UFC 132 goes down Saturday, and it features a highly anticipated title fight between UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz (17-1) and former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber (25-4).
Also on the card, middleweight brawlers Chris Leben and Wanderlei Silva prepare to slug it out while former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz meets Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan Bader.
Other main-card fights include Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim and Matt Wiman vs. Dennis Siver.
These are my predictions for fight, knockout and submission of the night.
Fight of the Night: Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber
This is such a hard fight to predict, and it’s one that is bound to go the distance. Is there any way it could be anything other than one of the best bantamweight fights in the history of MMA? I don’t think so.
Cruz comes into the fight as the champion with only one loss on his record that came at the hands of Faber from over four years ago. “The California Kid” hasn’t had the greatest record as of late, going 4-3 in his last seven bouts.
Nobody is going to be more determined than Cruz on fight night, especially with his only loss being to Faber, and it should make for a memorable back-and-forth battle between the two of the UFC’s biggest and lightest stars. Faber has the durability to go all five rounds if he finds himself having more trouble than he might anticipate.
Knockout of the Night: Wanderlei Silva
I’d actually predict this fight to be fight of the night if it didn’t have the word “knockout” written all over it.
Chris Leben (25-7) comes into this fight with a loss to Brian Stann in his last fight. He was knocked out by the heavy-handed opponent in the first round. Silva (33-10-1) hasn’t fought since defeating Michael Bisping at UFC 110 in February 2010. “The Axe Murderer” will definitely be looking to land some heavy blows on the iron-chin of Leben.
This may come down to who lands first, but it may also be a question of who has the better chin at this point in their careers.
I predict the first round to be an all-out slugfest with both fighters being hurt at some point. I’m not predicting a one-punch knockout, but I think Silva can get to Leben in the second round with a flurry of strikes. Dana White will compensate the winner for his effort with a knockout of the night bonus, whomever it is.
Submission of the Night: Shane Roller
If Melvin Guillard (27-8-2) loses to Shane Roller (10-3), it’s going to probably be by submission. Out of all the fighters on the card, Roller has the most likely chance of submitting his opponent. Roller also has two past submission of the night bonuses when he defeated Jamie Varner and Danny Castillo in the WEC.
Guillard is currently on a four-fight win streak and is coming off his impressive knockout win over Evan Dunham while Roller is 10-2 in his last 12 bouts with his only losses coming from former WEC Lightweight Champions Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis. The momentum is definitely on Guillard’s side going into this bout so I’m not as confident in this pick as much as the others.
Seven of Guillard’s eight losses are by submission so I’m predicting the NCAA Division I wrestler gets it to the ground at some point if he doesn’t get caught early and catches him in a choke.
UFC 132: News, Predictions, Results and More
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