At the top of the card UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez defending his title for the very first since beating Junior dos Santos to get it back this past December. He’ll be taking on a familiar opponent in Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva who despite having been TKO’d by Cain once prior earned the shot by virtue of his big win over Alistair Overeem at UFC 156.
Co-headlining the card is former champ Junior dos Santos, who takes on hard-hitting New Zealander Mark Hunt in a matchup that has fans very eager considering their shared penchant for going for the knockout.
The rest of the PPV card features some up-and-coming fighters and some looking to get back to that contendership level in Glover Texeira taking on James Te Huna, Gray Maynard taking on TJ Grant, and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone taking on incoming Strikeforce fighter K.J. Noons.
The undercard on FXfeatures the second post-TUF fight for Texan Colton Smith as well so that’s yet another reason to tune in.
UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2 kicks off 5:30PM CST with the four-fight FX prelims starting at 7PM and the pay-per-view event starting as usual at 9PM.
Let’s break down the card in further detail and offer up our predictions here.
UFC 160 – Preview and Predictions
Heavyweight Title Fight: Cain Velasquez (11-1) vs. Antonio Silva (18-4)
It’s been a year since these two first locked horns and functionally neither fighter has changed much from the fighter they were back then. So how should we expect this fight to go any different?
True Silva may be a bit more wary of the takedown this time around as opposed to how he opened up last time but is really going to be able to stop the takedown? That remains to be seen and I don’t like his chances all that much. What I do know is that Cain found some renewed vigor since losing for the first time in his career to “Cigano” in their fight #1. He followed that up by beating Silva for the first time and then showing Junior what a featherweight’s motor looks like in a heavyweight fighter’s body. This guy just doesn’t stop.
Silva is a hard-hitter as evident by his KO over Overeem but I think he got off a bit easy against Travis Browne after the Hawaiaan prospect got hurt early in that fight so I don’t really know if his star is still on the rise here. Adding in the fact that the champ is just a horrific matchup for him stylistically and I see Silva spending a lot of time on the bottom here.
Prediction: Cain Velasquez over Antonio Silva by TKO, RD3.
Heavyweight: Junior dos Santos (15-2 vs. Mark Hunt (9-7)
Like everyone else in the world I’m hoping these two disregard everything else in MMA and make this one a glorified slugfest yet for better or worse, this isn’t a toughman contest and the chances of that happening are (while it could still happen) still plenty unlikely.
Before we boil this down to what happens, what thing of note is that Mark Hunt has earned every bit of this fight. He’s won his last four in a row and impressively at that. After finishing Cheick Kongo and Stefan Struve it’s clear that he belongs in big fights and that’s what he got here. He’s not some Kimbo or any other attraction, he’s actually a pretty scary heavyweight threat that can knock anyone out on any given day.
Another fighter that fits that description is Junior dos Santos. The difference here is that he’s over ten years younger, a lot more athletic with hand speed and reach, and is clearly a top-tier heavyweight that also carries a BJJ black belt in his gym bag along with his 4OZ gloves.
Now I fully expect JDS to utilize that perceived advantage on the ground to neutralize Hunt’s main strength here somewhere down the line in this fight. And the sooner the better too. Otherwise this might regress down to the slugfest we always wanted and in that type of fight, it’s anybody’s ballgame.
Prediction: Junior Dos Santos over Mark Hunt by decision.
Light Heavyweight: Glover Teixeira (20-2) vs. James Te Huna (16-5)
This is no doubt one of the most pivotal divisional clashes of the evening with these two light heavyweights going into this fight with impressive winning streaks intact. And only one of these is leaving without an ugly loss by their name here.
On paper it looks to be Glover Texeira that’s the favorite here. His last win was over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and he’s beaten the likes of Ricco Rodriguez and Márcio Cruz (Pe de Pano) in his past fights down in Brazil. Meanwhile, Te Huna has more UFC experience and has only lost to Alexander Gustafsson since making his UFC debut so that can’t be discounted either.
It seems here that it’s anybody’s ballgame with Te Huna being the more physically gifted of the two and Texeira holding the edge in experience and level of competition. Close call either way.
Prediction: Glover Teixeira over James Te Huna by TKO, RD3.
Lightweight: Gray Maynard (11-1-1) vs. T.J. Grant (20-5)
This bout marks fight #2 of life after Frankie Edgar for Gray Maynard. He limped away witha split decision win over Clay Guida to rebound last June but he’s been MIA since then after having had to pull from a bout with Joe Lauzon this past December due to knee injury. Meanwhile and throughout his absence, TJ Grant has been making waves in the lightweight division after dropping down from 170 lbs. by winning his last four fights.
Be that as it may and for all the strength and speed he gained from cutting that weight, Grant is still facing someone who may be stronger and knows how to use it here in the wrestling-converted Gray Maynard.
Grant’s a BJJ brown belt and has the submission skills to go with it but I don’t see him tapping Gray or beating him on his feet. Look for Maynard to impose his will for the win in this one.
Prediction: Gray Maynard over T.J. Grant by decision.
Featherweight: Donald Cerrone (19-5-1NC) vs. K.J. Noons (11-6)
If these two guys fight up to their potential this should be a very exciting fight. Specifically, if most of this bout takes place on the feet it could definitely be a showcase worthy of FOTN honors considering how exciting both are when striking.
Cerrone holds the ground advantage here but then again he doesn’t really like to go there too much and Noons also has some serviceable takedown defense to his credit as well. Besides, both of these guys like to test themselves on the feet so that’s probably where this fight will take place. Close enough fight there but Donald Cerrone has proven himselv to be much better in recent years. Couple that with this being K.J.’s octagon debut and the edge definitely goes to “Cowboy” in this one.
Prediction: Donald Cerrone over K.J. Noons by decision.
UFC 160 – Preliminary Card Quick Picks
Rick Story over Mike Pyle by decision.
Dennis Bermudez over Max Holloway by submission, RD3.
Colton Smith over Robert Whittaker by TKO, RD3.
Khabib Nurmagomedov over Abel Trujillo by TKO, RD1.
Stephen Thompson over Nah-Shon Burrell by KO, RD1.
Brian Bowles over George Roop by decision.
Jeremy Stephens over Estevan Payan by decision.