UFC 85 picks...

The UFC is starting the early summer with a flurry of events. The next one being UFC 85 this Saturday, June 7th.

It seems like there are two types of UFC PPV formats: One is get a hugly anticipated main event or two, and fill the undercard with relative unknowns, or guys coming off losses, or a lot of dubut fighters no one knows. The second one is have a non-title fight between a high profile fighter or two, and fill the undercard with a bunch of other well known and well liked fighters, so the PPV seems worth the expence.

This UFC 85 feels like the second type. There's no belt on the line. But there are a lot of great fighters all through out the fight card. I like seeing guys I know fight, and I like to pick them to win. With this fightcard though, I've had to make a lot of choices betwen two fighters I normally would have sided with if they were fighting other guys.

I've tried a different format to show my picks, hopfully it's not too small. But these are my picks...

In the main event I have Matt Hughes winning. I think he will have rededicated himself to training and that we'll see him go back to his roots of brutal takedowns and ground and pound. Almost against anyone else I would have chosen Thiago Alves to win. He's a good fighter, and fun to watch.

Michael Bisbing vs. Jason Day. I don't know Jason Day, but that doesn't matter too much because I think Bisping is going to be really hard to beat at 185lbs.

Probably the toughest fight to pick in the whole PPV is the fight between Marcus Davis and Mike Swick. I'm a fan of both of these fighters. Mike Swick's early UFC career saw him finishing fight after fight in super fast fashion in the middleweight (185lbs.) division. As he moved up the ranks, wins were getting difficult, and losses began to happen. He's dropped down into the welterweight division, and with a less than stellar win against Josh Burkman, he's looking to get back to his winning ways. As a fan, I hope he does too. Marcus Davis has almost an opposite story. He's a boxer turned MMA fighter, and early in his MMA career, he was a bit one dimentional and lost a couple fights. He dedicated his training to learning the ground game (wrestling and jujitsu), and since then has been winning fights. Not just with his boxing skills, but with his new submission skills as well. He's a natual welterweight, and is strong for his size. I route for him on a continuing basis. But I had to make a choice. Ultimatly I went with Mike Swick. I think he needs a good fight and a strong win to put him back in belt contention. One thing I've noticed recently in the UFC is, even if you lose a big fight, if it's a great fight, you don't fall far in the rankings, and for a fighter on the way up, it almost pushes them forward like a win would (only not as far as a win would). I guess that boils down to excitment and respect for ones heart in the fight. I hope this fight does that for both of these guys. Mike could use the win more though, but that's just my opinion.

Another fight I'm looking forward to a lot is the return of Brondon Vera after his loss to Tim Silvia. In that fight, Brandon busted his hand early on, and that distracted him enough that he couldn't do anything else but survive. He lost by decision. He's healed up and ready to get back to his winning ways, and moving up the heavyweight division ladder. He'll have to beat Fabricio Werdum to get there though. Fabricio is not as well known, but he does have a current win over the popular Gabriel Gonzaga. Fabricio and Brandon have very similar styles and skills. It will be interesting to see who will put this fight away first. I'm a big fan of Brandon, so I'm pulling for him in this fight.

Here are some of my other picks-

I like Martin Kapman and think he'll beat Jorge Rivera on the ground.

I think Jason Lambert will want to get back in the win collumn with a win over Luiz Cruz.

I think Eddie Sanchez will be able to take out Antoni Hardonk.

Matt Wiman will probably find a way to win against Thiago Tavares.

Because of all the fights as a whole, this has all the makings of one of the best PPVs this year. We'll see if that's what happens.