UFC 8 tournament champion Don Frye has once again graced fight fans with his “Predator Predictions,” this time picking the winners of UFC 169, which takes place in Newark, New Jersey next Saturday.
The main card of the February 1st event kicks off with former WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner taking on Abel Trujillo, with Frye predicting Varner to take out the dangerous striker.
In a flyweight contest, Frye believes “The Tasmanian Devil,” as he calls him, Ali Bagautinov will defeat John Linker in a bout that could have serious title implications.
The Arizona native then really turned it on when guessing what will happen in the three featured fights of the evening, beginning with a heavyweight scrap between Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem.
“Alistair, your nickname is ‘The Reem‘ … really?,” Frye asks while smoking a cigar and sipping a glass of unidentified, brown-colored hard alcohol. ” … (Mir), you say your favorite technique is submissions. That’s a little vague, don’tcha think? That’s like saying your favorite drink is the next one. Make up a name, even if it’s something you can’t pull off. The average fight fan won’t know.”
Eventually, after commending UFC matchmaking Joe Silva on the pairing, Frye goes on to choose Mir as the winner—which he decided on after flipping a coin hidden in a lady companion’s bra.
In a featherweight title tilt between UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas, Frye initially mistakes the challenger for TV star Lorenzo Lamas, best known for the 1990s TV series Renegade.
At the end of the day, Frye was unable to look past Aldo’s 16-fight win streak, though he recognized “The Bully” as a dangerous opponent.
Finally, in regards to the main event bantamweight title fight between Renan Barao and Urijah Faber, Frye couldn’t resist taking a shot at Barao‘s originally scheduled opponent, Dominick Cruz.
“He (Barao) has to plan to fight a moving target, with a brain and a personality…not his original opponent, the zombie,” Frye said while mimicking a zombie walk in his chair, throwing robotic-looking punches.
Admitting he is a Faber fan, Frye predicts that “The California Kid” will win his first UFC title, citing his knockout power, noted submission game and superior physical conditioning.
UFC 169 at the Prudential Center kicks off with their preliminary fights at 6:30 p.m. next Saturday, February 1st.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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