George Sotiropoulos (12-2-0) vs. Kurt “Batman†Pellegrino (16-4-0)
George Sotiropoulos is currently undefeated in UFC competition with victories over Billy Miles, Roman Mitchyan, George Roop, Jason Dent and Joe Stevenson. George Sotiropoulos also fought in the Warriors Realm promotion, defeating Kyle Noke and Kelly Jacobs, while suffering a defeat to Kyle Noke. George Sotiropoulos was a cast member on the UFC Ultimate Fighter 6, which was eventually won by Mac Danzig. Despite competing in professional MMA for nearly six years, George Sotiropoulos did not make his North American MMA debut until the UFC Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale in December 2007. George Sotiropoulos started off his MMA career in interesting fashion, competing in three fights in under one month. George Sotiropoulos will be entering the fight riding a six fight winning streak, which has lasted over three years. George Sotiropoulos will be looking to put the fight on the ground, with seven victories coming by way of submission. Kurt Pellegrino has had a successful run in the UFC, defeating Junior Assuncao, Nate Mohr, Alberto Crane, Thiago Tavares, Robert Emerson, Josh Neer and Fabricio Camoes, while suffering defeats to Drew Fickett, Joe Stevenson and Nate Diaz. Kurt Pellegrino is also a veteran of the Reality Fighting promotion, defeating Jay Isip, Mushin Corbbrey and Vadim Kulchitskiy. In his professional MMA debut, Kurt Pellrgino achieved a victory over UFC Ultimate Fighter 6 winner Mac Danzig at a World Extreme Cagefighting event. Kurt Pellegrino started off her MMA career in impressive fashion, with a three fight undefeated streak that had lasted nearly two years. Kurt Pellegrino also fought in the Euphoria promotion, defeating both Sergey Golyaev and Kazuki Okubo. Kurt Pellegrino will be entering the fight riding a four fight winning streak, which has lasted nearly two years. Kurt Pellegrino will be looking to put the fight on the ground, with ten victories coming by way of submission.
My Prediction: George Sotiropoulos
UFC Light Heavyweight Division Fight
Krzysztof “The Polish Experiment†Soszynski (21-9-1) vs. Stephan “The American Psycho†Bonnar (11-7-0)
Krzysztof Soszynski has had a successful run in the UFC, defeating Shane Primm, Brian Stann, Andre Gusmao and Stephan Bonnar, while suffering a lone defeat to Brandon Vera. Krzysztof Soszynski was a cast member of the UFC Ultimate Fighter 8, which was won by both Ryan Bader and Efrain Escudero. Krzysztof Soszynski also competed in the International Fight League, defeating Tom Howard, Devin Cole and Dan Christison, while suffering defeats to Ben Rothwell, Mike Whitehead and Reese Andy. Krzysztof Soszynski started off his MMA career in impressive fashion, with a five fight undefeated streak that had lasted over nine months. Krzysztof Soszynski also fought once in the Strikeforce promotion, fighting Mike Kyle to a technical draw. Krzysztof Soszynski defeated Stephan Bonnar in their first encounter at UFC 110 by doctor stoppage after an accidental head butt made a serious cut on Stephan Bonnar’s head. Krzysztof Soszynski will be looking to put the fight on the ground, with ten victories coming by way of submission. Stephan Bonnar has had an unsuccessful run in the UFC, defeating Sam Hoger, James Irvin, Keith Jardine, Mike Nickels and Eric Schafer, while suffering defeats to Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Jon Jones, Mark Coleman and Krzysztof Soszynski. Stephan Bonnar was a cast member on the UFC Ultimate Fighter 1, which was won by Forrest Griffin and Diego Sanchez. Stephan Bonnar also competed in the Ironheart Crown promotion, defeating Brian Ebersole, Josh Kruger, Brad Lynde and Sean Sallee. Prior to entering the UFC in April 2005, Stephan Bonnar had fought former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida at a Jungle Fight event. It has been nearly three years since Stephan Bonnar last won a professional MMA fight, which happened at UFC 77. It has also been over five years since Stephan Bonnar last fought outside of the UFC, his last non-UFC fight occurred in the Ironheart Crown promotion. Stephan Bonnar will be looking to put the fight on the ground, with seven victories coming by way of submission.
My Prediction: Krzysztof Soszynski
UFC Welterweight Division Fight
Chris “Lights Out†Lytle (28-17-5) vs. Matt “The Immortal†Brown (11-8-0)
Chris Lytle has had an unsuccessful run in the UFC, defeating Tiki Ghosn, Ronald Jhun, Jason Gilliam, Kyle Bradley, Paul Taylor, Kevin Burns and Brian Foster, while suffering defeats to Ben Earwood, Robbie Lawler, Karo Parisyan, Joe Riggs, Matt Serra, Matt Hughes, Thiago Alves, Josh Koscheck and Marcus Davis. Chris Lytle was a cast member on the UFC Ultimate Fighter 4, which was won by both Matt Serra and Travis Lutter. Chris Lytle also competed in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion, defeating JT Taylor, Pat Healy and Savant Young. Chris Lytle started off his MMA career in impressive fashion, with a two fight undefeated streak that had lasted over five months. Chris Lytle had a long run in the Pancrase promotion, defeating Daisuke Watanabe, Taro Obata, Kazou Misaki and Yuji Hoshino, while suffering defeats to Jason Delucia, Keiichiro Yamamiya, Daisuki Ishii, Shonie Carter, Izuru Takeuchi and Koji Oishi. Chris Lytle will be looking to put the fight on the ground, with eighteen victories coming by way of submission. Matt Brown has had a successful run in the UFC, defeating Matt Arroyo, Ryan Thomas, Pete Sell and James Wilks, while suffering defeats to Dong Hyun Kim and Ricardo Almeida. Matt Brown was a cast member on the UFC Ultimate Fighter 7 reality show, which was won by Amir Sadollah. Matt Brown has already fought Chris Lytle at a United Fight League event, which he lost by submission. Matt Brown has also competed in the Independent Event promotion, defeating Ricardo Martinez and Brian King. Prior to entering the UFC in June 2008, Matt Brown had already fought UFC veterans Matt Arroyo, Chris Lytle and Pete Spratt. Of his nineteen professional MMA fights, only two have gone to a decision for Matt Brown, which speaks to the fighters finishing abilities. Matt Brown will be looking to use his striking skills to win the fight, with six victories coming by knockout.
