UFC 178 Is Still Going To Be the Best Card of the Year

UFC 178 has not gotten a ton of hype in anticipation of the fights this weekend. That is mostly because the original main event was Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, and that fight had the most hype since the days of Brock Lesnar. Also, the replacement main event is about as sure of a thing as you are going to find in the UFC which lessens the excitement. But even though the main event sucks. This card is absolutely stacked. As I went through the fights, my jaw dropped further and further as I was amazed at the talent of this card. Here is a rundown of what to look forward to this weekend.

Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso

Cariaso is the biggest underdog in a title fight in UFC history, and he should be. Mighty Mouse is unbelievably quick, and he has consistently added power to his strikes. That is a terrifying combination. The guy is so smooth that I would feel pretty comfortable parlaying this fight with any other one on the card that you felt like betting on.

Donald Cerrone vs. Eddie Alvarez

So I knew this fight was signed, but now that it's here, it found a way to totally sneak up on me. I am so excited for this fight. Neither guy knows how to have a boring fight, and although each guy is tough, they also have enough holes that they could be exploited by their opponent at any time. One of the underrated things about Cerrone is how far his wrestling has come. In a strict wrestling sense, he'll never be very good, but he might be in the top 25% of fighters in his ability to mix strikes with his wrestling in order to be an effective MMA wrestler. Who am I picking in this fight? I'm not, because I honestly have no clue what is going to happen. But since this means nothing, I'll go with Alvarez while noting that anytime I underestimate Cerrone, he makes me look like an idiot.

Dustin Poirier vs. Dustin McGregor

Am I on the McGregor bandwagon? Hell no. He's a talented striker, but I think he will get eaten alive by a wrestler. Luckily, the UFC has protected him from those matchups, and that continues with Poirier. Still, Poirier is the most talented guy that he has fought. Still, I'm picking Poirier, partly because I'm down on McGregor, but mostly that his nickname is Diamond. Dustin "Diamond." You know you're tough when you willingly walk around with a nickname that likens you to Screech. Bravo sir. Bravo.

Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero

I love wrestlers, so Yoel Romero is my guy since he was good enough to win a Silver Medal. He has often used his wrestling for defense so he can throw bombs at people, which is a pretty scary combination. Still, I gotta go with Kennedy on this one, because the guy always finds a way to win. In the last seven years, his only losses are close decisions to Luke Rockhold and Ronaldo Souza. Romero is good, but I don't think he's quite on that level, so I'm going Kennedy.

Dominick Cruz vs. Takeya Mizugaki

Dominick Cruz is back? Finally. Cruz hasn't fought for three years due to repeated knee injuries, but he's finally back. If he's the same fighter he was before, all he has to do is win this one for a shot at TJ Dillashaw to reclaim the title he was forced to vacate. Mizugaki is no easy out, but if Cruz is anywhere near his old talent level, he should have no problems winning the fight.

Those are the fights I'm most excited about, but also on the card is former #1 women's contender, Cat Zingano, Jorge Masvidal, Stephen Thompson, and a bunch of other fighters that have historically had entertaining fights.

I know this card doesn't have the flashy main event, but it more than makes up for it with the other fights on this card. Get excited; this is going to be a fun night of fights.

UFC 167 Predictions

Since it's the 20th Annivesary card for the UFC, I feel that I can grace the UFC with my picks and maybe give them some publicity to help out their brand. With the massive reach of this blog, I wouldn't be surprised if Dana White decided to send me some swag in gratitude of my effort. I'll review all the fights I have opinions on, so I apologize if you are a big fan of someone like Cody Donovan.

Sergio Pettis vs. Will Campuzano
I'm very excited about this fight, as Sergio Pettis is basically being labeled as a smaller version of his brother, Anthony Pettis. Campuzano is a solid fighter but has struggled against top-level competition. He may have the experience advantage, but I'll take Pettis in the first round via TKO.

Erik Perez vs. Edwin Figueroa
The UFC wants Perez to succeed, so they have given him a favorable matchup. Expect him to bounce back from his loss to Mizugaki with a highly entertaining TKO in the first round.

