WEC 44
Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo
Manvel Gamburyan vs. Leonard Garcia
Rob McCullough vs. Karen Darabedyan
Danny Castillo vs. Shane Roller
A lot of people are high on Aldo here, but I'm not quite ready to say that he is going to walk all over Brown. Brown has been pretty dominant at 145 against top level guys while everyone Aldo has beaten so far has been fairly mediocre. If it stays on the feet, Brown gets beaten. If Brown takes him to the ground I think he wins a decision.
I've never really been impressed with Manny Gamburyan since TUF 5. He was a bust in the UFC and I while I think he will give Garcia some trouble I think he will ultimately lose. If Manny wins though I'm guessing he's the #1 contender for the Brown-Aldo winner.
Darabedyan is an unknown to me, but he has a pretty good record and Razor Rob hasn't looked like Razor Rob in some time now. I'm picking the new guy to win the upset. As for Castillo and Roller, they both have fought in the WEC a few times but I like Castillo better for this one.
UFC 106
Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Karo Parisyan vs. Dustin Hazelett
I'm picking Griffin to win this one. I'm not certain about Griffin's mental state in this one, but I don't think Forrest loses anyway. A mentally damaged Griffin will just stick and move his way to victory like Forrest did against Ramirez post Jardine. Tito hasn't beaten a top level guy since he fought Griffin more than 3 years ago, Griffin has improved since then and if Griffin is mentally on, I don't think there is any place Tito can touch Forrest in the fight.
Koscheck seems to be on the way down while Johnson is on the way up. Johnson is a monster at 170. Hopefully he makes the weight this time. Either way I have him beating Koscheck by decision.
I know Sadollah is inexperienced and got KO'd in his last fight, but if he wants to amount to anything in MMA then he should get past Baroni. Sadollah beat better guys on TUF than Baroni and I expect him to take the Ricardo Mayorga of MMA out by submission in the 2nd round.
Cane-Lil Nog should be the best fight of the night. Luiz Cane is on a roll and I think he wins this one, probably by oustriking Lil Nog to a decision. Lil Nog has picked up 5 straight wins since Soko laid him out, but its been against C level fighters. He loses here.
Karo is on the downside, while Hazelett is on the way up. Karo has probably wasted his potential as much as anyone in the UFC. I dont know if Hazelett can submit him, but if he doesn't then I think he definitely wins a decision.
