Will UFC 110 bring the thunder to “Down Under”?

DRoutledge — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:35:37 +0000

This weekend the UFC makes their first ever trip to the land where the “roos” run rampant, the beautiful continent of Australia. UFC 110 will storm the Acer Arena on February 21st (February 20th for all you other mates like myself watching in Eastern Time) in Sydney, Australia. The event will take place at 2 pm on a Sunday for the Australians but all the way on the other side of the world the event will occur on a Saturday as per usual at 10 pm. It’s like going into the past to watch a fight….how cool is that? To be honest it really isn’t that cool and if anything it just showed how big of a dork I am. ANYWAYS, let’s take a look at this exciting card which features 3 legends from PRIDE FC and an abundance of The Ultimate Fighter alumni (including the winners of seasons 2, 3 and 8 of the show). Let’s get this look at UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez underway, shall we?

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (25-7-2 w/1 no contest) vs. Ben Rothwell (30-7)

The card starts off with a match I find to be quite hard to call actually. This one goes right down the middle with me as both men have been less than stellar in their recent UFC outings. Cro Cop was at one time feared by all who set foot in the ring with him during his PRIDE FC days. Now he holds a dismal 2-3 record in the UFC and hasn’t looked like the same Cro Cop who would send men to the hospital due to his deadly left head kick. Ben Rothwell made a long awaited UFC debut this past October only to be crushed by an up-and-coming Heavyweight star, who just so happens to be Main Eventing UFC 110. Both men are long time veterans of the sport and have fought all over the world. Due to Cro Cop’s slow and heart breaking decline, as well as Ben Rothwell’s most recent performance in which he was thoroughly dominated, this fight is literally all up to the flip of a coin. Do you take the Croatian striking sensation, or the massive mammoth that is “Big Ben”?

Cro Cop has always been seen as one thing in his career, a devastating striker. Ever since the man was KO’d by his own signature head kick (compliments of Gabriel Gonzaga) he has never looked the same. His passion has declined and his heart is gone from the sport. The poor man has just lost his love, which makes me fear for his safety inside the octagon. His kicks are some of the most deadly kicks in the sport, his kickboxing is top notch. But his heart is his weakness now. Big Ben on the other hand appears to have an unbreakable heart of gold. He has brute strength and size behind his heart. What he lacks in technique, he makes up for in strength. Add in the man’s wrestling ability and your in for some serious GnP. But don’t be fooled by the big man, he can stand and bang as well. He holds a 3-0 record in professional kickboxing and because of such we could actually see a stand up battle between these two to see who is the superior kickboxer. I’d give the ground striking edge to Rothwell but if this fight remains standing and Cro Cop has re-found his love for the sport, we could very well see him cut away Rothwell with leg kicks all day. Although Cro Cop is the more technical striker don’t count Ben out on the feet as he has serious power behind his punches. But take into perspective that in Cro Cop’s most recent fight, a KO machine in Junior Dos Santos was actually unable to knock Cro Cop out cold (Cro Cop instead submitted to an eye injury late in the fight). If Dos Santos was incapable of finishing Cro Cop standing then I feel as though Big Ben will have a tough time to finish Cro Cop standing as well. Also keep in mind that Dos Santos never threatened Cro Cop with takedowns, which I think will be what seperates Rothwell from Dos Santos in this fight as I expect Rothwell to heavily use GnP and takedowns.

On the mat is where I’d see Rothwell winning this fight. Having trained under Pat Miletich for several years it’s safe to assume the man can wrestle and hold his own on the mat. As I said before, the man is very big and with so much size behind all his punches, he can have some serious GnP if he maintains top position. 11 of Ben’s professional wins have come by submission so if need be he can rely on jiu jitsu if in a sticky situation. But seeing as Cro Cop has only been submitted once in his career by a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt in Big Nog, I wouldn’t hold my breath expecting Rothwell to attempt any submissions in this fight. Cro Cop is by no means a strong wrestler or even a submission artist. If this fight hits the mat I fear that Cro Cop would be overwhelmed by the size of Rothwell on top of him and be unable to get back to his fight without exerting large amounts of energy. I’d give Rothwell the edge on the mat and although I hope this fight won’t stay there for long, it may very well.

