This weekend in Dublin, Ireland, UFC 93 will be kicking off with a great Main Event of two huge names in MMA… Rich “Ace” Franklin and Dan “Hendo” Henderson. The winner of this fight should catapult himself right into the middle of the Light Heavyweight title picture to challenge the current champ, Rashad Evans. Clearly understand this…it’s extremely easy to sit on my couch eating pizza and slamming beer to be critical of fighters when the heaviest workload I’ll be doing is racing to the bathroom between fights. Although, after 16 years of watching MMA evolve into the most complete and exciting combat sport on the face of the planet, I feel that it’s my duty to throw a few opinions out there to create some discussion on how these fights will go. With that being said, let’s get into it…

Rich Franklin (24-3) vs. Dan Henderson (23-7)
This fight will be very exciting with a lot of punches being thrown both standing and on the ground. These athletes are at a very high level with their strength and conditioning and both know how to win.

Franklin has only three loses in his career and two are from Anderson Silva (pound-for-pound the best) and one coming from Lyoto Machida (undefeated). That’s one hell of a resume, but outside of those two fighters, he’s beaten a truck load of “B” fighters and has never taken out an A-lister. He has good hands, solid muy thai, high pressure ground-n-pound, and decent wrestling. He is a good representative of the modern fighter demonstrating a high level of intelligence, solid game planning, and the ability to adapt within the octagon when adjustments are needed. This makes him the complete package.

Henderson on the other hand is a throw back to the Gladiators. He is truly a bad-ass and the alpha male. With a long history of training with Randy Couture and Matt Lindland, a resume of wins over many of the industry’s best light heavy and middleweight fighters, and a little asterisk by his name that says Olympian, there are very few names in the history of this sport that can provide a more decorated and celebrated career than Hendo.

Ultimately, the fight will be won upon who can apply and execute their game plan better than their opponent. I see the fight being a technical bout initially with Franklin possibly out scoring Henderson in the first round with more disciplined hands, but Henderson will turn this bout into a dog fight and end up bull dogging Franklin in the later rounds. His dirty boxing will slow Franklin’s pace and movement down allowing Henderson to score takedowns and applying his heavy ground-n-pound attack. Eventually, Franklin will succumb to the overwhelming pressure and will fatigue because he has never seen the strength or animosity of a wrestler of this magnitude. My prediction is Henderson by TKO in the third.

-MMA Punch Fight Analyst Jon Terrazas

Well this week has been a big week for the UFC, beginning with the announcement of the EliteXC bankruptcy, the fight of this season’s TUF dysfunctional fighter Junie, and UFC 90 in Chicago, IL at the Allstate Arena.  Dana White is looking like the Godfather of MMA as he sits back and watches the competition implode upon their poor financial decisions and their inability to match the mega-marketing of the UFC.

UFC 90 is showcasing the best Pound-4-Pound fighter in the world with their Middleweight title bout  of Anderson “The Spider” Silva  (22-4)against contender Patrick “The Predator” Cote (13-4).  This match up is a prime example of why the UFC should coerce the “The Spider” to move up to the Light-Heavy Weight division.  He has virtually cleared out the entire division and now has a match up with Cote who is only 4 - 4 in the octagon.  In the Light-Heavyweight Division there are countless mega-fights that can happen maximizing Silva’s remaining stay in the fight game.  I very much enjoy watching Silva fight, but against an opponent who is clearly a few steps down from him, is not much motivation to pay $44.95 to see the event.  There are other notable fights on the card, so here we go…

Fight #1 - Silva vs. Cote
The Predator is in deep trouble if he decides to stand and trade with Silva.  Unless he gets on his bike and gives his best Lance Armstrong impression, this fight will be very short and painful.  Silva by KO in the 1st.

Fight #2 - Koshcheck (11-2) vs. Alves (15-3)
I think that Tiago Alves has the formula to beat the hybrid wrestling profiles (via Matt Hughes) by “Brawl-n-Sprawl” tactics and though Josh is a better strike than Hughes, there is too much of an advantage on their feet for Alves.

UFC 89 is coming up this weekend for FREE on Spike TV featuring two events with Michael Bisping (17-1) vs. Chris Leben (18-4), and Keith Jardine (13-5-1) vs. Brandon Vera (9-2).  These fights are especially intriguing with two match ups highlighting personalities they have a garage load of knockout reels amongst the four fighters.  So let’s get it on!

Bisping (17-1) vs. Leben (18-4)
Michael “The Count” Bisping was never a serious contender as a Light-Heavyweight and after a loss to Rashad Evans (which was clearly his best performance at that weight) decided to put down the doughnuts to become a middleweight.  His two performances against CPT Miserable and Mr. Doomsday we’re much more impressive demonstrating good hand speed, foot work, and increased power.
With these improvements, he’s going to need all of these skills to dispatch of the hard headed and big bombing UFC veteran Chris Leben.  Leben is clearly a brawler and wants to entice “The Count” in trading punches in the center of the Octagon, but I think Bisping will stick to a discipline game plan of scoring points through “in-n-out” jabbing and possible take downs.  My forecast will be Bisping in a workman like decision, because Leben is FAR too tough to knockout.

