Marcus Aurelio v. Evan Dunham

It’s good to see Aurelio back in the big show after a detour in his career. The jiu-jitsu expert has some great wins in his career but exited the UFC after consecutive losses to Tyson Griffin and Hermes Franca. After a couple of small show wins, he’s back and looking to make one last go of it in the lightweight division.

Dunham is 1-0 in the UFC and fights out of Xtreme Couture. He defeated Per Eklund at UFC 95 via KO and the 27 year old is currently undefeated in his MMA career. While Aurelio definitely has the experience edge, expect youth to win out because Dunham is a more balanced fighter.

Prediction: Dunham via Unanimous Decision

Nick Catone v. Mark Munoz

I love Nick Catone because Jason and I were ahead of the curve on him. We saw him fight at a couple of Ring of Combat events in Atlantic City and predicted big things for him. Here we are a year later and he is fighting in the UFC. However, he’s 1-1 and likely needs to win to avoid the cost cutting measures that cost people like Thales Leites and Tamdan McCrory their jobs. Catone is a former collegiate wrestler at Rider University, and has a decorated BJJ background. He is also the proud owner of the very first MMA fight shirt that I thought was cool. It’s simple, but check it out.

Munoz is no slouch eithier. He was 5-0 with a couple of WEC wins under his bely when he entered the UFC, but quickly lost to Matt Hamill due to the head kick out of nothing. A member of the Oklahoma State wrestling dynasty, Munoz also is a stong grappler, but does not want to be on his back. Only one of his fights have gone to decision, and all the other have ended by strikes.

Expect Catone to be more balanced, and submit Munoz.

Prediction: Catone via Submission

Tim Hague v. Todd Duffee

As much I want to go with the “move on, nothing to see here” joke, I won’t.

Hague is a BJJ heavyweight who lacks a career defining win. He’s 1-0 in the UFC after winning at UFC 98 over Pat Barry.

Duffee is best known as the guy who was pulled from fighting Mustapha Al-Turk when Cro-Cop decided that he wanted to fight again. Instead, he makes his debut nearly a year after defeating Asseurio Silva in his last fight.

Duffee trains with American Top Team, which makes me want to give him the edge, but I can’t. A year off is too much ring rust, ask Forrest Griffin.

Prediction: Hague via submission

Justin McCully v. Mike Russow

McCully has a 2-1 UFC record, and does have wins over Antoni Hardonk and Eddie Sanchez on his record. That being said, I saw more negatives in his loss to Gabriel Gonzaga than I did in either victory. Similar to Duffee, this will McCully first fight in 9 months. McCully fights using a lot of disciplines, but doesn’t really excel in any of them.

Russow also had a nine month layoff between fights. He’s 32 which makes him too old to be a prospect, but does have a sterling record of 11-1, 1 NC. His biggest win is probably over Jason Guida, the Billy Ripken-esque brother of 3SS favorite Clay Guida. His one loss came in his sole apperance in PRIDE when he lost to Sergei Kharitonov. He’s making his UFC debut, which never ends well.

Prediction: McCully via TKO

Gabriel Gonzaga v. Chris Tuchscherer

How the mighty have fallen in what I’m calling the third of three “oh my god, our heavyweight division is terrible” fights. Gonzaga is famous for the headkick that ended the relavancy of Mirko CroCop. After that, he suffered back to back losses to Randy Couture in a title shot, and Fabricio Werdum. He was on the comeback trail before running into heavyweight #1 contender Shane Carwin. Gonzaga is known for his BJJ, but has some muay thai and can hang on the feet as well.

Tuchscherer has a sterling record of 17-1, 1 NC, but it also making his UFC debut. He holds some good wins, but his biggest is probably over Krzysztof Soszynski before he decided to drop to Light heavy, and oh yeah, learned how to fight. The biggest advantage that Tuchscherer has is that he is the training parter of Brock Lesnar. Since he goes up against the biggest and meanest everyday, he won’t be surprised by much. Except jiu-jitsu of course, because that’s what going to win Gonzaga this fight.

Prediction: Gonzaga via Submission

Ed Herman v. Aaron Simpson

Remember Ed Herman? He’s the guy who invented the “I think I’m a lot better than I am” stereotype on TUF 3. He’s 4-4 in the UFC since and is likely on the chopping block as well. He’s good enough to beat middling fighters, but every time he steps up into good competition he gets knocked right back down. Coming off a win against David Loiseau, this is likely his last chance to put together a win streak. He trains out of Team Quest in Washington, so you know that his wrestling is good.

Simpson is another WEC transfer and is 1-0 so far in the UFC. His victory came over Tim Mckenzie back in April. He’s 5-0 in his MMA career and has had only one fight go out of the first round. He loves to stand and bang, but will he be able to do that against Herman? He is 35, so he is a little old to be a real prospect, but he is a good test to see if Herman can still hack it.

Prediction: Herman via Unanimous Decision

Don’t Stop Now! Check out Anthony’s main card predictions of UFC 102.