All things considered, it’s hard to pick who’ll win this fight. Cro Cop isn’t a strong enough wrestler to put Big Ben on his back and although he will more than likely have a striking advantage, I am doubtful he will be able to significantly injury Big Ben. This fight altogether comes down to Cro Cop’s heart. If he still loves this sport and is committed to all the kicks and punches he throws, then he very well could hurt Rothwell standing and finishing him with strikes. But alas I see Big Ben throwing more punches on the feet and trying to place Cro Cop on his back multiple times through out the fight, which I believe he will do successfully. Big Ben has shown he can take big shots and keep going. I feel like if Cro Cop does manage to rock him, he won’t be able to finish him since Cro Cop does not throw his strong strikes fast enough or in a large enough volume to rectify a TKO stoppage. But if Cro Cop can avoid the big shots standing and score on occasion against Rothwell, he could very well win a decision or TKO if he injures Ben’s legs enough with kicks. At the end of the night I can see Big Ben using his size and takedowns to place Cro Cop on his back and deliver some serious GnP en route to a TKO victory in the 2nd round.

P.S. I think too many people count Rothwell out over his last fight with Velasquez. It’s not that Rothwell is bad, it’s that Velasquez is THAT good.

Dylan’s Pick: Ben Rothwell via 2nd Round (T)KO

EDIT: Just reported Big Ben has pulled out due to illness. Anthony Perosh will step in now. In light of this I will side with the clear favourite in Cro Cop by a 2nd Round (T)KO now.

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Keith Jardine (15-6-1) vs. Ryan Bader (10-0)

Now here is an extremely interesting match up. In my opinion this fight can go two ways, be one of the best fights of the night or one of the worst. Here we have 2 alumnus of The Ultimate Fighter facing off. Jardine was a semi-finalist in his season and Bader was the eventual winner of his own. Jardine boasts an unorthodox style and aggressive offense while Ryan Bader holds a perfect record of 10-0 and an extremely strong wrestling pedigree.

On the feet this one comes down to what Ryan Bader does as opposed to what Keith Jardine does. “Why?” might you ask. Well that’s because what Jardine does will all be dictated by what Bader does standing. In Jardine’s last fight with Thiago Silva, he exposed a large flaw in his standing game in how open he leaves the right side of his face when striking. As Jardine pressed in with combos, Silva just waited and then eventually landed with a clean left hook. If Bader can pick up and exploit the openings in Jardine’s unorthodox style then he could very well harm Jardine. Jardine brings awkward angles to the striking table and if Bader is unprepared for an oddly angled punch he could get rocked by Jardine. Bader has surprising strength and underrated striking in my opinion. The man is monstrously ripped at 205 and packs a serious punch. If he does find an opening and come with his powerful right hook, he can and will put Jardine to sleep. Obviously the X factor standing is Jardine’s chin. It is brought into question in all of his fights and people say he has a weak chin. I’d like to address this statement and say your all idiots. Look at the men he has fought at 205 and KO’d him. Houston Alexander, Wanderlei Silva, and Thiago Silva have all knocked this man out. But what about the other notorious strikers he’s faced like Liddell and Rampage, they didn’t knock him out. Did they drop him? Yes but that’s because Jardine has always faced STRONG strikers. Obviously Jardine will get KO’d by men like the guys I just stated because they’re all known for striking. Jardine doesn’t have a weak chin, he just fights fighters with strong punches. I’ll give the edge standing to Bader because I’m expecting to see him come into this fight with a vastly improved striking game and I expect him to exploit the holes in Jardine’s stand up.

