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By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor HDNet matches:
Brett Cooper vs. Patrick Speight- Cooper by TKO in the 2nd round
Albert Rios vs. Antonio Duarte- Duarte by Submission in the 1st round
Bao Quach vs. LC Davis- Davis by Submission in the 2nd round
Jay Heiron vs. Jason High- Heiron by TKO in the 1st round
Main Event:
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (#9 Ranked Light Heavyweight)- Matyushenko is a very good wrestler and has an underrated ground game. Matyushenko hasn't fought the level of competition that Nogueira has and I think that'll make the difference. Nogueira has fought and beaten Alistair Overeem (twice), Dan Henderson, and Kazushi Sakuraba. He's fought and lost to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Quick KO) and Mauricio Rua (Decision). I think Nogueira's big fight experience pays off here and that he avenges his loss to Matyushenko from over 6 years ago.
Prediction- Nogueira by Submission in the 2nd round
PPV Matches:
Paul Buentello vs. Kirill Sidelnikov- Sidelnikov in the 2nd round
Matt Lindland (#6 Ranked Middleweight) vs. Vitor Belfort- Lindland may be getting older but he's very much in that Randy Couture mold of a great wrestler who's seemingly able to ignore the effects of aging. Belfort is a good fighter but he's never been able to win the big one. His losses read like a who's who of MMA history. I suppose you can't hold that against him but perhaps most telling is that most of the guys he's lost to have a strong wrestling background. Lindland's only 2 losses in the past 4 years have come outside of his weight class against Quinton Jackson and Fedor Emelianenko. I think Lindland's wrestling is too much for Belfort to overcome.
Prediction- Lindland by Decision
Renato Sobral vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou- This is an interesting fight. On the surface the edge goes to Sobral, who has 30 more fights of experience. However, the problem is that Sokoudjou has victories over Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Sobral once beat Trevor Prangley, Jeremy Horn, and Mauricio Rua in the same night. That's an impressive feat but it happened over 5 years ago. On the other hand, Sokoudjou has lost 2 of his last 3 fights. I'm going out on a limb but I think Sokoudjou picks up the win.
Prediction- Sokoudjou by TKO in the 2nd round
Josh Barnett (#5 Ranked Heavyweight) vs. Gilbert Yvel- Barnett has only lost 5 times in his career, once to Pedro Rizzo, once to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and 3 times to Mirko Filipovic. That's pretty good against 23 wins. Barnett is very underrated at submissions despite having won over a dozen of his fights via submission. Because he hasn't fought much in the U.S. lately Barnett may not be as big a name as he should be, given his talent. I'd love to see a fight between Barnett and Brock Lesnar. I'll be perfectly honest, I don't like Gilbert Yvel and I hope he loses. I can't try to be professional when it comes to this guy. Look up his fight with Don Frye for all the proof you need for this guy being a fool. Yvel has considerable talent as a striker but he's a punk and a dirty fighter. Anyone who would assault a referee is a chump. Luckily, Yvel is fighting Barnett so I don't have to hope for Yvel to lose, I'm sure he will. Yvel can't fight on the ground while Barnett is very accomplished at submissions. Barnett has only been knocked out once and only been stopped 3 times, once for an injury.
Prediction- Barnett by Submission in the 2nd round
Fedor Emelianenko (#1 Ranked Heavyweight) vs. Andrei Arlovski (#3 Ranked Heavyweight)- This is the big one. Arlovski is on a roll and seems to be back to form after stumbling a bit a few years ago. Fedor is Fedor, he's the best or highly overrated, depending on who you talk to. I'm in the camp of Fedor being the best Heavyweight in the world but I don't think he's unstoppable. Fedor has only fought once in the past year while Arlovski has fought 3 times. I don't think rust will be a big factor but I think this fight will be very close and any advantage can be capitalized on. Fedor has reached a level of cult-like status that sometimes means a fight is over even before it begins. It can be intimidating to fight a guy many consider unbeatable. However, I think that Arlovski has a lot of confidence in himself and won't be affected by the hype. I'm operating under the assumption that Arlovski is over the hiccup his career had after losing to Tim Sylvia twice. Arlovski didn't look the same for a while after that but now I think he's past that.
Fedor has shown chinks in the armor before, most notably against Matt Lindland. If Arlovski can utilize good head movement and rely on his jab to keep Fedor at bay he can win. And I think that's going to happen. Some might call it a big upset but I think that Arlovski drops Fedor with a huge right cross and finishes him for the TKO victory. The key, though, is for Arlovski to keep pushing forward and to not let Fedor breathe. If he does that, I think he wins.
Prediction- Arlovski by TKO in the 2nd round
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