Penick's Take
UFC on Fuel 6 Preview: Penick's main card thoughts and predictions for "Franklin vs. Le" event in China
Nov 9, 2012 - 3:45:15 PM UFC on Fuel 6 Preview: Penick's main card thoughts and predictions for "Franklin vs. Le" event in China

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Saturday morning brings another UFC event to Fuel TV, this time with their first ever event in Macau, China. Headlined by a middleweight bout between Rich Franklin and Cung Le, the six fight card should have a lot of action to offer fans who are planning on waking up early to catch it live. Here are my quick thoughts and predictions for tomorrow's event.

Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le (Middleweight): This fight was supposed to take place at UFC 148, but Franklin was moved up to UFC 147 to take on Wanderlei Silva instead, with Le defeating Patrick Cote at UFC 148 instead. Le's dynamic striking game is always fun to watch, and he'll have his chances to dole out some damage to Franklin throughout this one, but the former Middleweight Champion has to be considered a prohibitive favorite. For one, Le enters the fight with foot injury that hasn't fully recovered, and that could have a very real effect on his kicks. Le's also not generally one to keep an unrelenting amount of pressure on to overwhelm Franklin. That's typically been his downfall, and so long as he doesn't get cracked by a major strike, Franklin should be able to pick his shots and get the better of Le throughout the fight. It should be a hard fought bout from both men, but I expect Franklin to win by decision.

Thiago Silva vs. Stanislav Nedkov (Light Heavyweight): Nedkov surprsied fans in his UFC debut, stopping Luiz Cane at UFC 134. But the unbeaten Bulgarian has been out of action since that fight, and returns against a desperate Thiago Silva. While he's been less than successful as of late, Silva's career losses have all come against top flight competition. He's only been stopped by Lyoto Machida, and his two other losses have been by decision against Rashad Evans and Alexander Gustafsson. Nedkov will be more than willing to stand and trade with Silva, and I think that bodes well for Silva, and I think he'll bounce back in a big way with a first round TKO.

Dong Hyun Kim vs. Paulo Thiago (Welterweight): Has any fighter outside of Brock Lesnar had a tougher UFC schedule from the outset than Paulo Thiago? He's consistently faced high end competition (with a few exceptions) in his UFC run, mixing in wins and losses throughout. Now, as he comes off a knockout loss to Siyar Bahadurzada, he's got to face one of the more consistently tough fighters in the division in Dong Hyun Kim. Kim was undefeated until being plastered by Carlos Condit's flying knee in 2011, and his only other loss came when he suffered an injury during his fight with Demian Maia this year. This is going to be a tough, back and forth, grueling style of fight, and those are the types of fights Kim has historically been successful with. It might be ugly, but I think Kim takes a decision.

Takanori Gomi vs. Mac Danzig (Lightweight): Gomi hasn't fought since his comeback win against Eiji Mitsuoka in February, and he hopes to win consecutive fights in the UFC for the first time. Danzig wants to get some consistency as well after winning two out of his last three fights. This is a fight near the bottom of the UFC's 155 lb. field, but it should still be an entertaining one. Gomi is as susceptible to the ground game as he ever was, but if Danzig plays around on the feet too long he could find himself getting knocked out early. I think it's more likely we see Danzig bring this one to the ground, either finding Gomi's back or grabbing a guillotine choke at some point in the bout. I'll take Danzig by submission in the first round.

Tiequan Zhang vs. Jon Tuck (Lightweight): The UFC's only Chinese fighter on this card in China faces off against an undefeated newcomer in Jon Tuck. Given his losses in three of his last four, and the most recent ending by vicious one-punch knockout, things aren't looking good for Zhang as he heads back to his home country. I like Tuck to make a successful debut with a TKO in the first round.

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Hougland (Bantamweight): I think it's impossible for Takeya Mizugaki to have a bad fight, so this should be a good opener for the Fuel TV card. Hougland's nine fight winning streak ended in his last bout, so he's hoping to start a new one, but he's facing one of the tougher fighters in the bantamweight division, one who is historically hard to finish. Mizugaki has also alternated wins and losses for his last ten fights, and given he lost his last one, the pattern's not looking good for Hougland. It's likely to be a close, competitive fight, but I think Mizugaki does enough to take the decision.