Fight Night...

This Saturday night, Spike TV will be broadcasting UFC Fight Night live, nation wide, starting at 6pm pacific time. That means FREE FIGHTS! We won't have to shell out for a PPV! They should do that more often.

The UFC isn't giving us a bunch of second rate fighters for free either. We get to see the greatest pound for pound fighter in the UFC, or the world, for that matter, Anderson Silva. He's taken out all of the top contenders in the 185 pound division (some of them twice), so he'll be fighting at 205 pounds to take on his next challenger.

I'm skipping going through the UFC fantasy league thing this time. I just don't have the time to look into each fighter and how they're preparing for the fights. Plus half of the fight card are guys making their debuts, so I don't know anything about them to begin with, so that makes putting together an educated guess that much harder. I'll be focusing on the fighters I know for my picks this time around.

The main event is, like I mentioned earlier, between Anderson "The Spider" Silva and James "Sandman" Irvin. This fight is a Light Heavyweight fight meaning Silva is fighting at a heavier weight. He's the Middleweight Champ (185 lbs.). James Irvin normally fights at 205, so he'll be used to it. I pick Anderson Silva to win. He's an accurate puncher with heavy hands, and that's just the beginning. He's also a black belt in Brazilian Ju Jitsu, so if/when it goes to the ground, he'll tie you up tighter than a pretzel. Irvin also has heavy hands and accurate punches, but it seems to me that he's more one dimensional that way. I think the only ground game he has is defence, and in Ju Jitsu, it's like chess. They get you to defend one thing so you'll put yourself in danger for the next thing, and so on, till they get you. I would love to see Silva KO Irvin, but I don't think that will happen. I think this will end from the ground. Possibly a TKO or choke in the second round.

Another interesting match up on the card is Brandon "The Truth" Vera fighting (again!) a guy named Reese Andy in the Light Heavyweight division. This is Brandon's first fight in that division. He normally fights in the heavyweight division. I think because he's lost two questionable fights recently as a heavy, he's finally going down a size to test the waters there. I don't know anything about Reese Andy (other than he's got a last name for a first name and a first name for a last name), but it wouldn't matter. I've been a fan of Brandon's since his debut in the UFC, so I'm picking him to win. He's got great Muy Thai, and I'm sure he'll be using it. Particularly his kicks, so we might see a head kick KO if Reese Andy doesn't watch for that. Actually I think Reese is a wrestler, so I'm sure we'll see this fight go to the ground, and I'll look forward to seeing Brandon finish this fight with a submission.

We'll get to see Hermes Franca fight Frank Edgar. Is this Hermes' first UFC fight since his suspension last year? If so, there might be a significant amount of "ring rust" he'll have to wade through. He's been known to gas in the latter rounds, so this might be tough for him. Frank Edgar is a "come right for you" type of fighter, and that won't give Hermes much recover time between bursts of combat. I like Hermes as a fighter, but there's a good chance Frank could out work him. I think this will go to decision with Frank Edgar getting the win.

Cain Velaquez vs. Jake O'Brian. I believe these guys are both from wrestling backgrounds, so they probably both prefer a "ground and pound" fight. I think they'll spend a lot of time standing up to set up a take down, and that whom ever gets caught on bottom will work to stand back up. Cain looks like he can be very aggressive, but Jake has a lot more experience as a pro fighter. There's a good chance they'll cancel each other out and it will go to decision. I'm guessing Cain will out work or out "score" Jake, so he'll probably take the decision.

Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns Both of these guys are coming off impressive wins. Anthony with a first round KO, and Kevin with a 2nd round submission. Anthony likes to stand up and throw bombs with his heavy hands, so we'll probably see Kevin stand up a little to try and set up the take down. Anthony does have some wrestling background, but Kevin's got some solid ju jitsu and an active guard. I'm going with Kevin Burns to win by submission in the first round.

Jesse Taylor vs. CB Dollaway. These guys were on the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter, and a lot of people thought that they would be in the finals against each other. That didn't happen (on many levels), so this is the "could have been, should have been?" fight that people were looking forward to. (Personally I'm glad Amir won.) Jesse is physically strong, and that helps him out of sticky situations in the octagon, but he tends to fight without "vision", meaning he's just in there throwing what ever and hoping they land (at least that's how I see it). But I guess that works for him. CB seems a bit more thoughtful in his fight, but we've seen him get complacent and leave his guard down just enough for his opponent to capitalize. Both of these guys are looking to redeem themselves, so I expect it to be a fast paced, exciting fight. I think Jesse will win. Probably going to decision.

Tim Credeur vs. Cale Yarbrough. Both of these guys were on the most recent season of Ultimate Fighter as well. I think they might have both been semi finalists, but whatever. I like Tim's fight style and general attitude. Cale is a young guy and pretty new to pro fighting, but has a bright future. I think Tim will work hard to win. He'll be wanting to stick around in the UFC for a while, and a win will do that. I'm going with Tim to win, probably by submission.

After that, there's 4 fights that I don't know either guy yet, so I'm not making any picks in those fights. If the "bigger" fights have early stoppages, I'm sure we'll see a prelim fight or two, and then the next time they fight, I'll have an opinion. See how that works?

So don't forget to watch Spike TV this Saturday the 19th at 6pm pacific to catch UFC Fight Night, and then come back here and let me know what you thought about the fights.

Till then, keep your hands up and your chin down!