Jardine (13-5-1) vs. Vera (9-2)
This fight is going to be very fun!  Both guys are looking for a win and more importantly, to win BIG!  This has all the makings of both fighters standing right in front of each other and letting it all hang out.  Both have demonstrated knockout power and have the attitudes to back it up.  I believe the technical standup of Vera will be edge to this fight.  Vera will pick apart the unorthodox Jardine and finish the fight in the 2nd round by TKO.

MMA Punch contributor Jonny T.

My friend Jonny T offered his seasoned MMA opinion on three fights for tomorrow night’s UFC Ultimate Fight Night installment 15. His analysis:

Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer

Josh Neer is a tough Militech Fighter with good hands and a solid ground game. He has submitted some very dangerous fighters in Joe Stevenson and Melvin Guillard. Unfortunately, has been decisioned by the bigger breed of fighters such as Josh Burkman. This has ultimately led to sliding down into the Lightweight division where BJ Penn is king (if he can stay away from the buffet). Unfortunately for Josh, Nick Diaz has paved the way for younger brother Nate (submitting Josh by Kimura in the 3rd back in ‘06), with using a good stand up game to force the fight to go to the ground. Here is where the Diaz brothers’ shine and will commence to put on a submission clinic. Nate will be too much for Josh ont he ground and has proved it with his submissions over Alvin Robinson, Kurt Pelligrino, Gray Maynard, and Corey Hill. Nate Diaz by submission in the 3rd (Nate’s a slow starter).

Mac Danzig vs. Clay Guida

Mac Danzig has shown a lot of poise and full arsenal with good hands, good wrestling, and solid submissions. The only thing in question has been the quality of opponents that he’s put down. On the other side of the cage is guy who always puts on a show and has no problem taking the fight to the opposition and brawling it out. If your not a believer, just ask Roger Huerta. Guida has good hands and solid wrestling, but most important, he embraces thewarrior spirit. If there’s a fight, he’s in the middle of it, making a war out of it and letting it all hang out. I see Guida by decision because he’ll be too much for Danzig. Danzig will have enough skills to go the distance, but Guida will be just too much for the TUF winner.

Houston Alexander vs. Eric Schafer

Houston Alexander is going to obliterate Eric Schafer. This fight is going to be short and violent with Alexander pounding out the back of Schafer’s head. Houston is coming off of two loses and is desperately looking to revive his career and get MMA fans buzzing about his power and viciousness in thwarting up and comers. Schafer’s wrestling skills are not good enough to take Alexander down to the ground, leaving the fight on it’s feet. This is a recipe for disaster for Schafer. Houston Alexander by KO in the 1st.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports has taken the time to break down the upcoming Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping at UFC 78. I’ll spare you the suspense, he gives the edge to Evans which can be summed up by him as,

“Bisping is a light heavyweight who can make middleweight; Evans is a light heavyweight who used to fight at heavyweight. Size is going to be an issue, and Evans figures to take Bisping down and stop him late via ground and pound.”

I completely agree with Kev on this one, especially with Matt Hamill exposing Bisping’s over-rated striking abilities. I don’t see much of a way out for Bisping except for a big punch/kick or surprise armbar that catches Evans.

Here is what Iole’s says Bisping will need to do in order to win at UFC 78:

1. Stay standing: The fight completely favors Evans when it hits the ground.
2. Hook off the jab: Evans will be ready for a piston-like jab, but Bisping has to add in a hook that could catch Evans unaware.
3. Scramble: If he’s taken down, Bisping needs to scramble as quickly as possible to get back to his feet.
4. Use his kicks: Bisping is a powerful kicker who needs to use his legs to keep Evans at a distance.

Check out what Iole things are Rashad’s keys to victory on the Yahoo Sports website.

Tonight Dallas will hold its largest MMA event to date, Art of War 3 and will feature 10 fights which include a few UFC veterens.  The main event will see two former UFC heavyweight figthers, Jeff “The Snowman” Monson, who earlier this year challenged Tim Sylvia for the UFC title, and Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo who is a former UFC champion from back in the early days. Other UFC vets include Jeremy Horn and Ron Waterman.

Main Card Line-Up for Art of War 3:

• Jeff Monson (USA) vs. Pedro Rizzo (Brazil)
• Jeremy Horn (USA) vs. Jorge Santiago (Brazil)
• Ron Waterman (USA) vs. Mario Rinaldi (Brazil)
• Hector Munoz (USA) vs. Cristiano Marcello (Brazil)

Not that interested in this smaller MMA event?  Maybe some fight predictions from a cute girl might help you get a bit more excited.