Saturday, January 28, 2012

UFC on Fox 2 Preview

The UFC's title pictures in the Light Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions will be cleared up tonight, as Rashad Evans faces Phil Davis in the main event and Chael Sonnen goes against Michael Bisping in the co-main event.

Evans v. Davis


This match-up features two men with one combined loss on their records. Additionally, both men have wrestling backgrounds that must be noted.

Davis' ground game is strong, as seen by his background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but it's his reach that will be more of an advantage, and I would look for him to keep the fight standing. His takedown defense should assure that he can manage that.

Evans will need to use his ability to fight from the top and control the fight with his wrestling in order to have a shot in this fight. The issue will be how skilled Davis actually is. Evans is the highest-caliber fighter Davis has faced, so this will be a good measure of his wrestling skills against an elite UFC fighter.

Personally, I think Davis is at that high level, and I expect him to win by decision to move on and face Jon Jones for the title.

Sonnen v. Bisping


This fight needed to have a lot more press conferences. The trash-talking opportunity was just too great.

"The Count" is coming off of a very recent fight and is replacing the injured Mark Munoz in this bout. Luckily for him, this is an opportunity to finally move up in the rankings and get a title shot against Anderson Silva.

Unfortunately for him, this fight is against the only man in recent history to push Silva to his limit. Sonnen's wrestling game will be how he plans to control Bisping's striking.

I'm going to go with Sonnen in this fight by submission in Round 2.


Here are some other fights I'm picking on the card.

Middleweights: Demian Maia v. Chris Weidman - I'll take Maia by 1st-round KO on this last main card fight.

Fuel Undercard (3 of 6 fights)


Lightweights: Evan Dunham v. Nik Lentz - Dunham by decision

Lightweights: Michael Johnson v. Shane Roller - Roller by submission


Featherweights: Cub Swanson v. George Roop - Swanson by KO

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