For those that are new to UFC, it is a sports league that partakes in violence, but, more importantly, athleticism, and respect. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is based on a sport called Mixed Martial Arts. MMA is basically a conglomeration of Martial Arts disciplines like Boxing, Kick-boxing, Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo, Judo, and more. It could be argued that publicly widespread sports like football and boxing are more dangerous than MMA considering the specific rule set that most large promotions (like UFC, Bellator, etc) follow. For example, UFC fights end when a single knockout or submission occurs. There are also rules against biting, kicking a downed opponent, and so on. This is far from street fighting.
Let’s get the predictions started, shall we? We’ll begin with the first televised fight on the main card, and end with the main event of the evening. The numbers before each fighter denotes their official UFC ranking of their weight class. If there is no number, they are unranked. (C) denotes champion of weight class.
(#2) Joseph Benavidez vs (#5) John Moraga
(Flyweight Division: 125 lbs)
Chris Thieblot:
Benavidez has just four losses in his career, and they have been to only two men–Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Dominick Cruz. Both Johnson and Cruz are both considered world-class, pound-for-pound (overall, discounting weight classes), ranked fighters and are (or were) champions at one point in time. Other than these losses, Benavidez has run through the competition, so I have no doubt at all that he can beat Moraga and earn himself another shot at champion Demetrious Johnson.
Winner: Jospeh Benavidez
Jacob White:
Winner: John Moraga
(#3) Travis Browne vs (#8) Andrei Arlovski
(Heavyweight Division: 206-265 lbs)
Chris Thieblot:
This is a fantastic fight, and I think it’ll get the Fight of the Night award given to the “best fight” of the evening by the UFC (both participants also get a $50k bonus, on top of their winnings). Browne and Arlovski are both coming off of wins, but Arlovski is riding a four-fight win streak himself. One of the wins in the streak include a KO victory over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. Arlovski is four years older than Browne and has had a much longer career, which usually doesn’t bode well for veterans in this sport. Though Arlovski appears to be past his prime, I still think he has gas in the tank and can give Browne his greatest challenge thus far. I believe in Browne though, as he seems to be in his prime at age 32. I have been liking what I have been seeing from him lately, with wins over Brendan Schaub, Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem, and Gabriel Gonzaga. He’s also 6 foot 7 inches!
Winner: Travis Browne
Jacob White:
Winner: Travis Browne
(#3) Donald Cerrone vs John Makdessi
(Lightweight Division: 155 lbs)
Chris Thieblot:
Originally, Cerrone was supposed to fight 2nd ranked lightweight, Khabib Nurmagomedov, but an injury forced Khabib out of the fight, so unranked Makdessi filled in as a replacement. This will be a marquee opportunity for Makdessi to prove himself worthy of the top 15 lightweights in the world. It will not be an easy task, though, as Cerrone has been on fire lately with a seven-fight win streak over top-10-ranked opponents like Benson Henderson and Eddie Alverez. In fact, Cerrone hasn’t lost a fight since August 28th, 2013. It is clear that he wants a shot at the lightweight champion, Rafael Dos Anjos, and soon.
Winner: Donald Cerrone
Jacob White:
Winner: Donald Cerrone
(C) Chris Weidman vs (#3) Vitor Belfort
(Middleweight Division: 185 lbs)
Chris Thieblot:
Let’s start with the champion. Weidman is undefeated in his career with wins over major competition, including Anderson Silva (twice!) and Lyoto Machida. I have never seen Weidman lose, and I don’t think I am going to in the near future. Many consider Anderson Silva to be the best Mixed Martial Artist of all time and Weidman kept his focus against Silva and knocked him out in their first fight. Weidman is a black-belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and proficient in wrestling, in which he trained for during the Olympic season. Belfort is a former UFC champion, but he is way passed his prime at the age of 38. Belfort is coming off of wins over Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold, and Dan Henderson, all of those fights having taken place in 2013, which is another concern seeing how rough this sport is on a person’s body. Can Belfort still put up a fight after being idle for a year and a half?
Winner, and still champion: Chris Weidman
Jacob White:
Belfort has lost his last 2 title fights and this will be no different.
Winner: Chris Weidman
(#1) Anthony Johnson vs (#3) Daniel Cormier
(Light Heavyweight Division: 205 lbs)
Chris Thieblot:
When Anthony Johnson first came on the scene in the UFC, he didn’t seem like a contender, with a 7-4 record from 2008-2012. He was let go from the UFC after a loss to Vitor Belfort, and apparently this had a major effect on him because he hasn’t lost since. Anthony Johnson has a nine fight win streak (only three of these fights in the UFC though) since then and looks like he will do anything to win the light heavyweight championship. Daniel Cormier, on the other hand, is also on a tier, with only one loss in his career, coming against one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world in Jon Jones. Cormier is a former Olympic wrestler who chose to pursue MMA after his stint at the 2008 Olympics. Notable wins for him include Josh Barnett, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, and Dan Henderson. This is a fight between two of the more focused and emotional fighters in the UFC, so it should be an interesting five rounds, to say the least. Watch for Cormier’s wrestling vs Johnson’s powerful hands.
Winner, and new champion: Anthony Johnson
Jacob White:
Three of Johnson’s losses are by submission, but Cormier only has one submission victory in the UFC. Johnson is just too much for him to handle.
Winner: Anthony Johnson
Woah! I had no idea the Cowboy was fighting! That dude is beast!