September 23, 2011 – This Saturday, The Ultimate Fighting Championship is BACK in Denver, CO for the first time since Dan Severn molested Tank Abbott for eighteen straight minutes on The Ultimate Ultimate sixteen years ago.

This time around, it’s a battle of old school versus the new at UFC 135 when light heavyweight champ and everyone’s anointed MMA savior Jon “Bones” Jones defends his title for the very first time against another former champion and PRIDE superstar Quinton “Rampage” Jackson!

Also anchoring the main card is another fight featuring a legend of the sport in Matt Hughes taking on a new star from the “TUF” era in season-one graduate Josh Koscheck.

As for the rest of the main draw, the theme is much the same as two former stars of Japanese MMA fly to the Mile High State to take on some homegrown challengers.

Holding the flag for the good ‘ole US of A are Nate Diaz and Ben Rothwell taking on “The Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi (PRIDE vet) and New Zealander Mark Hunt (K-1 World Grand Prix winner) respectively.

England versus the USA completes the main card as American Travis Browne takes on the UK’s Rob broughton.

Without further adieu, let’s break down all these matchups and offer up our predictions on who you can expect to win out when this UFC card hits your PPV screen tomorrow night! 

UFC 205 TITLE – Jon Jones (13-1) vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (32-8)

They say you’re not a “real” champion until you defend your belt at least once… Jonny “Bones” gets a change to do just that against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Winning the belt against another PRIDE relic in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Jones put on such a dominating performance that many have already anointed him as a top-three P4P fighter in MMA and the future of the sport.

Not so fast, says Rampage.

Lyoto Machida was also the future until Rua and Rampage put a stop to that hype train. Will he be able to do the same against Jones? Well I don’t know about that…

Jackson, aka B.A. Baracus hits harder than most with his exceptional boxing for MMA but Jones may be on a whole other level altogether even at 24 years old and with less than half the fights of his opponent. We’re talking about a kid that went up against a top Muay Thai MMA striker in Shogun and dismantled him with strikes from so many angles that it looked it like was Remy Bonjavksy in there breaking down some hapless Japanese can. And by all accounts, he’s only getting better.

Rampage may not be done just yet and he always has the veritable “puncher’s chance” but he’s not weaving in close enough or even strong and fast enough to get anything done against the new age fighter.

Meanwhile somewhere in the crowd… Rashad Evans waits in the wings, ready to give the young buck a real challenge.

Prediction: Jon Jones

WELTERWEIGHT  – Matt Hughes (46-8) vs. Josh Koscheck (17-5)

In his hay day, Matt Hughes has always been a dominant fighter. He was that because he was able to transform a top-notch wrestling skill set into MMA dominance. Fast forward about five years later (circa the TUF Finale in 2005) and “Kos” emerged on the scene trying to do the same thing.

The MMA world is evolved plenty since those days but the fact remains that both these guys are still around and we’ll get to see who’s evolved more: the all-time great or the “Kos.”

Despite being around so long, the old dog is still trying to learn new tricks by training with his old adversary B.J. Penn. He’s cited a desire to improve his footwork from rudimentary wrestling-style to get better-suited at striking and being more dynamic. To his credit, Koscheck has been doing the same and has focused on Muay Thai in preparation for his own return since losing to GSP.

So who wins this one and what skill set will it take to do it?

As life goes full circle, so do strategies and maybe the better wrestler will win this one. Both guys should do well enough to nullify each other on the feet but it’s when the fight hits the clinch and inevitably the floor where this fight will be won. At this point in their careers, it’s likely the younger fighter wins that exchange and the legend goes riding off into the sunset after fulfilling the last fight of his contract.

Prediction: Josh Koscheck

Travis Browne (11-0-1) vs. Rob Broughton (15-5-1)

When I say Travis Browne is the biggest challenge of the Brit Rob Broughton’s career, I mean that quite literally in that the dude is 6ft 9inches. Above and beyond that, “HAPA” Browne just went out and crushed another skyscraper in Stefan Struve in his last bout and remains undefeated. Meanwhile, Broughton goes into his sophomore fight in the UFC riding a five fight win streak.

Both guys hit really hard but one of them is undefeated while the other has tasted defeated five times. Browne’s faced the likes of Struve along with James McSweeney and Cheick Kongo while Rob’s faced guys with names I couldn’t pronounce from the English countryside. That doesn’t bode well for the Brit and he’ll be getting knocked out in this fight.

Prediction: Travis Browne

Nate Diaz (13-7) vs. Takanori Gomi (32-7-1NC)

 “Nasty” Nate will be the second Diaz to take on the “Fireball Kid” after his brother Nick straight gogoplata’d the Japanese Icon back at PRIDE 33 in Vegas. Too bad for brother and good for Nate that he’ll actually be the first Diaz to get a chance at a legit victory over Gomi courtesy of an NSAC drug test overturned the results of that last bout.

Will he be able to get it done in Denver?

It’s no secret that Nate’s best chance comes on the ground where

the lean-and-mean Cesar Gracie-trained assassin can tap anyone on any given day. He’s got six-inches of reeach on Gomi standing up but he doesn’t have his striking pedigree.  It’s likely though that if this fight stays standing, Nate will go full-Dodgeball on the Fireball Kid and duck, dip, and dodge his way into confounding his more traditional opponent. That may be enough to nullify any real threat Gomi has in his bout. “The Fireball Kid” has had a great career (bows head in respect) but I think this is his last hurrah and last appearance in the UFC after going 1-3 in his last four.

Sayonara, Gomi san.

Prediction: Nate Diaz

Ben Rothwell (6-7) vs. Mark Hunt  (31-7)

The night should open with this bout, featuring another PRIDE/K-1 relic in Mark Hunt taking on former IFL champion and UFC journeyman Ben Rothwell.

Before we blast him out here, let’s pay some respect to Mark Hunt’s career. The guy was the first to beat Wanderlei Silva after his four-year undefeated streak in PRIDE. As a K-1 legend, the “Super Samoan” became the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and came back to fight in the tournament on numerous occasions. He also beat Crocop in his prime at PRIDE Shockwave 2006 and won five straight in MMA before sliding down with losses to such fighters as Fedor, Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem, and Melvin Manhoef.

The dude is a damn legend and it’s going to be shame for these new-school fans to see him as just another fat dude they know nothing about. His time may have passed him by but he’s knocked man’s block off.

Predicting the end of this fight and paraphrasing the worlds of the infamous KGB (John Malkovich in Rounders), he lost fair and square. His contract is done and he can go home now. Pay the man his money.

See you on the other side Hunt and all the other PRIDE guys and legends losing tonight.

Fighters may live and lose, but PRIDE lives forever.

Prediction:  Ben Rothwell

Preliminary Card Quick Picks

► Middleweight bout:  Nick Ring vs.  Tim Boetsch (Spike TV)

Prediction:  Nick Ring

► Lightweight bout:  Tony Ferguson vs.  Aaron Riley (Spike TV)

Prediction:  Tony Ferguson

► Light Heavyweight bout:  James Te Huna vs.  Ricardo Romero (Facebook)

Prediction:  Ricardo Romero

► Bantamweight bout:  Takeya Mizugaki vs.  Cole Escovedo (Facebook)

Prediction:  Takeya Mizugaki

► Featherweight bout:  Junior Assunção vs.  Eddie Yagin (Facebook)

Prediction:  Junior Assunção

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