UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion Predictions

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. “Hollywood” Dan Henderson

This is being dubbed the unification bout for the light heavyweight title at 205. On paper this is a close fight. Henderson hasn’t had a fight since his win over Wanderlei Silva at Pride 33 in February where he won the Pride light heavyweight title. Henderson also holds the Pride Middleweight belt.

Jackson is coming off of a win over Chuck Liddell where he won the UFC Light Heavyweight Title. Jackson has a five fight winning streak holding wins over Matt Lindland, Liddell, and Marvin Eastman. Henderson has a two fight win streak over Vitor Belfort and Silva.

This is an interesting bout with two men with very close styles. My pick here in Dan Henderson in what some would call a slight upset.

Matt “The Hammer” Hamill Vs. Michael “The Count” Bisping

This fight is being dubbed as the true Ultimate Fighter 3 final. In case you weren’t aware, TUF 3 had slated to have Matt Hamill vs. Michael Bisping in the finals however an injury prevented Hamill from continuing in the show. Hamill never lost. Hamill has claimed since that he was the true TUF 3 winner and asked for this rematch for sometime. Both men are undefeated in their professional MMA careers.

Both men match up pretty well in this fight with Bisping getting the nod for experience. Hamill is 5-0 in the UFC, holding wins over Rex Holman, Seth Petruzelli, Jesse Forbes. Bisping holds a 14-0 MMA record with recent wins over Elvis Sinosic, Eric Schafer, and Josh Haynes (to win TUF 3).

If this fight goes long, I give the nod to Hamill with better conditioning thanks to training with Tito Ortiz and Team Punishment. Many of Bisping’s fights have ended in the first round due to strikes. My pick here is Hamill.

Mirko Cro Cop Vs. Cheick Kongo

Cro Cop has gone on record saying his fight with Gabriel Gonzaga was embarassing. He mentioned he didn’t train in a cage and didn’t train for elbows. Both of these played a big part in his fight with Gonzaga and contributed to why he lost.

Cheick Kongo is coming off of a majority decision win over Assuerio Silva and has had more cage experience. Both he and Cro Cop are stand up strikers. Kongo has a pretty weak ground game, however I don’t see either of these guys taking the fight to the ground. It would be shocking if they do. I could see Cro Cop exposing this weakness of Kongo, but expect lots of attempted kicks by both fighters.

I pick Cro Cop to win here and work his way back up the heavyweight ladder.

In other fights on the card (my pick in bold):

Marcus Davis Vs. Paul Taylor – This is Taylor’s 2nd fight in the UFC. Davis has the experience edge in this fight and is more well-rounded.
Houston Alexander Vs. Alessio Sakara – Alexander holds a recent win over Keith Jardine in what is considered a huge upset. Look for some explosiveness coming from Alexander yet again.
Gleison Tibau Vs. Terry Etim – Local, homer pick here.
Tomasz Drwal Vs. Thiago Silva – Silva is undefeated. I see that trend continuing against Drwal. This will be Drwal’s first fight in the UFC, and has an impressive 14-1 record, but I think Silva has the edge here.
Naoyuki Kotani Vs. Dennis Siver – Kotani is a very inconsistent figter. I see Siver turning his career around with a win over Kotani.
Anthony Torres Vs. Jess Liaudin