There’s no doubt who’s the obvious favourite when this match hits the mat. Two words. Ryan. Bader. In his 3 UFC fights he has straight up dominated all his opponents when the match hits the mat. He most recently dominated BJJ black belt Ryan Schafer en route to a unanimous decision victory and if anything, this fight against Jardine could turn out to be the same type of fight. Bader is a two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, three-time PAC 10 Champion and was even ranked 4th in the country when he wrestled in high school. Bader possesses all around strong wrestling skills and a strong double leg takedown. He can take the match to the mat in a number of ways and with his expanding striking game he can deliver some powerful GnP. Jardine has a saviour in his back pocket though. That saviour would be none other than Greg Jackson, who in my opinion has the all around best MMA camp in the world. Jardine has the opportunity to train with the likes of Rashad Evans, Shane Carwin, and Nate Marquardt on a daily basis. Greg’s camp contains some of the best wrestlers in MMA so there is no doubt that they’ve been working diligently with Jardine to help him avoid the ground aspect of the match. Even though he doesn’t have the same wrestling credentials as Ryan Bader, Jardine can still hold his own of his back with his underrated (and under used) jiu jitsu. All things accounted for, I’d give Bader a definitive edge if this match hits the ground. I can most certainly see him overwhelming and smothering Jardine out with some good top work inside Jardine’s guard.
It seems like once again we see another fighter with their back agains the wall. Jardine went 0-2 in the year of 2009 and is 1-3 in his last 4 fights. It appears as if Jardine is being given to Bader as a test. If Bader can overcome Jardine, the UFC accomplishes two things. First, they build up Ryan Bader as a legitimate contender in the 205 lbs. division. Secondly, the UFC are given the right to give Jardine his walking papers and trim up the Light Heavyweight division a bit. Jardine is quite popular amongst UFC fans and while releasing Jardine would disappoint a few people, it seems only reasonable to release him if he loses to Bader. I believe that Jardine will walk away from the UFC next weekend a loser. I see Bader being shakey on his feet at first, struggling to get Jardine’s timing down but after a few successful takedowns, Bader will find his rhythm, rock Jardine with a right hook and finish him off with strikes at some point in the first round.

Dylan’s pick: Ryan Bader via 1st Round (T)KO

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Joe Stevenson (31-10) vs. George Sotiropolous (11-2)

3 fights into the main card and 3 very intriguing match ups already. Yet again we’re presented with a good match up for two men looking to rise to the top of the Lightweight division. Just great match making by Joe Silva ladies and gents. George Sotiropolous (I’ll call him G-Soto to keep it nice and short) is an Aussie, fighting on home turf. Joe Stevenson is best known as the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 2. Both men are prepared for war and will give it all they have come UFC 110.

On the feet the small yet compact Joe Stevenson has a lot to offer. The man has just recently resurrected his career from an unfortunate slump but is now back to his winning ways, going 2-0 since joining Greg Jackson’s camp in Albequerque, New Mexico. Before joining Jackson’s camp, Stevenson often only offered very one-dimensional boxing as he was more well known for his grappling. Being at Jackson’s camp, Stevenson has grown rapidly since reviving his career and is poised to make a large impact on the UFC’s lightweight division at this point in his career. Although Stevenson has yet to finish an opponent by knock out inside the UFC, he looked well on his way to doing such when he defeated Spencer Fisher back at UFC 104. Stevenson gained a dominate position on the ground and began to deliver vicious elbows to the face of Fisher. Stevenson did enough to make Spencer tap to the sheer pain of the elbow strikes. Is having an opponent submit to strikes any different then a TKO? In my eyes it’s better to gain the satisfaction of having you opponent tap out, symbolizing that they quit. In MMA your main goal is to make your opponent quit so you can win, hence why I believe a tap out is the best way to win since it represents your opponent giving up entirely. Stevenson’s opponent in George Sotiropolous is used to making opponents tap, just not to strikes. G-Soto is seen as much of a striker, scoring only one of his 11 wins by way of TKO. In G-Soto’s recent outings during 2009 he showed that he has the range and determination to become a great fighter. Adding constantly improving striking to his resume of techniques, he used his striking to pick apart TUF 9 contestant Jason Dent before submitting him with an armbar at UFC 106. In this fight I’d give Stevenson the edge standing although G-Soto’s reach works against him. Height wise, Stevenson is much smaller than many of the UFC’s Lightweights and has small but stocky arms, much like Matt Serra. Against G-Soto, Joe needs to look to get in close and explode when striking while using his significant strength advantage to overwhelm George and press him against the fence. From there he has a number of options, he can utilise one of his many unorthodox takedowns or just tee off on G-Soto until he gets a TKO win. Stevenson should feel fairly safe standing since G-Soto doesn’t possess a high level of striking prowess and is unlikely to actually harm him standing. For George to be successful standing he needs to avoid letting Stevenson get in close and use his reach to his advantage. I’d like to see the Aussie stifle Joe with leg kicks as well as using long reaching jabs and hooks to prevent Joe from pushing the pace. He also needs to avoid backing into the cage since that’s exactly where Joe wants him, with his back against the cage.

