October 25, 2011 – UFC 137 takes place this Saturday, October 29, 2011 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will now be headlined by a welterweight matchup between BJ Penn and Nick Diaz along with four other fights on PPV featuring stars like Cheick Kongo taking on Matt Mitrione, Mirko CroCop taking on Roy Nelson, the UFC return of Jeff Curran, and the UFC debut of JMMA star Hatsu Hioki.
There’s some quality matchups to be seen for free prior the main card as well with a six fight card set to headline the preliminary portion of the card on Spike TV and Facebook.
Let’s take a look at these preliminary fights and offer up our predictions.
Preliminary Card on Spike TV – Preview and Predictions
155 lbs. – Dennis Siver (19-7) vs. Donald Cerrone (16-3-1)
This matchup between two exciting fighters should see the winner progress up the ranks towards eventual title contender status, joining the ranks of Ben Henderson, Anthony Pettis, Clay Guida, Gray Maynard, and Jim Miller as legit challengers for the 155 belt now held by Frankie Edgar.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has won five fights in a row to get to this point, most recently scoring his first UFC TKO against Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira this past August to put a stop to the Brazilian’s hype train while furthering his own cause. Meanwhile, Dennis Siver has quietly won his last 4 fights and 8 out of his last 9 with the only loss comin to former TUF winner Ross Pearson in a FOTN effort in March of 2010.
As for what to expect on fight night, one could expect this to be a strategic yet exciting encounter with two guys that are well-versed both on the feet and on the ground. The difference may end up being reach with “Cowboy” enjoying a good 6″ advantage over the German. Dennis “The Menace” can take punch to give one so it will be interesting to see if he can penetrate Cerrone’s range and land enough to secure the victory. We say it probably won’t happen.
► Prediction: Donald Cerrone by Unanimous Decision.
145 lbs. – Tyson Griffin (15-5) vs. Bart Palaszewski (34-14)
This matchup features the proposed comeback of once highly-touted UFC lightweight Tyson Griffin in the 145 weight class. After losing three fights in a row, he began that quest at featherweight with a narrow victory over Manvel Gamburyan this past June. He’ll now continue it against the Polish powerhouse Bart Palaszewski, a student of Jeff Curran who is also fighting on the card. Bart is coming off a loss to Texas native Kamal Shalorus at WEC 53 and will be making his UFC debut in this bout.
Both these guys are tough journeyman but our feel is that Palaszewski will be fighting an uphill battle in his first octagon appearance against Griffin – a longtime UFC veteran. Tyson will look to mix things up and off-balance the debuting fighter to keep him off his rhythm all the way while picking him apart and scoring point all the way to the final bell.
► Prediction: Tyson Griffin by Unanimous Decision.
Preliminary Card on Facebook – Preview and Predictions
205 lbs. – Brandon Vera (11-5, 1 NC) vs. Eliot Marshall (10-3)
Oh, Brandon Vera. Once self-proclaimed as a future two-division UFC champion, “The Truth” has fallen on tough times after losing his last three fights. Granted those losses weren’t exactly to horrible competition (Randy Couture, Jon Jones, Thiago Silva) but three in a row is usually three in a row. I saw usually because in this case, a failed drug test by Thiago Silva nullified that last bout post-event and saved Vera’s job. Now he’s getting another shot in what should be a make it-or-break it moment.
In this fight, Brandon will be taking on Eliot “The Fire” Marshall, a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter 8 who trained out in Colorado over at respected coach Amal Eason’s gym. Marshall experienced success early on after his sting on the show, winning 3 straight before losing to Vladimir Matyushenko and getting das boot from the UFC. Coming back on short notice at UFC 128, Eliot would again lose to Brazilian Luis Cane and faces dire prospects if he drops this one.
Sounds like a loser-leaves-town match if there were such a thing in MMA (there is).
This is actually a pretty interesting matchup between two rangy fighters with decent-to-good Jiu Jitsu skills on the ground. All things being considered, Brandon is still the more fearsome fighter despite not having lived up to anywhere near his potential. He’s better than Marshall in all areas and may look like a world-beater once again if he can get over on his opponent early on in this fight. Look for him to do just that in his second chance at UFC life.
► Prediction: Brandon Vera by TKO, RD2.
155 lbs. – Daniel Downes (8-2) vs. Ramsey Nijem (4-2)
Daniel “Danny Boy” Downes is a WEC veteran whose most notable win is over the “Mongolion Wolf” Tiequan Zhang in the now-defunct promotion. He’ll be looking to get back in the WIN column after losing his UFC debut to Jeremy Stephens. Meanwhile, Ramsey Nijem is looking to come back as well after losing in the TUF 13 finals against future Yves opponent Tony Ferguson.
It’s a hard fight to call between two developing prospects but we’re going to go with Nijem in this won via coin toss and superior wrestling.
Prediction: Ramsey Nijem by TKO, R3.
185 lbs. – Chris Camozzi (15-4) vs. Francis Carmont (16-7)
A veteran of Amarillo-based Shark Fights, Chris Camozzi has two decision wins in the UFC to go along with a win of Joey Villesanor. He’ll be fighting a Tristar teammate of Georges St. Pierre in Francis “Limitless” Carmont as he looks to go after his third UFC win. Standing at 6’3” Carmont will no doubt look to use his reach along with some slick submission skills to finish Camozzi. Based on his pedigree, we
► Prediction: Francis Carmont by TKO, RD2.
185 lbs. – Dustin Jacoby (6-0) vs. Clifford Starks (7-0)
Another veteran of Shark Fights, Clifford Starks got his UFC shot fresh from a win over Houston-based fighter Artenas “Machine Gun” Young at Shark Fights 20. He’ll be taking on another undefeated fighter in Dustin Jacoby In this one. This should be a battle of two wrestlers with Starks being the stockier version. I haven’t seen much on either fighter but we do know somebody’s “0” has to go in this one and we’re guessing it will be Jacoby’s.
► Prediction: Clifford Starks by Unanimous Decision.
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