Even though most of the hype surrounding Saturday’s UFC 94 in Las Vegas surrounds the main event between Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn, the rest of the card shapes up to be pretty damn good as well.

We previewed the Stephan Bonnar-Jon Jones match earlier, so we won’t include that here.  We’ll start with the fight that will be billed as the co-main event, a battle of unbeatens when 13-0 Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida takes on 13-0 Thiago Silva in a light heavyweight battle.  Machida is liked by some and hated by some…he’s deliberate, he’s not overly exciting, he doesn’t speak English.  But he wins fights.  His unorthodox, southpaw, Karate-inspired stance isn’t one that favors highlight reel knockouts.  Instead, he is more prone to grind out a decision, as he makes it difficult for guys to get inside his stance and land any shots.  He does enough while standing to score and has great takedown defence if the need arises.  But don’t under estimate him…he can finish fights, and he’s also very skilled in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

His opponent is much more explosive, and much more exciting in the eyes of many.  Thiago Silva has knockout power in both hands, and has his last 8 victories via KO or TKO.  The most memorable would probably be his UFC 78 knockout of Houston Alexander, however his TKO win at UFC 84 over Antonio Mendes was pretty outstanding as well.  Again, don’t let this guy fool you into thinking he’s one dimensional.  Silva boasts a black belt in BJJ and trains with American Top Team, so he is a handful regardless.

I think we see Machida suffer his first loss inside The Octagon on Saturday, because I just don’t know if Machida can withstand Silva pushing forward the whole fight.  When watching Machida’s last fight, his UFC 84 win over Tito Ortiz, to me it was as much a case of Tito not engaging as it was Machida frustrating him.  Silva pushes forward, he throws great punches, and has knockout power in both fists.  When it comes down to it, I call a 2nd round TKO for Silva to push his record to 14-0.

I really like the matchup between Armenian Karo Parisyan and Korean Dong Hyun Kim at 170 pounds.  Kim (11-0-1) is impressive and is a very well rounded fighter.  And I’ve always been of the opinion that Parisyan (26-5) is a little overrated, relying too much on his Judo throws to win decisions.  Kim is tall and will be tough to take down, and he has good KO power, something Karo isn’t great with.  I’ve never liked Parisyan off his back and he doesn’t have a great chin…Thiago Alves knocked him out in their last fight.  I think Kim wins this fight, but because Parisyan is in it, I’ll go with a decision for Kim.

We could have a show-stealer at 155 pounds between Nate Diaz and Clay Guida.  Guida (24-6) is an exciting guy to watch, as he always seems to throw caution to the win and just start throwing.  His actual strength is as a wrestler, where he is able to secure takedowns at a pretty high rate…once in a dominant position, he works a very aggressive ground and pound game.  What’s interesting is how his style clashes with that of Diaz (10-2), who goes out, gets pummelled and locks in a submission, seemingly every time out.  I think he does it again, because Guida’s style plays right into his hands.

And how about the return of Jon Fitch, the man who had his incredible win streak snapped at UFC 87, thanks to St. Pierre.  This fight won’t even be televised, but the 21-3-1 Fitch will take on Akihiro Gono (28-13-7).  It’s a big fight for Fitch, who has to return to his dominant ways to get himself any traction in a stacked UFC welterweight division.

Tomorrow, we preview the main event, the superfight, GSP and BJ!

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