My Prediction: Chris Lytle
UFC Middleweight Division Fight
Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1-0-2NC) vs. Chris “The Crippler†Leben (20-6-0)
Yoshihiro Akiyama is currently undefeated in UFC competition, with a victory over Alan Belcher at UFC 100 in July 2009. Yoshihiro Akiyama is a longtime veteran of the K-1 promotion, defeating Francois Botha, Carl Toomey, Michael Lerma, Masakatsu Okuda, Tokimitsu Iskizawa, Katsuhiko Nagata, Taiei Kin, Kestutis Smirnovas, Melvin Manhoef and Denis Kang, while suffering a lone defeat to Jerome LeBanner. It has been nearly a year since Yoshihiro Akiyama last had an MMA fight, so cage rust can be a factor in the fight. Yoshihiro Akiyama also fought in the DREAM promotion, defeating both Katsuyori Shibata and Masanori Tonooka. Yoshihiro Akiyama will be entering the fight riding a twelve fight winning streak, which has lasted nearly five years. Yoshihiro Akiyama fought the majority of his MMA fights in the K-1 promotion, where twelve of his sixteen career fights occurred in. Yoshihiro Akiyama will be looking to put the fight on the ground, with seven victories coming by way of submission. Chris Leben has had a long run in the UFC, defeating Jason Thacker, Patrick Cote, Edwin Dewees, Jorge Rivera, Luigi Fioravanti, Jorge Santiago, Terry Martin, Alessio Sakara, Jay Silva and Aaron Simpson, while suffering defeats to Anderson Silva, Jason MacDonald, Kalib Starnes, Michael Bisping and Jake Rosholt. Chris Leben will be making UFC history in this fight, competing against Yoshihiro Akiyama after only having a two week layoff, which is the shortest layoff between UFC fights in UFC history. Chris Leben has fought the majority of his fights in the UFC, with fifteen of his twenty six fights occurring in the UFC. Chris Leben is a veteran of the Full Contact Fighting Federation promotion, defeating Justin Terherst, Ben Birtcher and John Hall. Chris Leben will be replacing Wanderlei Silva in this fight, who pulled out of the fight after a training camp injury. Chris Leben will be entering the fight riding a two fight winning streak, which has lasted nearly six months. Chris Leben will be looking to use his striking skills to win the fight, with eleven victories coming by knockout.
My Prediction: Yoshihiro Akiyama
UFC Heavyweight Title Unification Fight
Brock Lesnar (4-1-0) (UFC Heavyweight Champion) vs. Shane Carwin (12-0-0) (UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion)
Brock Lesnar has had a successful run in the UFC, defeating Heath Herring, Randy Couture and Frank Mir, while suffering a defeat to Frank Mir. Brock Lesnar is the current UFC Heavyweight Champion, having defeated Randy Couture for the title at UFC 91. Of his five professional MMA fights, only one has gone to a decision for Brock Lesnar, which speaks to the fighters finishing abilities. Brock Lesnar has only had one fight outside of the UFC, defeating Min Soo Kim at a K-1 Hero’s event. It has been nearly a year since Brock Lesnar last competed in an MMA fight to deal with a life threatening stomach illness, so cage rust can become a factor in the fight. Brock Lesnar will be entering the fight riding a three fight winning streak, which has lasted nearly two years. Brock Lesnar will be looking to use his ground and pound to win the fight, with two victories coming by knockout. Shane Carwin is currently undefeated in UFC competition, with victories over Christian Wellisch, Neil Wain, Gabriel Gonzaga and Frank Mir. Shane Carwin is the current UFC Interim Heavyweight Title, defeating Frank Mir at UFC 111 to win the championship. Shane Carwin is also a veteran of the Ultimate Texas Showdown promotion, defeating both Jay McCown and Chris Guillen. Of his twelve professional MMA fights, none have gone past the first round for Shane Carwin, which speaks to the fighters finishing abilities. Shane Carwin has also fought in the Ring Of Fire promotion, defeating both Rick Slaton and Sherman Pendergarst. Shane Carwin will be entering the fight riding a twelve fight undefeated streak, which has currently lasted over four years. Shane Carwin will be looking to use his striking skills to win the fight, with seven victories coming by knockout.
My Prediction: Brock Lesnar
(Note: I will be providing live coverage of UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin on PWInsiderXtra.com on Saturday July 3rd at 9pm EST.)
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com