Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin
This fight is for the UFC Light Heavyweight title. Forrest Griffin will be the challenger in this fight. Griffin is coming off of the biggest win in his career. That would be his third round submission victory over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Griffin dominated that fight winning the grappling and striking against a man whom many thought was the best light heavy weight in the world. Griffin has a 15-4 MMA record featuring wins over Mauricio Rua, Stephan Bonnar, and Jeff Monson. Forrest Griffin is a well rounded fighter with a good ground game and good striking. Griffin has submitted his opponents 7 times and has submission victories over Mauricio Rua and Chael Sonnen. Forrest Griffin has good striking ability. Griffin only has 3 wins by knockout but can score effectively with his strikes. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is coming off of a title defense victory over Dan Henderson. Henderson pushed Jackson all 5 rounds but fell short. "Rampage" has a 28-6 MMA record featuring wins over Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, and Kevin Randleman. Jackson is a very good wrestler. He outwrestled Dan Henderson for 5 rounds in his last title defense and Henderson is one of the best Greco Roman guys in the world. Jackson is also one of the best strikers in the Light Heavyweight division. Rampage hits very hard and has knocked out the likes of Chuck Liddell and Kevin Randleman. I think Forrest Griffin will have to work in and out with his strikes to avoid the power shots of Jackson. Jackson has every advantage in this fight except heart. Griffin has one of the best hearts in MMA and gives his all the whole fight. I expect Quinton "Rampage" Jackson to take this fight via knockout in the fourth round.
Patrick "The Predator" Cote vs. Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida
This fight may be for the next middleweight title shot. Patrick Cote is coming off of a first round knockout victory over Drew McFedries.Cote finished off McFedries in less than two minutes. Cote has a 12-4 MMA record featuring wins over Kendall Grove and Jason Day. Patrick Cote is an elite middleweight striker. He has 6 wins via knockout in his career. Cote is also on a roll right now winning his last 4 fights. Cote has trouble defending submissions however. 2 of his four losses are by submission to Travis Lutter and Joe Doerksen. Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida is coming off of a first round submission victory over UFC newcomer Rob Yundt. Almeida finished off Yundt in just over a minute. That fight was Almeida's first fight in 4 years. Ricardo Almeida is a great submission artist. Almeida has 4 victories by submission and finished off Nate Marquardt with a guillotine. Almeida isn't a great striker however. He has never finished an opponent with strikes in his 11 fight career. Cote will have the advantage striking and Almeida will have the advantage when it hits the canvas. I expect Patrick Cote to knockout Ricardo Almeida in the third round.
Joe "Daddy" Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau
This fight is in the UFC Lightweight division. Joe "Daddy" Stevenson is coming off of a second round submission loss to BJ Penn. Stevenson had trouble taking down Penn in the fight and Penn finished him off with a rear naked choke. Stevenson showed a ton of heart in the fight continuing to battle with a gigantic cut that was bleeding profusely. Stevenson has a 28-8 MMA record featuring wins over Joe Camacho, Kurt Pellegrino, and Yves Edwards. Stevenson is a great wrestler and is a very strong individual. Stevenson is a small, compact, and muscular fighter with intense takedowns and a good submission game. Joe Stevenson has finished 12 of his opponents with submissions including 2 submission victories over King of the Cage champion Joe Camacho. He will be fighting Gleison Tibau. Tibau is coming off of a unanimous decision loss to Tyson Griffin at UFC 81. Gleison Tibau fought a close fight but came up just short in the judges' scorecards. Tibau has a 15-5 MMA record featuring wins over Jason Dent and Terry Etim. Gleison Tibau is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter with 7 wins by submission. Tibau is very good on the ground. Tibau has a slick ground game and has never been submitted before. I expect Joe "Daddy" Stevenson to take this fight via unanimous decision.
Josh "Kos" Koscheck vs. Chris "Lights Out" Lytle
Josh Koscheck is coming off of a second round knockout victory over Dustin Hazelett. Koscheck showed well improved striking and threw a lot of combinations fans had not seen from him before. Koscheck has a 10-2 MMA record featuring wins over Diego Sanchez and Dustin Hazelett. Koscheck has 4 wins by submission and 4 wins by decision. Koscheck is a great wrestler and a good striker. The only fighter that has outwrestled him is Georges St-Pierre and St-Pierre has some of the best MMA-ready wrestling in the sport. Koscheck showed some heavily improved striking in his last fight. Before his fight with Hazelett his striking looked telegraphed and very robotic. In his fight with Hazelett his striking was fluent and Koscheck utilized more angles. Koscheck will be fighting Chris Lytle. Lytle is coming off of a first round knockout victory over Kyle Bradley. Lytle knocked out Bradley in just 33 seconds. Chris Lytle has a 25-15-5 MMA record featuring wins over Pete Spratt and Savant Young. Lytle has 17 wins by submission and is also a very good striker. Lytle has a good ground game and has submitted the likes of Pete Spratt and Tiki Ghosn. Lytle has 4 wins by knockout and all those wins were finished in the first round. I expect Josh Koscheck to take this fight via unanimous decision.
Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio
This fight will be the first fight of the live telecast. Tyson Griffin is coming off of a unanimous decision victory over talented Gleison Tibau. That was a close battle between two tough fighters and Griffin just barely edged out the decision. Tyson holds an 11-1 MMA record featuring wins over Urijah Faber, Clay Guida, and Thiago Tavares. Actually he is the only man to ever beat Urijah Faber who happens to be the 1 featherweight fighter in the world. Griffin has won fight of the night 3 times in his UFC career in his win over Clay Guida, loss to Frankie Edgar, and win over Gleison Tibau. Griffin is a very good wrestler and has awesome slams. A good fight to watch to see his wrestling and slams would be his fight with Clay Guida at UFC 72. Griffin is also very hard to finish. In 12 professional MMA bouts he has never been finished. Tyson Griffin will be fighting Marcus Aurelio. Aurelio is coming off of a first round submission victory over UFC newcomer Ryan Roberts. He finished off Roberts with an armbar just 16 seconds into the first round. Aurelio has a 16-5 MMA record featuring wins over Takanori Gomi, Rich Clementi, and Masakazu Imanari. Aurelio trains out of American Top Team. Aurelio has a very good ground game and is very hard to finish. Aurelio has 10 wins by submission and 7 of those wins have come inside of the first round. Aurelio is a very tough guy to finish. In 21 professional MMA bouts he has been beaten all 5 times by decision. I expect Tyson Griffin to beat Marcus Aurelio by hard fought unanimous decision.
by Kurt Hall of mma-underground.com
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