Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar in the main event; Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves in the co-main event; Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson fight in a grudge match.  You know the top of the card…but it’s the biggest night in UFC history, so you’ve got a damn good “undercard” as well.

It starts with the return of the 22-3 Jon Fitch when he takes on undefeated (11-0) Paulo Thiago.  Fitch comes in off his January win over Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 that put him back on track as being one of the top fighters at 170 pounds.  Remember, his only loss inside The Octagon is to current Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87.  Other than that, Fitch has wins over Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves among others; he’s 9-1 in the UFC.

As for Thiago, he’s 11-0 and comes off a UFC 95 win over Josh Koscheck…a KO win just 3:29 into the 1st round.  It was his UFC debut, and now he’s got a real chance to do some damage in a competitive division.  He’s a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and 7 of his 11 pro victories have come via submission. 

But how does he match up against Fitch?  Jon is a Guerilla jiu-jitsu black belt (blending BJJ and Judo) and was a 4 year wrestler at Purdue.  Add in his methodical striking, and Fitch is a tough fight for anyone…including GSP, who needed a 5 round decision to retain his title.  To me, Thiago is very skilled and explosive…but I think Fitch’s experience and all round game will be too much in this one.

It may not be televised, but Mark Coleman and Stephan Bonnar fight in a light heavyweight bout that may determine their respective futures.  The 44 year old Coleman was less than impressive in his UFC return bout; he lost a snoozer to Shogun Rua at UFC 93.  Bonnar, 32, lost a unanimous decision to Jon Jones at UFC 94.  For Coleman, he needs an impressive win if he wants an invite back.  Bonnar needs a good showing too.  He has lost 3 of his last 5 fights and in a stacked division, that’s not going to cut it.  I think you’ll see 2 fighters ready to go…I just don’t think Coleman has the tools, to be perfectly honest.

Speaking of Jon Jones (8-0)…he’s in 205 pound action against Jake O’Brien while 19-6-1 Mac Danzig returns to action against Jim Miller in the lightweight division.  At 185, CB Dollaway fights Tom Lawlor.  I’m talking to Dan Henderson tomorrow and will post that immediately following…previews every day this week leading up to Saturday.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 4:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.