On the mat this match becomes very intriguing. You’ll have two black belts in BJJ facing off, with Stevenson also holding a black belt in Judo and being the stronger wrestler. Both fighters are most successful with submission, with them making up nearly 50% of Joe’s wins and 90% of George’s wins. Stevenson brings odd and different takedowns to the table against G-Soto. For a shining example look at his fight against Nate Diaz in which he used rolling takedowns on numerous occasions to place Nate on his back. Against G-Soto it will be instrumental that he remains in top position if the match hits the mat. G-Soto brings very smooth submissions and transitions as his strength on the mat. Against TUF 8 contestant, George Roop, G-Soto used kimura attempts to transition into numerous positions, at one point even trying to take Roop’s back off of one. Against Stevenson, G-Soto will need to use this smooth transitions from submissions to offset Stevenson’s mind and confuse him. The less obvious he is on the mat against Joe the better. One large factor that will also play into the ground aspect of this match is the strength of Joe Stevenson. Joe possesses amazing strength for a Lightweight fighter of his size and stature and in an instant could submit G-Soto with his deadly tight Guillotine Choke. In my opinion, submission wise these two men are very even but due to Stevenson’s wrestling abilities and overall strength I see him winning this match on the ground as well.

George Sotiropolous is certainly a promising up-and-comer in this sport and taking on a veteran like Joe Stevenson will do him nothing but good, even in defeat. Stevenson needs to defeat a fighter like G-Soto to prove he is still relevant in the Lightweight division. It’s matches like these that make the Lightweight division of the UFC the best in the world. Even though Joe is the clear favourite in this fight, it’s hard to count G-Soto out for a second as he’s a fast maturing fighter with tons of promise for the future. I do feel as though Stevenson will finish this fight and that it won’t go to the judges hands. This new, revitalized Joe “Daddy” is scary and I can most definitely see him stringing together enough wins to regain a shot at the 155 lbs king. If George looks to win this fight I could only speculate that it would be by submission as we have seen Stevenson fall victim to submissions before. If George can control Stevenson on the ground then he could most certainly submit Joe with any submission if he capitalizes on even the small mistake made. If he mounts Joe or takes his back I see George finishing Joe by Armbar or even a Rear Naked Choke. To say how Joe can finish this fight is a toss up as I feel like his striking may not pack enough punch to put G-Soto out. I can see Stevenson snagging on a very tight Guillotine choke in the 2nd round. G-Soto will be overwhelmed by Stevenson’s strength and ultimately submit.

Dylan’s Pick: Joe Stevenson via 2nd Round Guillotine

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Wanderlei Silva (32-10-1 w/1 no contest) vs. Michael Bisping (18-2)

Talk about a fight for the fans….and Bisping Haters! Who in the world is not excited for this one? Your lying to yourself if you say you aren’t. This one won’t go passed the second round as we see the PRIDE FC legend, Wanderlei Silva, take on The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner, Michael Bisping. This match up has all the makings to be a classic and give the winner the KO of the Night honours. Will the “Axe Murderer” finally claim another victim and return to his dominate ways or will “The Count” look to ruin Wandy’s Middleweight debut?
Striking is where this match is the most interesting. Striking is where this match will be decided. Striking is….you get the idea. This will be a war (hopefully). Both men hold the majority of their wins by KO with 22 of Wandy’s 32 wins coming by KO while 12 of Bisping’s 18 wins come by KO. Does anything else need to be said? Well yes unfortunately I need to continue to give you my opinion knowing fully well what I write here won’t change your choice for this fight at all. Oh well. Both men have dynamite hands and can finish this fight with 1 punch. Although I see Wanderlei as the more powerful puncher, I feel as though Bisping is faster and more technical. As the fight progress (if it gets past the first round that is!) the major question will be Wanderlei’s conditioning. In his last fight against Rich Franklin he fought at a catch weight of 195 lbs. and it showed through out the fight that the weight cut did not go well for him. Wandy claims he is well prepared and conditioned for this fight so at this point we can only take his word for it. Bisping is always in fantastic shape for his fight so I have no concerns about the man’s cardio or the pace he can set. At the end of the day the stand up aspect of this fight will come down to who lands first. Bisping needs to circle away from Wandy’s power side, a lesson he learned from being KO’d by Dan Henderson…I shouldn’t even have to elaborate on this one because if you haven’t seen that KO then you most certainly live under a rock. If Bisping can use good footwork, head movement and avoid getting swarmed by Wandy, then he could very well catch him and (T)KO him or even out point him to a decision victory. Wanderlei on the other hand will best benefit from finishing this one quickly. The longer this match goes, I fear the less it favours Wandy even if he says otherwise. His best bet will be just to go buck wild on Bisping, come forward fast and hard while avoiding getting caught by a punch or kick from “The Count. If he can overwhelm and harm Bisping early on then the fight should be all his. I’ll give Wandy the advantage standing and that’s not just because he seems heavily favoured to KO Bisping, I refuse to buy the hype. Wandy hasn’t won, let alone finished, a fight in nearly two years so it’s ridiculous to give him an extreme edge going into this fight. I do believe in the hands of the “Axe Murderer” and I’m one of those people who dream of seeing him back to his former PRIDE glory. As you can tell by now, I’m a BIG dreamer.