Rick Story vs. Brian Ebersole
Rick Story is one of the most interesting fighters in the UFC. Not that his style is super exciting, but in that he beat Johny Hendricks and Thiago Alves in back-to-back fights and looked on his way to a title shot. Then he got dominated by Charlie Brenneman, lost to Martin Kampmann, and has then gone back and forth between wins and losses in his last four fights. Ebersole has tremendous size for 170 (and tremendous chest hair for any weight class), and I think he can counter Story's wrestling to take a decision.

Thales Leites vs. Ed Herman
Remember when Leites fought Anderson Silva for the title? You don't? Consider yourself lucky, because it was awful. He got released and won enough on the independent scene to get called back up. Ed Herman isn't the most athletic guy in the world, but he knows how to pressure opponents. I think this match is super boring, and we see a lot of clinch work, but I don't think Leites has what it takes to get the takedowns and finish the fight, so let's go with Herman by decision.

Donald Cerrone vs. Evan Dunham
This is my pick for fight of the night. Both of these guys go all out and are not afraid to fight in all aspects. I would give Dunham the edge on the ground and Cerrone the edge on the feet. Cerrone's wrestling has gotten leaps and bounds better than it was in the WEC. Because of that, I think he does enough to keep distance and outstrike Dunham in an exciting, back and forth decision.

Josh Koscheck vs. Tyron Woodley
I see the exact same fighters in this match. Tyron Woodley is a wrestler who can occasionally land a big right hand and put people out. Koscheck has been doing that for years. But Koscheck is the much more decorated wrestler, and he has been more impressive using his wrestling in MMA. He has lost 5 of his last 10 fights, but one was a split to Hendricks, one was to GSP, and he got caught a couple times by Robbie Lawler and Paulo Thiago. He only really looked bad against Alves, since GSP makes everyone look bad. Meanwhile, everyone started freaking out when Woodley knocked out Jay Hieron, but he looked awful against Nate Marquardt before that, and he lost a decision to Jake Shields who hasn't been all that impressive since coming over to the UFC. I'm not on the Woodley bandwagon, so I'll take Kos by decision.

Rory MacDonald vs. Robbie Lawler
I'm taking Rory in an easy win here. I know that Lawler has looked good since moving to 170. His win over Koscheck is a good win, but it's quite a step up from Bobby Voelker to Rory MacDonald. His only loss was to Carlos Condit, and had the fight been 10 seconds shorter, he would still be undefeated. The dude has just ran through everyone, and I don't expect that to change, as he gets a submission in the second round.

Rashad Evans vs. Chael Sonnen
I'm an unabashed Chael Sonnen supporter. I picked Sonnen in his first fight against Anderson Silva, and I am still bitter over him losing that one. If you recognize that Chael Sonnen is a pro wrestling character and not a real person, he's wildly entertaining and totally fun. I also love wrestlers in the UFC, so Chael has a lot of things going for him in my mind. Rashad Evans is a good fighter. I want to be clear about that, because I am about to tear apart his entire career. It just seems like he has fought everyone at the right time for the best chance to succeed. He fought new era Tito Ortiz twice and manged one win and one draw out of it. He fought Liddell after Chuck had lost a step. He fought Rampage after he lost a step. He won the title by beating Forrest Griffin, who, let's face it, has a lot of heart, but also may be one of the least talented champions in UFC history (he was a champion; that's still amazing). He also fought Phil Davis before Davis had progressed enough in striking. In his last three fights, he's beaten a 42 year-old Dan Henderson, and looked terrible against Jon Jones (everyone looks terrible against him) and Lil' Nog, which is not as easy to explain. Rashad is good and taken advantage of opportunities, so good for him, but I say his luck runs out and Chael gets the victory.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks
Is Johny Hendricks a legit contender to GSP's title? Yeah, he's earned the shot, but unless GSP treats him like Matt Serra, I don't see a great chance of Hendricks winning tonight's fight. Out of his last five fights, he has won three decisions, two of them split decisions. I do think he has gotten better as time has gone on, especially the two years since he won a split decision over Mike Pierce, but it was just a year ago that he barely beat Josh Koscheck. GSP beats everyone by decision which makes people underestimate how great he is. He is not squeaking by in these decisions, he is dominating, just not finishing. It is another fight where people are doubting GSP, but there's no need to. GSP will outstrike Hendricks on the feet, and the only guy I see having a chance to outwrestle him in the welterweight division just got released by Bellator. GSP is great, and he's still going to be champ after winning all five rounds against Johny Hendricks.

UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson Predictions

So I'm going to the UFC on Fox card this coming Saturday. I am very pumped as it will not only be my first UFC card, it is also just a really stacked card. I know which fight I am most excited about, but there are like five fights that are close in being the second most exciting fight to watch.

I'll admit I didn't look that hard for odds on fights, but I found them for the main card. Two fights that are not on the main card are Ryan Bader vs. Vladimir Matyushenko and Clay Guida making his featherweight debut against Hatsu Hioki. I'm taking Bader and Guida in those fights, although I do feel that the Janitor is very underrated. I think Guida could be a real force at 145, because his lack of size at lightweight was probably his biggest issue. Also, Clay Guida is an awesome dude, and that slightly factors into my picks.

TJ Grant (-120) over Matt Wiman
I think TJ Grant will be too physical for Wiman. I think he will bully him in the clinch and be able to take him to the ground if he chooses to. I see it as a close fight, but I think Grant will win a decision.

Erik Koch (-150) over Ricardo Lamas
I think this is a real even matchup. Both of these guys are very tough featherweights, and it should be a fun stylistic match. Koch will want to keep the fight standing and strike, while Lamas is going to look to take him down. I think both guys will be successful at different points of the fight, but I see Koch keeping it standing enough to earn a decision over Lamas. Still, it should be a fun fight to watch.

Anthony Pettis (-120) over Donald Cerrone
Although Pettis was not impressive against Clay Guida or Jeremy Stephens, he looked like his old self when he decimated Joe Lauzon. He has had a year off due to injuries, so it is tough to say if he can pick up where he left off, but I really believe he can. Cerrone is one of the toughest guys in the UFC, so I really hate to pick against him. Still, the matchups that will cause Pettis problems are wrestlers, and Cerrone will stand up with him and trade shots. I think Pettis will get the better of more exchanges to earn the victory.

Glover Teixeira (-300) over Quinton Jackson
In these other fights, I really hate picking against either of the guys in the fight. In this fight, I would like to pick against both of these guys. Teixeira hasn't lost in nearly eight years. That's insane, but he also hasn't fought the best competition, so I still think it is hard to say that this guy is one of the best light heavyweights in the world. On the other hand, Rampage hasn't been the same guy in a while. I feel like most fighters have progressed past him, where he is just trying to maintain his old level of skill as opposed to striving for improvement. He's said this will be his last fight in the UFC, and he just doesn't seem like a guy who wants it as bad as he used to. Hopefully he can move past fighting and live a life, because I have a feeling that a lot of his contemporaries are going to run into some mental health issues down the road. Teixeira by submission in the second round.

John Dodson (+175) over Demetrious Johnson
I am going to be up front about something. I was trained by John Dodson. He is an awesome guy, and the main reason I am going to this UFC card is to support him and hopefully watch him win the UFC Flyweight Championship. Obviously, it's tough for me to give an unbiased opinion on this fight, but the more I think about the fight, the more I believe that John Dodson will win. I'll admit that when I first heard the matchup, I thought that it would be a tough matchup for Dodson. As I have thought about it more, I think it's a tough matchup for both guys. I don't know if anybody is as fast as Demetrious Johnson. That dude is incredible. But Dodson is incredibly fast too. I think the speed advantage probably goes to Johnson since he is more active with his footwork. But power, without a doubt, goes to Dodson. All it takes is one shot with a guy like that, and he can end the fight. Johnson does a very good job of picking his shots with takedowns, but Dodson has very good defensive wrestling. On top of that, both guys come from very good training camps. Oh yeah, and neither of these guys have been finished.

So with all that information...well, shit, these guys are pretty damn evenly matched. I do see this match being won on the feet, so it's a matter of picking a preference of Johnson's speed versus Dodson's power. I just don't see Johnson being able to pop in, land shots, and pop out without taking some shots from Dodson. I'm going with John Dodson by TKO in the fourth round.

Even though I'm not sure what's going to happen in the fights, I am sure that it will be a hell of a night of fights, and I'm pumped for it.

WAR LITTLE JOHN.