

Rampage via a 2nd rd TKO/KO

Yes!! The time has come for the fight we’ve all been waiting for. A match between 2 fighters who genuinely hate each other and can’t wait to knock each other out! UFC 114 may as well be the best summer ender for me coz right now, I don’t care that I just came from a party, hung over and haven’t had any sleep yet. I just wanna see these 2 guys battle it out in the octagon! lol... I’m super ecstatic about this fight, I can’t even explain it! I’m talking about 2 of my top 3 most favorite fighters next to GSP! Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans! (If I’d have to rate them, I’d say 1.Rush, 2.Rampage and 3.Sugar) OMG!!! These 2 have been dissing on each other for too long and it’s always been entertaining! (Have you heard the conference call between these 2, Dana White and a few interviewers? uhh! freakin hilarious)

Anyways, this is such a bittersweet fight for me, these are my favorite fighters and I feel like I’m betraying them for picking one over the other! lol. Honestly, I don’t care who wins, I just want to see them fight! I’m picking Rampage over Rashad :( mainly because of his knockout power. Rampage is an outstanding boxer, great combos, improved clinch, good take down defense and that jaw... no… that head! That head of his is like made of concrete or marble or something! That is just too tough to break! Rashad on the other hand is a very good wrestler and grappler; he has awesome muay thai, great leg kicks/high kicks and BJJ. Not underestimating Rashad's boxing since he trains with Roach as well, but he just doesn’t have that knockout power. I think he'll be having a GSP kind of game plan but I don’t think that'll be very effective against Rampage. If he fights Rampage on his feet I’m almost 100% sure that he'll get rocked, just like how Machida and Thiago rocked him, his jaw just isn’t that strong. And if he does take it to the ground which I doubt he'll be able to, I think rampage can still dominate even on the ground, a lot of people actually forget that rampage is a very good wrestler, that’s pretty much how he started fighting, so that shouldn’t be underestimated. The only thing I’m worried about is Rampage's ring rust, he hasn’t fought in a long time, and that's almost always a big issue with fighters. But then again, I really don’t care who wins, I just wanna see a good fight between these guys! :)

My UFC 113 Predictions

Patrick Cote VS Alan Belcher
Alan Belcher by a Unanimous Decision

First off Patrick Cote, he's a great boxer, good BJJ (i think he's still a brown belt though) and has a really strong chin kinda like dan henderson's. He's also been training with GSP and Firaz Zahabi of ZahabiMMA. But the dude hasnt fought in like a year and a half, talk about ring rust! His last fight was against Anderson Silva in UFC 90 way back in 2008. I was actually rooting for him and i can say that he was looking good until he suddenly jerked and fell on the ground without anderson silva doing anything, turns out he obliterated his knee and so for that he got a major knee surgery and Anderson Silva retained the title. Im not underestimating his skills but his ring rust is a really huge factor for this fight against Alan Belcher who has an excellent muay thai, very strong kicks and slightly edged with his grappling. I can imagine Belcher throwing those kicks maybe focusing on cote's weak point which is his knee then taking this fight on the ground but given Cote's BJJ i think he should just stay on his feet and throw in some knees and elbows,do some dirty boxing and just wear cote out. so i think this is gonna go on all three rounds but belcher would probably control the pace of the fight. If it werent for patrick cote's ring rust, i'd totally root for him.
Kevin "Kimbo" Slice VS Matt Mitrione
Matt Mitrione 1st round KO/TKO

Both these guys were from The Ultimate Fighter Heavyweights Season 10 with Rashad Evans (mitrione) & Rampage Jackson (Kimbo), which was more like The ultimate fighter KIMBO. Everyone wanted Kimbo to
be the next ultimate fighter, the coaches and even DANA freakin WHITE was giving him more attention than the other fighters in the house which was really unfair coz there were some pretty good fighters in that season. Matt Mitrione was like the attention whore, always complaining like a little girl, making excuses and even made up these stories about him hearing voices in his head which was kinda creepy and pathetic by the way. So yeah, both these guys had really bad cardio and ground game when they first entered TUF. But kimbo was always very eager to learn while mitrione, the meathead that he is just kept on whining. What i hate about this fight is that it is clearly staged in favor of kimbo! these mothereffers just had to make money out of the whole kimbo slice hype. But here's what i really think, although i want kimbo to beat the crap out of mitrione for being such a douche, i think mitrione is going to take this fight. why? because during TUF, the dude barely even works without complaining, but when he gets inside the octagon, he freakin delivers which really annoys me. He has these really heavy hands that you wouldnt even see coming and I think he is stronger, he's bigger and with a strong chin he can take a punch as well. Kimbo on the other hand, can throw some strong punches which may wear mitrione out, and i hear he's been working on his ground game as well so maybe he has improved in that area. I think this is gonna be a quick fight, ending on the first round. it could go either way, but im calling on matt mitrione.

