UFC 142 Predictions: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ednaldo Oliveira

Welcome to the UFC Ednaldo Oliveira.Welcome back Gabriel Gonzaga.  This fight is hard to predict because we don’t know what were getting out of Gabriel Gonzaga.  The man that launched the head kick heard around the world in his defeat of the …

Welcome to the UFC Ednaldo Oliveira.

Welcome back Gabriel Gonzaga.  

This fight is hard to predict because we don’t know what were getting out of Gabriel Gonzaga.  The man that launched the head kick heard around the world in his defeat of the legendary Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic, has made his way back into the UFC after over a year away.

At one time, Gonzaga was on the short list of contenders for the title, but since his decision loss to Brendan Schaub at UFC 121, Gonzaga got cut and faded away from the public eye.  Now he appears to have one more title run in him and his first step is to welcome Ednaldo Oliveira to the UFC.

Ednaldo Oliveira brings an undefeated record into the octagon—and one special edge: he trains with someone who beat Gonzaga already.  As a training partner of the UFC Heavyweight champion, Junior Dos Santos, Oliveira can use the win Santos had over Gonzaga at UFC Live: Jones vs. Vera as a blueprint.  

Along with this tidbit of information, Oliveira has a pretty solid boxing pedigree from working with the champ.

I think this will be a short explosive fight with the youngster capitalizing on his knowledge from his training partner and exposing Gonzaga with a knockout victory.

Gonzaga won’t be cut after losing this one, but his level of competition will greatly decrease.

(Ednaldo Oliveira by Second Round KO)

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