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By: Marc Patching, MMATorch Contributor
With a weekend of UFC action on the cards, it's only right to grab some drinks and discuss the possible outcome of the event.
A knock-off soda - Two UFC Fight for the Troops 2 preliminary card bouts coming to Facebook on Saturday night
The UFC are never afraid to try something new to bring in more fans, and this move is no different. With two fights scheduled to be shown on Facebook, that's a total of four hours of fighting for free! Now I know nothing in life is technically free, with this being some added exposure for the UFC, but this move still (partly) makes up for charging for events like UFC 119.
Spicy Boneless Wings - UFC Fight For The Troops 2 Predictions
Before I start with any predictions, let me take this opportunity to give some kudos to the UFC for holding this event. It's a simple gesture of gratitude for all that the military do, to which I also add my thanks.
Cole Miller vs. Matt Wiman
With both fighters on a two win fight streak, and both coming off impressive submission victories (Miller over Ross Pearson, and Wiman over Mac Danzig), this fight has a certain amount of potential. Take also into consideration that three out of the last five fights for Wiman have been fight of the night, and Miller's last two wins both won submission of the night, then it definitely makes for an interesting match-up. I think that a Miller win would be more appealing, due to a future fight with Donald Cerrone on the horizon.
Winner: Cole Miller
Mark Hominick vs. George Roop
The battle between these two former training partners has to go down as a must win fight for both for totally different reasons. For George Roop it's somewhat negative, with his current record since making his UFC debut not being at all impressive. Hominick on the other hand has built up a nice winning streak, remaining unbeaten in his last four fights and a win here makes him the number one contender to Jose Aldo's title.
Winner: Mark Hominick
Pat Barry vs. Joey Beltran
If any fight on this card has the potential to be "Fight of the Night" then this is it. Barry almost shocked the Croatian Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in his last fight, when he had him rocked early in the fight. Beltran is also coming into this fight after a defeat to Matt Mitrione. Looking back, that was a fight that Beltran could have, and possibly should have, won. He landed a huge right hand followed by some ground and pound that Mitrione was able to see out. Beltran gassed pretty much after that, allowing Mitrione to capitalize and eventually gain the victory. Due to this, and the fact that Barry has some devastating kickboxing in his arsenal, I'm giving the slight edge to Barry in what should be an entertaining fight.
Winner: Pat Barry
Matt Mitrione vs. Tim Hague
Honestly, I would never have seen Mitrione lasting this long in the UFC, even after he defeated Kimbo Slice. I thought it would only be a matter of time (i.e. his next fight), before he was found out and cut, so credit goes to Mitrione for lasting this long. Tim Hague, on the other hand, has struggled since his seven second defeat to Todd Duffee back at UFC 102. This is his third and possibly final chance to make any sort of career in the UFC. He is on a two win fight streak, but I think Mitrione has enough to make this stop a last one for Hague.
Winner: Matt Mitrione
Evan Dunham vs. Melvin Guillard
I'm not completely sold on this fight, especially being the main event of the evening. I was more looking forward to the originally announced fights of Evan Dunham vs. Kenny Florian and Melvin Guillard vs. Yves Edwards. That being said, it is what it is, and this one should still be competitive with a lot on the line for both fighters. Dunham's recent defeat to Sean Sherk is one that he will want to put behind him. If he would have won that fight, he would more than likely be facing someone higher up on the fight-chain than Guillard. By all means, that's no disrespect to Guillard who has managed to rebound nicely since his defeat to Nate Diaz back in 2009.
Winner: Evan Dunham
Well that's it for the main card of the evening, as for anything else... a possible win for Cody McKenzie with the guillotine.
Some blue cheese dressing to go with those wings – Kimbo Slice takes pro wrestling gig in Japan
This is a far more sensible option for Kimbo, rather than seeing him attempting to forge some sort of career in boxing. Least in wrestling, much like his street fighting, he can have more of a say on who his opponent will be and more importantly the outcome of the match-up! I'm just kidding about the last part. It seems too late for the WWE to make any money off Kimbo, but there are some rumblings of him playing a possible enforcer role at Wrestlemania. At the end of the day, he still has a look that wrestling fans, especially Japanese fans will go for (see Brock Lesnar, Steve Williams, and others for further examples).
That's it for this week, and next week, hopefully I'll have decided if I'm more interested in seeing UFC 126 or UFC 127 in February.
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