It’s that time again when MMA analysts Josh Leduc and Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli go head to head and see who can make the better MMA predictions. The last event (UFC 159) was a tie, with both analysts getting half of their disagreed bouts. There’s only two fights the two disagree on, but that just means that either one of them could claim victory in this MMA prediction competition. Here we go…
– Jussier da Silva vs. Chris Cariaso
Fight Freek’s breakdown : Formiga may have an excellent Jiu-Jitsu game, but I’m far from impressed with his striking. Cariaso faired well against the striking and Jiu-Jitsu of Vaughan Lee and convinced the judges that he did enough to beat Takeya Mizugaki. He won the first two rounds of his fight with John Moraga until he was submitted in the third round, and he lost a split decision to Michael McDonald. Combined with his fights against Will Campuzano and Renan Barao, and Cariaso has the experience to rise to the challenge of his opponent.
Pick : Chris Cariaso
Josh’s breakdown : Formiga has finished half of his fights via submission, and has only lost to the #3 and #4 flyweights in the world. Cariaso doesn’t possess the wrestling of Ian McCall or the striking and speed of John Dodson, so Formiga should get another submission victory.
Pick : Jussier da Silva
– Francisco Trinaldo vs. Mike Rio
Fight Freek’s breakdown : Next to Gleison Tibau, Trinaldo is the largest lightweight in the UFC. His large size hasn’t affected his conditioning, and he should be the better grappler. If Rio was a top striker, then I might be worried for Trianldo’s chances, but that’s not the case. In a grappler vs. grappler fight, Trinaldo should win nine of ten times.
Pick : Francisco Trinaldo
Josh’s breakdown : Trinaldo tends to make a mistake when grappling with his opponents, and sometimes finds himself in compromising positions. Even against a complete grappling novice like C.J. Keith briefly had a dominant position over Trinaldo due to a grappling error. If he makes those same mistakes against Rio, he won’t get the opportunity to rectify it, and will be in a world of hurt. Trinaldo will put up a fight, but after such an impressive performance in his fight with John Cofer, I’m confident that Rio will emerge victorious.
Pick : Mike Rio
Just for the record, here’s the rest of our picks that we agree on…
Vitor Belfort > Luke Rockhold
Ronaldo Souza > Chris Camozzi
Rafael dos Anjos > Evan Dunham
Rafael Natal > Joao Zeferino
Hacran Dias > Nik Lentz
Yuri Alcantara > Iliarde Santos
Paulo Thiago > Michel Prazeres
John Lineker > Azamat Gashimov
Fabio Maldonado > Roger Hollett
Gleison Tibau > John Cholish
Lucas Martins > Jeremy Larsen
– Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli
@FightFreek