UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen
Date: August 7, 2010
Location: Oakland, Calif.
Venue: Oracle Arena
Broadcast: Pay-per-view, 10 PM EST.

MAIN CARD

Champ Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen (for middleweight title)
Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Clay Guida
Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Hughes
Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson

PRELIMINARY CARD

Dustin Hazelett vs. Rick Story
Phil Davis vs. Rodney Wallace
Tim Boetsch vs. Todd Brown
Charlie Brenneman vs. Johny Hendricks
Christian Morecraft vs. Stefan Struve
Dennis Hallman vs. Ben Saunders

MY PICKS

Anderson Silva
Jon Fitch
Clay Guida
Junior Dos Santos
Matt Hughes
Rick Story
Phil Davis
Tim Boetsch
Johny Hendricks
Stefen Struve
Ben Saunders

I am really looking forward to Saturday night (as always). But this one a special. Chael Sonnen has been throwing around insults towards anyone he feels obligated to. Lance Armstrong was recently one of his victims. But he mostly has focused his taunts towards the UFC 185 lb. Champion Anderson Silva, who is also widely considered the Pound for Pound best MMA fighter today. Probably not the best idea to do so but it will ensure Chael that Anderson will come ready to fight at his very best.

Since Sonnen is a wrestler at heart and will do everything in his power to bring the fight to the floor. I believe this strategy will play right to Silva's web of limitless tools. Chael is going to be up close and personal with Silva that is not where you want to be. I believe Sonnen will get caught with a knee to the face at some point and get knocked out cold.

Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida is a great fight. Almeida asked UFC matchmaker Joe Silva for this fight right after his mentor Renzo Gracie was defeated by Hughes in April. Hughes also holds a victory over MMA legend Royce Gracie and also defeated Almeida himself via submission at an Abu Dahbi Combat Club event about ten years a go. That event was a submission grappling tournament and is still considered the highest event of it's kind in the world of Jui-Jitsu and/or submission grappling.

I think Matt Hughes is going bring the fight to Almeida and eventually take it the the floor. That is where Hughes is most effective and should be able to win the fight. He can either control the whole fight due to his wrestling ability or get a TKO stoppage victory if Ricardo does not fight well enough to reverse the tide.

I am picking Jon Fitch over Thiago Alves because I think Fitch going to do everything he can to get another shot at UFC 170 lb. Champion Georges St. Pierre. He also holds a victory over Alves via TKO in 2006. Alot has changed since then and now the two will compete for the #1 contender slot to see who goes against the winner of St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck. Alves is as dangerous as they come with his high powered striking attack and could knockout Jon Fitch is he isn't careful. Fitch is known as "a grinder" and can dictate where this fight goes if he can stick to his game plan.

Lastly, the fight between Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson will determine who will get to face the winner of UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and #1 contender Cain Valasquez who will fight for the Title in October. Dos Santos probably has the best boxing in the Heavyweight divison right now. He has also finished all 5 of his opponent's in the Octagon thus far. In Nelson, he faces a former IFL Champion, a former TUF Champion and a guy who has fought and trained with some of the best in the business. I still like Dos Santos because he can end a fight at any moment with all his power. He just better be careful not to get taken to the ground and get caught under a man like Roy Nelson. If he does, I believe he could reverse the situation given his knowledge from training with Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira, who knows a thing or six about getting out of bad postions.

This fight card has a lot of great fighter's on it and should make for a great event. It'll be hard to top UFC 116, which was a best card in all of MMA this year so far. It's like the old saying goes...Anything can happen. Cheers!