Well, well, well.  Looks like I was about half right last night.  Brock proved he has a long way to go and that size does not always trump power and technique.  Diego Sanchez won his fight in impressive fashion, which I did have a tiny part of my brain to bet him, but the odds were too good to pass up on Thiago.  He did look good in the first, but Diego's energy swarmed him and took over the fight.

However, there was also some good picks by me on the night.  Shields as expected looked horrible.  However, Kampmann couldn't do much either and I was actually commenting to my buddy that they both deserved a loss for that performance.  Shields needs to learn that being that one dimensional will get you a date with the floor courtesy of GSP.  I gasped when Rogan said he got a title shot if he won last night.  That is embarrassing.   But he did get the win for us.

In the most predictable outcome of the night Tito lost to Hamill.  Although, I do have to say that is the best I have seen Tito look in about 3 years physically.  However, his stand up is still horrible and he only survived because Hamill's stand up is equally horrible.  Good, competitive fight, but neither of them are going anywhere any time soon in the 205 division.

Well, UFC 122 is right around the corner.  The main event isn't eye popping, but should be competitive.  We'll have the complete card up soon and look for early betting lines in the side bar to the right.

Brock is again the favorite, but that doesn't mean Valasquez doesn't have a punchers chance.  In fact I just watched on tv how he can generate over 2200 pounds of force with one punch.  That is a a lot of power, but as impressive as that sounds, I'm sure most guys in the sport can do that, they just aren't fighting for the UFC Heavyweight title tonight.

Well lets get to the picks and remember the guys that you see a + next to are the underdogs and they are going to make you the most money if you bet them to win.

The main event of the night to me is the easiest pick of the night.  Lesnar is just to big, to powerful and will probably out weight his opponent by 25 pounds at the start of the fight.  He proved last time out that he can take a punch so that should actually let him move in for  the takedown even easier now.  Ground and pound special in the second to Lesnar.

In his first bout in the UFC Jake Shields will be tested from Martin Kampmann.  Shields hasn't fought with ground elbows being legal in over 2 years, however, he is tough as he proved against Dan Henderson in his last Strikeforce fight.  I will say he'll grind out a decision here in a boring, ultra conservative fight.  Don't want to get KO'd in front of the boss in your first fight in the UFC.

Diego Sanchez is an animal if his heads on straight.  Paulo Thiago can get Diego's head off kilter for sure.  Since the upside on betting Thiago is so good I would take him in the upset of the night.

When will Tito learn?  This is the easiest pick of the night in my opinion.  Ortiz will be too old, too slow and too conservative against the younger more talented Hamill.  Hamill will wear him out in the third or win a unanimous decision.

Check out our new sister site UFC Predictions to check out some great places to bet on UFC fights.  Also, if you are skeptical of my picks, please check out my last post UFC 118 Predictions to see that I went 3 for 3 on calling the main bouts of the night.

Let's get right to the predictions:

Edgar vs. Penn - Lightweight Title Fight

What does the guy have to do to gain some respect.  Edgar won just a few months ago in dominating fashion, but according to the odds makers he is the underdog again.  This is interesting though to me.  BJ will come in even more focussed than fight 1, so I'm not sure where to go.  I would take Edgar and the odds with a good chance in cashing in with his second win in a row over BJ.

Couture vs Toney

After the weigh ins I checked the odds and Couture is now -600 on most sites and -800 on one other.  I expect Randy to take it to the mat early, grind him down and probably by the early second round, pound out Toney and end it.

Take Couture even though the win will be small.  Better than throwing money away on Toney.  Hell, if they just pace around the ring for a round, James is going to still be tired.

Florian vs. Maynard

This is the most interesting fight on the card in my opinion.  To me this is a fight where the winner gets a shot at the lightweight belt.  Florian and Maynard are both great competitors and both want the belt bad.

Since Maynard is getting some +130, I would take him in a toss up to cash in on my bet.

Those are the 3 feature bouts on the UFC 118 menu.  I expect yet another great card from the UFC.  They seem to pull out the most entertaining fights on the cards with the least amount of hype.

MAIN CARD

• Champ Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen (for middleweight title)

With 2 poor performances in a row, I believe Silva has 2 ways to go here.  He can either toy with Sonnen for 5 rounds and beat the crap out of him just to rub it in Dana White's face and basically dare him to cut the pound for pound best fighter in the world.  Or he will KO him in the first round.

Sonnen has yet to show me that he can stand with anyone half skilled so I predict Silva KO's him in the first and will look as dedicated as ever.  I think he will want to cement himself as the #1 guy now that Fedor has lost.

• Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch

This has fight of the night written all over it.  Alves is an amazing striker and Fitch is relentless.  Alves split decision victory will take this fight.

• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Clay Guida

Guida has made a career in getting his face beat in.  He makes every fight exciting and bloody... usually his own blood, but who cares.  While I've only seen Rafael fight one time, I think it will be an other blood bath loss for Clay here.  The guy never gets knocked out though so I'm predicting a 30-27 win for dos Anjos.

• Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Hughes

Matt Hughes is a legend.  Almeida is not.  Enough said.  Hughes by rear naked in the second.

• Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson

Dos Santos I think is one of the best strikers in the world.  Roy Nelson is one of the fattest strikers in the world.  The beer belly isn't fighting Kimbo any more and will go down and must go down hard.  Dos Santos in a 3rd round stoppage by the always wonderful Herb Dean.

Well, there you have it.  My picks for UFC 117.  If you bet on the fights, please do so at one of our sponsors sports books.

Headlining the UFC 116 Main Card is a contentious battle between heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin. What's with the "interim" (in case you're unaware) is that actual champ Lesnar had to take an almost yearlong hiatus to battle diverticulitis, which left contender Carwin wearing the interim belt until such time as Lesnar could give him an honest fight for the title. That honest fight, which was supposed to have taken place in November, 2009's UFC 106, has finally come.

On the main card with Lesnar and Carwin are Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropulous, Stephen Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski, Matt Brown vs. Chris Lytle, and Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Wanderlei Silva. There are also 6 preliminary bouts leading up to the main card, including two that will be televised on Spike TV.

Other bouts on the main card include UFC heavyweight legend Randy Couture vs multiple world champ boxer James Toney in his debut in the octagon, a middleweight fight between Rousimar Palhares and Nate Marquardt, and a lightweight match between Gray Maynard and Kenny Florian.

Additionally, fans can look forward to 5 preliminary-card matches, just made official, namely: Amilcar Alves vs. Mike Pierce, Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto, Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner, Terry Etim vs. Joe Lauzon, and Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 25 for between $75 and $600.

The other former Ultimate Fighter champs on the UFC 114 fight card are light-heavyweight American Forrest Griffin (who will be taking on Brazilian Antônio Rogério Nogueira), middleweight Englishman Michael Bisping (taking on American Dan Miller), welterweight American Diego Sanchez (taking on Brit John Hathaway), and in the two preliminary card matches that will be broadcast live on Spike TV,welterweight American Amir Sadollah (fighting South Korean Dong Hyun Kim) and Mexican lightweight Efrain Escudero (fighting American Dan Lauzon).

There are then four other preliminary bouts on the UFC 114 fight card which will be broadcast on PPV but not Spike TV. These are the two lightweight matches between Americans Aaron Riley vs. Joe Brammer, and American Melvin Guillard vs. Brazilian Thiago Tavares.

Relijic made his debut in the UFC in May of 2008 with “Fight of the Night” honors for his 2nd-round TKO of his opponent, Wilson Gouveia. He’s gone on to notch up a 8-1 record, although he’s been sidelined for over 1 1/2 years because of back surgury after an injury. After the 20 month long time out, he entered the Octagon at UFC 110 in February against CB Dollaway and lost in a unanimous judge’s decision.

Headlining the UFC 116 Main Card will be Brock Lesnar taking on Shane Carwin, the interim title-holder, and co-headlining the event is the Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama fight.

The last time Lyoto and Rua faced off, on October 24 of last year, Machida made it all the way to the end of 5 rounds before the judges’ unanimous decision fell in favor of his opponent, the then-and-still champ Lyoto. That should make for some exciting action in the Octagon for UFC 113.

The other big fights on the main card that night will be welterweights Josh “Kos” Koscheck fighting Paul “Semtex” Daley, lightweights Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout fighting Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens, heavyweights Kimbo Slice fighting Matt Mitrione, and middleweights Patrick “The Predator” Cote fighting Alan “The Talent” Belcher. Then there are a half-dozen other fights on the preliminary card.

But Florian-Gomi isn’t the only heavy hitting action on the UFC Fight Night 21 main card. There’s also Roy Nelson fighting Stefan Struve, and there’s Nate Quarry fighting Jorge Rivera. Then there’s the winner of The Ultimate Fighter, Season 9, Ross Pearson, battling Dennis Siver.

Florian and Gomi both share in common the fact that they’ve been destroyed by current lightweight champ B.J. Penn and that in this upcoming match they’re fighting for the shot at being humiliated by Penn again.

Contrasting that, in Nelson and Struve’s class, the heavyweight class, they’re among the hottest contenders for the title. With both Nelson’s boxing and Struve’s jiu-jitsu at the top of their class.