Steven Siler vs. Darren Elkins
Siler has shown well rounded skills against several quality opponents, but of his three UFC bouts, neither of his opponents has the takedowns or top control that Elkins possess. He was able to take and hold down Diego Brandao, who is a much better striker and grappler than Siler. Simple logic, if Diego Brandao wasn’t able to do enough to defeat Elkins, I see no way that Siler will be able to catch Elkins on the feet, or with a submission. Elkins will grind out another unanimous decision.
Ivan Menjivar vs. Azamat Gashimov
This is almost too easy to call, but will the biggest upset if I end up picking incorrectly. Bottom line, Menjivar has so much experience with fighting the best of the best. Who has Gashimov fought? Exactly. There’s always a possibility that Gashimov will land that one lucky punch, but I’ll never predict a fighter to win based solely on a lucky punch. I’m actually surprised that the UFC didn’t match him up with someone closer to the elite of the division even after his loss to Mike Easton. Menjivar’s well rounded skills will be more than enough to defeat Gashimov nearly anyway he chooses.
Matthew Riddle vs. John Maguire
I will admit that I was impressed with Riddle’s striking in his fight with Chris Clements. It was my prediction that Clements was going to win that fight and win big, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Nonetheless, I hardly think his last fight is any reason to think Riddle will be able to overcome the submission skills of Maguire. If Riddle’s striking was on the same level of John Hathaway, then I’d agree that he’d have a good chance of winning. Unfortunately for Riddle, this is not the case, and Maguire will sooner or later take this fight to the ground. Once on the ground, it will be only a matter of time until the Brit is able to tap Riddle; most likely this fight will end in the first round.
Antonio Carvalho vs. Rodrigo Damn
After Carvalho’s win over Daniel Pineda, it will take a pretty big name for me to think about picking against him. His striking was extremely crisp and if Carvalho has a similar performance in this fight, it will be ugly for Damn. Damn has both experience and well rounded skills, but is primarily a grappler, so although Carvalho can outclass Damn everywhere the fight goes, he will look to knock Damn out on the feet rather than playing the submission game.
Sam Stout vs. John Makdessi
I’m hoping that this will be a stand up fight, but I’m betting that Stout will try to take Makdessi to the ground where he should have the advantage. As we’ve seen in his fight against Dennis Hallman, Makdessi is like a fish out of water when he put on his back, and he doesn’t even have the takedown defense he should to make up for his lack of ground skills. Just based on this alone, I feel I should pick Stout to win. However, I’ll be picking Makdessi. He’s on a two fight loosing streak and one more loss could cause him to get cut from the UFC. This is the kind of push he will need to come into this fight in shape and focused, ready to finish any opponent that is in his way. The flip side to Makdessi having no ground skills is that his striking is outstanding. Stout may have good kickboxing skills, but he will not be able to go toe to toe with Makdessi on the feet. I don’t see Makdessi loosing three fights in a row. His aggressive striking will stifle any takedown attempts that Stout may try, and Makdessi will look to finish this fight in the first round by knockout.
Mark Bocek vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Even though I’d give a slight edge in jiu-jitsu to dos Anjos, they both are experts on the ground. What will really make a difference in this fight is the obvious skill difference in the striking department. His fight with Clay Guida was the turning point in which we saw the drastically improved stand up from dos Anjos to become quite the muay thai striker. Following that fight, he knocked out George Sotiropoulos in only twenty nine seconds. I won’t say that Bocek has poor stand up, but he clearly isn’t on dos Anjos’ striking level. We may still see a submission chess battle on the ground, but I think dos Anjos will look to take Bocek out on the feet, and will successfully do so late in the fight.
Diabate Cyrille vs. Chad Griggs
To be blunt, I haven’t been impressed with Diabate’s performance in his last several fights, but he still has advantages over Griggs. No one knows how the cut to light heavyweight will go, and it could potentially have a negative affect on his performance. Also there’s the obvious reach advantage to Diabate which will only increase the advantage he already possess in the technical striking. Diabate’s real weakness has been in the grappling department, but as Griggs showed in his fight with Travis Browne, he can be dominated in the grappling as well. This leads me to believe that the diffence will be in the striking and that clearly goes to Diabate. Based on his recent performance, I don’t think Diabate will finish Griggs, but he should be able to win himself a unanimous decision.
Patrick Cote vs. Alessio Sakara
After his fight with Cung Le, I thought people would stop over exaggerating Cote’s striking and power. With the exception of myself, every prediction was the same with Cote knocking out Le early in the first round. In reality, Cote was outclasses by a superior striker all three rounds and the same will happen in this fight with Sakara. Because of the iron chin of Cote, I won’t jump to the conclusion Sakara winning by knockout, but Cote does not possess the technical striking that Sakara, a former professional boxer, possesses. Because of his recent knockout loss to Brian Stann, People are accusing Sakara of having a weak chin, when Stann was one of only two men to every knockout Chris Leben, the other man being the great Anderson Silva. Sakara’s chin will be underestimated just as Cung Le’s was, and it will be a crucial mistake. Sakara will use his footwork, head movement and superior boxing to outpoint Cote all three rounds, just as Cung Le did.
Written by : Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli
@FightFreek