In his home country of Brazil, on the day before his 35th birthday, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva will face UFC legend Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski in the main event of UFC Fight Night 51.
The event takes place at Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia, Brazil on Saturday. Preliminary bouts begin at 5:45 p.m. ET and the main card starts at 7 p.m. The entire event will be streamed exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.
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In Silva’s last bout, he battled Mark Hunt to a draw in what many would call one of the greatest heavyweight fights in UFC history. Silva tested positive for elevated testosterone levels after that bout and was subsequently suspended and stripped of his Fight of the Night bonus. It was the second time Silva had been suspended for anabolic agents.
With that behind him, he looks to tame the Pitbull. The two men met back in 2010 when both were in Strikeforce. Silva won that bout by unanimous decision.
After a six-year absence, Arlovski’s return to the UFC resulted in a split-decision victory over Brendan “Big Brown” Schaub in June. Quite honestly, that decision was ridiculous. The fight was a snooze fest, but Schaub deserved the win. Somehow, two judges saw it in Arlovski’s favor.
With the official win on the judges’ scorecard, Arlovski looks to take on another major challenge. That is the main event, but there are other mildly interesting bouts on this UFC Fight Pass exclusive.
Here’s a look at the full card and predictions. Just beneath the table is a closer look at the top three fights on the card.
Leonardo Santos Will Put on a Show Against Efrain Escudero
Both Leonardo Santos and Efrain Escudero are excellent submission fighters. The two men have 20 submission wins between them. Because of the fighter’s prowess on the ground, this one could wind up being fought predominantly in stand-up.
Santos is a native of Brazil who will have the fans behind him and he is on a roll of sorts. He hasn’t lost a fight since 2009, but he did battle Norman Parke to a draw in his last outing.
Escudero is headed for his third stint in the UFC, but he isn’t exactly on a hot streak. Though he won his last bout, he’s still not far removed from a four-fight losing streak from 2011-2013.
With a penchant for slow starts and lulls in activity, Escudero doesn’t match up well with the longer (6’0″ to 5’9″) Santos fighting in front of his countrymen. Look for Santos to outwork Escudero with cleaner and more effective striking en route to an impressive unanimous-decision win.
Piotr Hallmann Will Impress With Submission Win over Gleison Tibau
Raise your hand if you’re shocked Gleison Tibau is only 31 years old. He’s seemingly been around forever, but he’s never quite become an elite fighter in the UFC.
Piotr Hallmann brings a skill set into the Octagon that will be troubling for Tibau. He has the grappling proficiency to handle the Brazilian veteran on the ground, and he’s slick enough with his striking to pick Tibau apart in the stand-up game. Hallmann‘s striking accuracy is 43 percent compared to Tibau‘s less-than-ideal rate of 33 percent.
Tibau will look to take the fight to the ground once he sees that he has nothing for Hallmann standing. Matters won’t improve for Tibau once the fight goes to the mat. Hallmann‘s already strong submission game has improved in the last two years. His last two wins have come by tapout.
Though he hit a bit of a snag against Al Iaquinta in Oct. 2013, the best is yet to come from Hallmann. His submission win over Yves Edwards in June was just the first step toward a rise into the lightweight top 10.
He’ll win in impressive fashion by becoming just the second man to submit Tibau in his career.
Antonio Silva Will Leave No Doubt in Win over Arlovski
Arlovski didn’t deserve to win his last bout, but the judges dropped the ball. Bigfoot won’t give them the chance in this one. Arlovski’s only chance to win is to keep the fight standing, but that didn’t work out well in his first meeting with Silva.
In their first fight, Bigfoot easily out-struck Arlovski, dazing him on several occasions. Arlovski had a hand-speed advantage, but his defense was suspect and Bigfoot countered accurately and with more power.
If the fight goes to the ground, Silva’s size, strength and grappling prowess will lead to a ground-and-pound victory. If it stays standing, the Brazilian’s heavy-handedness, solid chin and counter-punching ability will do in the Pitbull.
Charged by his return to the Octagon and an appearance in front of his Brazilian fans, Bigfoot will squash Arlovski by KO.
Fighter heights and statistics per FightMetric.
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