If this one goes to the mat their won’t be a submission. Overall this fight on the ground isn’t going to be anything special at all. I’d give the advantage on the ground to Bisping just because I think he can press better takedowns than Wandy. That’s not because he’s a better wrestler than Wandy, that’s just because we see Bisping attempt takedowns more. Neither man has ever been submitted so to pick one of them to win by submission is just foolish in my opinion. This is MMA and anything can happen, but when two KO artists go into a fight the last thing you expect is a submission finish, unless by strikes. I could see Bisping trying to implement a little GnP at various points through out the fight but Wandy seems heart set that Bisping won’t be able to take him down. This section is relatively short because I feel like this one won’t hit the mat unless someone is sleeping when they hit it. I’d see Bisping as the favourite on the ground but not by much at all. They’re almost even in a ground aspect through my eyes as they’ve both never been submitted and both have underrated jiu jitsu skills. So actually, I’ll go with 50/50 on the ground.

All aspects of this match accounted for, we should have a magnificient and epic war on our hands. Someone is getting knocked out in this fight, it just needs to happen. Some things are destined to happen. I believe that destiny has handed us a match up in which one man will push his career to a whole new level at the expense of the other man, of which he knocks out. I see Wanderlei rising from the ashes of his recent defeats and handing Bisping his British ass on a silver platter. If Bisping wants to win this fight he needs to circle away from the power side and avoid letting Wandy bull rush him as well as placing Wandy on his back periodically. If he can do this than I believe he can TKO Wandy or even win by Unanimous Decision. Alas I see Wandy running in at Bisping and flattening him within the first three minutes by a monstrous right hand.

Dylan’s Picks: Wanderlei Silva via 1st Round (T)KO

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Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1 w/1 no contest) vs. Cain Velasquez (7-0)

Here we go folks, a great Main Event match up we have here. A BJJ ace as well as a legend of the PRIDE FC taking on a Heavyweight prospect. Both men seek to cement their positions atop the UFC’s Heavyweight division. Nogueira brings world class jiu jitsu as well as under looked striking into this fight while Cain has tremendous wrestling abilities as well as menacing GnP skills. In a battle of experience vs. youth who will be the victor?

From a striking stand point I see this match tipping in favour of Cain. Of Cain’s 7 wins, 6 have come by (T)KO. Although these stoppages haven’t been the most spectacular of finishes they most certainly tell us one thing….Cain Velasquez is for real. As a striker Cain has shown his hands are more than capable of doing the talking for him. He’s also displayed that he can take some serious punishment and keeping coming at his opponents. Overall one resounding trait Cain has is his heart. The man continually pushes forward and never becomes discouraged at any time. Nogueira possesses underrated striking in my opinion. He trains with great strikers like Junior Dos Santos, Anderson Silva, and even his brother Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who is an excellent boxer. Nogueira has also shown a tendency to take massive amounts of damage on the feet so you can expect that if these two men begin to swing with each other that neither one will back down. For Cain to win the striking aspect of this fight he’ll need to stay loose and explosive. He’ll need to maintain good overall body movement and react to Big Nog’s movements with good timing to set up some good striking combos. Ultimately Cain should use strikes on his feet to throw Nogueira off focus and then shoot in for a takedown and implement his always vicious GnP. Big Nog should be the aggressor in the fight and continually push forward, forcing Cain to shoot. If he pushes forward enough, Cain’s takedowns will become very telegraphed especially if he pushes him to the fence. The one position he should look to constantly put Cain in is against the fence. If he places Cain against the fence, Cain will only have one choice and that’s to attempt a takedown. Cain is the type of fighter that would rather be pushing you into the fence instead of being pushed into the fence. If Big Nog can stifle Cain’s takedowns and pick him apart standing I feel as though he could at one point (T)KO Cain.

