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UFC Welterweight Division Fight
Dustin “McLovin” Hazelett (11-4-0) vs. Tamdan “The Barn Cat” McCrory (9-1-0)
Originally, this match was supposed to be on the preliminary card, but after an injury to Amir Sadollah, this fight was moved to the televised portion of the event. Dustin Hazelett has fought six times in the UFC thus far, defeating Diego Saraiva, Steven Lynch, Jonathan Goulet and Josh Burkman, while losing to Josh Koscheck and Tony DeSouza. A victory for Dustin Hazelett could put him in contention for the UFC Welterweight Title held by Georges St. Pierre. Dustin Hazelett will be looking to put this fight on the ground, with eight victories coming by submission. Tamdan McCrory made his UFC debut at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 10 by upsetting UFC veteran Pete Spratt, then suffered a loss to Akihiro Gono at UFC 78, but rebounded at UFC 87 by defeating Luke Cummo. Prior to suffering his only career loss to Akihiro Gono, Tamdan McCrory was on an eight fight undefeated streak that lasted over a year. Tamdan McCrory will be looking to use his striking skills to gain a victory, with six career victories coming by knockout.
My Prediction: Dustin Hazelett
UFC Middleweight Division Fight
Demian Maia (8-0-0) vs. Nate “Rock” Quarry (10-2-0)
Demian Maia is considered to be one of the most dangerous submission fights in the UFC Middleweight Division, having already defeated Ryan Jensen, Ed Herman and Jason MacDonald thus far in his UFC career. Early in his career, Demian Maia won the Super Challenge 1 Tournament, defeating Vitelmo Kubis Bandeira, Gustavo Machado and Fabio Nascimento. Prior to entering the UFC, Demian Maia defeated King Of The Cage veteran Ryan Stout at Gladiator Fighting Championships: Evolution. Demian Maia will be looking to put this fight on the ground, with five career victories coming by submission. Nate Quarry was one of the most dominant fighters to come out of the original season of the UFC Ultimate Fighter, but a back injury sidelined him for nearly two years. Since returning from the injury, Nate Quarry has defeated Pete Sell and Kalib Starnes to return to the contender ship he had prior to his injury. The only loss Nate Quarry has suffered in his UFC career came to then UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin at UFC 56.
My Prediction: Demian Maia
UFC Heavyweight Division Fight
Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga (9-3-0) vs. Josh Hendricks (15-4-0)
Gabriel Gonzaga came out of nowhere to become a top contender to the UFC Heavyweight Championship, defeating Kevin Jordan, Fabiano Scherner, Carmelo Marrero and Mirko Cro Cop before losing his title opportunity to Randy Couture at UFC 74. After suffering a second career loss to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 80, Gabriel Gonzaga rebounded to defeat Justin McCully at UFC 86. With the recent release of Fabricio Werdum, Gabriel Gonzaga could put himself in title contention with a victory over Josh Hendricks at this event. Gabriel Gonzaga will be looking to put this fight on the ground, with six career victories coming by way of submission. Josh Hendricks will be making his UFC debut against Gabriel Gonzaga and is riding an eleven fight winning streak heading into the event. Even though this will be his UFC debut, Josh Hendricks has fought UFC veterans Travis Wiuff and Sam Morgan. It has been nearly a year since Josh Hendricks last fought, so conditioning could play a factor in his UFC debut. Josh Hendricks will be looking to put this fight on the ground, with ten career victories coming by submission.
My Prediction: Gabriel Gonzaga
UFC Lightweight Division Fight
Kenny “Ken-Flo” Florian (10-3-0) vs. Joe “Daddy” Stevenson (29-8-0)
UFC vice president Dana White recently stated in interviews that the winner of the Kenny Florian/Joe Stevenson fight will get a future UFC Lightweight Title fight. Kenny Florian lost his only UFC Lightweight Title opportunity thus far to Sean Sherk at UFC 64, which has been his only title opportunity so far in his career. Since the title loss, Kenny Florian has been on a five fight winning streak, defeating Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Alvin Robinson, Din Thomas, Joe Lauzon and Roger Huerta. This could be an interesting fight psychologically for Kenny Florian, because this is the second fight Kenny Florian participated in that a UFC Lightweight Title opportunity was presented to the winner. Kenny Florian will be looking to put this fight on the ground, with six career victories coming by way of submission. Joe Stevenson had a previous UFC Lightweight Title opportunity, which was a loss to current champion BJ Penn at UFC 80. Following that loss, Joe Stevenson went onto defeat Gleison Tibau at UFC 86 to put himself right back into title contention. Joe Stevenson is a well traveled MMA veteran who has fought top fighters like Jens Pulver, Ronald Jhun, Edwin Dewees, Thomas Denny, Luke Cummo, Josh Neer, Yves Edwards, Melvin Guillard and Kurt Pellegrino. Joe Stevenson will be looking to put this fight on the ground, with thirteen career victories coming by submission.
My Prediction: Kenny Florian
UFC Heavyweight Title Fight
Randy “The Natural” Couture *Champion* (16-8-0) vs. Brock Lesnar (2-1-0)
After an exhausting legal battle with the UFC that has lasted over a year, UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture returns to the UFC. This fight is essentially the first fight on a mini tournament to crown a unified UFC Heavyweight Champion along with the upcoming fight between UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir. Randy Couture has had a long run in the UFC, winning his current UFC Heavyweight Title by defeating Tim Sylvia at UFC 68 and defending his only title once at UFC 74 by defeating Gabriel Gonzaga. The real factor in the fight for Randy Couture could be conditioning, not only due to his age (45), but due to a year plus layoff from active competition. Randy Couture will be looking to use his wrestling and striking skills to gain a victory, with seven career victories coming by knockout. For a competitor only competing in his fourth professional MMA fight, Brock Lesnar is getting one great opportunity to be challenging for the UFC Heavyweight Title. Thus far in his MMA career, Brock Lesnar has defeated Min Soo Kim and Heath Herring, while suffering his only career loss to Frank Mir. Brock Lesnar does have the amateur wrestling credentials to match those of Randy Couture, but he does have an incredible power advantage. The biggest disadvantage Brock Lesnar may have when fighting Randy Couture is his lack of experience, because Randy Couture has fought in twenty one more fights than Brock Lesnar. Brock Lesnar will be looking to use his wrestling skills to gain victory, with one career victory coming by submission.
My Prediction: Randy Couture
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
