Verbal Submission: UFC 150 Predictions

Music to listen to:  Megalomaniac by Incubus

Another UFC event has come upon us which means its time for predictions.

Benson Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar:  The main advantage that Edgar holds is speed during the standup exchanges.  While this was useful against relatively slower fighters like BJ Penn or Gray Maynard, the physical strength advantage of Henderson negates the speed greatly.  I expect Edgar to use his elusiveness to land a few punches and place a solid flurry or two together.  This strategy may even win Edgar a round during the fight.  However, I also expect to see Henderson continue to use his kicks to wear Edgar down and even attempt a few takedowns of his own.

The Edgar camp has come to the conclusion that the upkick that Henderson landed in the second round of the first fight was the deciding factor in the judges eyes.  The upkick was impressive and did have an impact on the flow of the fight.  However, Henderson’s overall ground control of the fight was the winning factor through numerous submission attempts and reversals.

Prediction:  Henderson by decision

Donald Cerrone vs. Melvin Guillard:  Physically, Guillard may be the most impressive athlete in the entire lightweight division in all of mixed martial arts.  Furthermore, his training experiences with Cerrone should provide a strategic knowledge base to develop a gameplan for the fight.

However, Cerrone’s reach advantage will allow him to keep Guillard at a solid distance to negate the athleticism.  Furthermore, Cerrone holds a substantial advantage over Guillard on the ground where I ultimately see the fight ending.

Prediction:  Cerrone by third-round submission

Other main fights on the card:

Ed Herman over Jake Shields by decision:  I don’t trust a fighter moving into a different weight class, even if its Shields going to middleweight where he had tremendous success.  Both guys like to fight on the ground which probably means it will stay standing and I’ll take the more active Herman.

Yushin Okami over Buddy Roberts via decision:  Huge opportunity for Roberts to make a name for himself in the middleweight division but I’ll take the more experienced Okami.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?