When the match hits the mat is when the fight becomes very interesting, similar to several of the cards on this fight. Cain possesses a purple belt in BJJ under Dave Camarillo while Nogueira holds a black belt in BJJ and Judo. Submission wise Nogueira is the clear favourite but from a wrestling stand point Cain is superior. Cain will need to constantly push for takedowns and do one of two things. The first thing Cain could do is take Nogueira down and then let him back up and continue to onslaught him with multiple takedowns, thus scoring well on with the judges. This method runs the risk of Nogueira figuring out the timing of his takedowns and stifling them. The other thing he could do is gain a strong top position and implement his devastating GnP. The obvious risk of this method is that Nogueira’s bottom submission game is in a league of it’s own and that he could catch Cain at any given moment that he spends on the ground or in Nog’s guard. Overall the gameplan for Cain if this match hits the mat should be to just smother Nog with GnP and constantly maintain top position. If Nogueira finds himself on his back he won’t panic and will remain calm as he has the ability to finish the fight from any position. His main goal off his back will be to not allow Cain to pass his guard or maintain top position for very long. He’ll need to actively look for sweeps, reversals or submissions to stifle Cain’s offense and create and opening for his own form of offense. Obviously Nogueira will want to maintain a top position as well and look to mount Cain or even take his back. Overall this match can go either way on the mat. It’s split 50/50 with Nogueira having the submission edge and Cain having the wrestling edge.

Cain Velasquez is put in a position to win the biggest fight of his young career while Nogueira has the opportunity to hold the one belt that has eluded him since coming to the UFC, the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Although Nogueira held the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship, he has yet to hold the unified title and a win over Velasquez could put him in position to fight for the title. A victory for either of these men will place them extremely high in the upper echelon of the UFC’s Heavyweight division. At UFC 110 I am choosing Cain Velasquez to upset Big Nog. If Cain can use his superior wrestling in parallel with his unrelenting pace and GnP he could very well be only the second man in history to stop Big Nog or just ride out a Unanimous Decision win. Nogueira will need to avoid the takedowns of Cain as well as out strike him and control him on the ground to either win by TKO, submission or even Decision. At the end of the night I do see Velasquez dominating Nogueira in a close, fun fight to watch.

Dylan’s Pick: Cain Velasquez via Unanimous Decision

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PRELIMINARY CARD

I’ll keep these short and sweet for you. Some great action from the undercard. It’s worth noting that the first ever all Aussie UFC fight between Elvis Sinosic and Chris Haseman was called off earlier today due to a shoulder injury to Sinosic.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
A match up of two The Ultimate Fighter vets. Bonnar is desperate need of a win here. I feel like if either lose they’re gone from the UFC. Krystof wrestles with Hendo, Bonnar has great jiu jitsu. Standing both guys are sloppy. I like K-Sos by Uni. Decision

Dylan’s Pick: Krystof Soszynski via Unanimous Decision

Chris Lytle vs. Brian Foster
Great match up, I don’t think Foster has the power in his hands to handle Lytle. Foster didn’t impress me much in his last fight against Brock Larson even though he won, he looked close to defeat a few times through out. Lights Out for Foster as Lytle gets a bump back up to the Main card after this one.

Dylan’s Pick: Chris Lytle via 1st Round (T)KO

C.B. Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic

Goran has always intrigued me and it’s nice to see he’s finally returning. Never been a fan of Dolloway’s and he’s definitely out matched all around in this one. Goran is an aggressive striker and has fantastic submission abilities. Goran should use C.B.’s weakness, chokes.

Dylan’s Pick: Goran Reljic via 1st Rd. Guillotine Choke

James Te-Huna vs. Igor Pokrajac
Pretty under looked match up here. Coin toss for the winner. Very unsure who to choose but keeping in pattern with all my other picks for this card, I will not choose the hometown favourite and instead side with Igor by decision

Dylan’s Pick: Igor Pokrajac by Unanimous Decision

Thus ends another edition of Dylan’s MMA event predictions and breakdowns. Leave your picks and your opinions in a comment for this or discuss them in the FightPros forum!

Written by FightPros.com contributor Dylan Routledge. Follow Dylan on twitter @dylan_geezus on the night of the fights to see his reaction to the outcomes of the fights. Love to hear what everyone’s picks are so tweet me them or post them in a comment on here!

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