The anticipation is growing for this weekend’s UFC event, which goes down in Houston, TX, at the Toyota Center.
It will feature the third matchup between UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Edgar is 0-1-1 against his challenger, but their last fight ended in a draw and has left unfinished business between the two.
That won’t be the only title fight on the card.
In the co-main event, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo puts his title on the line against former lightweight title challenger Kenny Florian. Aldo made his UFC debut in March where he defeated Mark Hominick. Florian is 0-2 in title attempts and will look to capture his first belt against one of MMA‘s pound-for-pound best.
The main card, which will be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET on pay-per-view, will also feature Chael Sonnen vs. Brian Stann, Joe Lauzon vs. Melvin Guillard and Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan.
These are my predictions for fight, knockout and submission of the night.
Fight of the Night: Anthony Pettis vs. Jeremy Stephens
Less than a year ago, former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis (13-2) was in line for a shot at the UFC lightweight championship. If not for his loss to Clay Guida, he might have actually been in the main event on this card.
He takes on Jeremy Stephens (20-6), who was last seen beating up Danny Downes and knocking out Marcus Davis in his two 2011 bouts.
Both of these fighters bring intriguing challenges to the Octagon, and they are always in entertaining fights where they could be one punch or kick away from a victory.
Of Stephens’ seven UFC victories, four have been awarded fight bonuses.
Pettis was involved in one of 2010’s best fights versus Ben Henderson.
This fight will take place on the Spike TV portion of UFC 136, which will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on Spike TV.
Knockout of the Night: Jose Aldo
In his toughest title fight yet, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo (19-1) will defend his title for the second time against Kenny Florian (15-5), who has fought everywhere from middleweight to lightweight and now featherweight.
Aldo has 12 knockout victories to his credit, including those over Manvel Gamburyan, Mike Brown, Jonathan Brookins and Cub Swanson.
After going to a decision in his last fight, Aldo will probably want to make up for it by going for the finish early in this fight.
Florian was able to make it past Diego Nunes in his last bout, but he was dropped during the bout and may have been stopped had it not been for the bell. Nunes is nowhere near Aldo when it comes to striking, but he is unorthodox with kicks, something Aldo is a master at utilizing.
It might not come from one shot, but Aldo should be able to break Florian down and get the knockout sometime during the five round distance.
Submission of the Night: Zhang Tiequan
Zhang Tiequan is one of the best prospects to come out of China, and he brings a 15-1 record with 12 submission victories to the Octagon to take on Darren Elkins on the preliminary card this weekend.
Tiequan holds submission victories over Pablo Garza and Jason Reinhardt and has finished all of his opponents. He is a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and trains under Black Tiger Team and China Top Team.
Elkins is 12-2 with only one of his losses coming by submission, which was against Charles Oliveira. That fight came before his controversial victory in his featherweight debut against Michihiro Omigawa at UFC 131.
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