P.S. UFC is making such a fuzz about this match when really this isnt at all exciting. they even got this drama going on during the weigh ins which made me think.. LAME!
Sam Stout VS Jeremy Stephens
Sam Stout by a Unanimous Decision

I think this is gonna be the fight of the night. This is such a beautiful match-up and i think these two are gonna be all over each other all throughout the fight. Im favoring Sam Stout on this one because over-all he's just the more technical fighter, although stephens has better grappling and wrestling, it wont be easy for him to take stout down, coz stout has an outstanding take down defense, he can scramble really well and if he does gets taken down, his ground game isnt at all bad. Stout is a much better striker, he can do dirty boxing, he's got a good take down defense and just the more technical fighter between both of them.
Josh Koscheck VS Paul Daley
Josh Koscheck by a Unanimous Decision

This is gonna be an awesome fight coz these 2 arent only looking to get a shot at the welterweight title, but they will also be fighting to be next season's coach of The Ultimate Fighter alongside none other than GSP! So alot is at stake for this fight, you can just imagine how badly these 2 wants to win. Its no secret that they just love to talk smack about each other, calling each other names and stuff more like rampage and rashad's rivalry. During the pre fight press conference after the weigh ins, Paul Daley even brought with him the winning picture of the "photoshop koscheck's picture contest" that he supposedly started which was hilarious and then made a few comments about koschecks hair... again.lol. Now, Josh Koscheck is a great fighter, good ground game, hes an excellent wrestler, he's got muay thai skills and strong leg kicks... BUT if he decides to act cocky and stupid and fights daley toe to toe.. then he's gonna go to sleep! that is guaranteed! Paolo Thiago even knocked him out with one punch. so yeah do the math. Hes been saying that hes gonna fight daley on his feet with his muay thai and his improved footwork and angles.. and if he does this then he sure is gonna lose. Daley is known for being an excellent striker and for his knockout punch. weve seen him do this before, he puts his opponents to sleep with a single punch. But if Koscheck plays it smart, he should maybe use his muay thai skills, his leg kicks to set up for his take downs, maybe wear paul daley a lil bit and then take it to the ground because this is where he has an edge, he's a better wrestler and he is very capable of causing damage to his opponents with his vicious body punches and ground & pound. I can only wish that josh koscheck wouldnt get all arrogant and try to fight daley on his feet coz i really want him to be the next to fight gsp for the welterweight belt.

Lyoto Machida VS Mauricio Shogun Rua
Lyoto Machida by a late 2nd or early 3rd KO/TKO

Ok alot of people I know are rooting for shogun, i do think he's a really good fighter, watching his fights during pride scares the crap out of me and made me think of how dangerous he is. I do think he won during his last fight against machida, but i guess the judges didnt see it that way which sucks balls! I think Machida's gonna win this fight, and i mean without a doubt gonna win this fight mainly because he's a much smarter fighter. I think he always has a solid gameplan, but last time he fought shogun he was kind of caught off guard that messed up his gameplan and let shogun dictate the fight. Machida looked beat up after that fight, i guess its because that WASNT the best machida, the best machida was the one who fought rashad, tito ortiz and thiago silva. And im pretty sure that is who were gonna see in this fight. Now, i think shogun is still gonna be the more aggressive one, throwing those vicious leg kicks, body kicks and it sure will affect machida but then im sure machida will be much more ready to counter and would be much more effective this time. Machida should control the fight, he should let shogun fight his fight not the other way around like last time. So yeah go machida!

Look, Im no expert.. i just pick according to who i think could possibly win. This is all based on my opinion.. i could be wrong in some or all of my predictions but i dont really care.. i just wanna see clean and entertaining fights and GOOD JUDGING!! lol.. no actually i do care.. coz i bet on these suckers.. lol.. i wouldnt wanna lose all of my money.. i should get at least half of it right... :)