UFC 103 Main Card Predictions

I hope everyone has had time to recover from last night’s thrilling Ultimate Fight 19 card as we now can look forward to Saturday and UFC 103 which will take place at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.

With five main card bouts to review, let’s get cracking!

Hermes Franca vs. Tyson Griffin- Lightweights:

Griffin will look to continue his rise towards the top of the UFC’s lightweight division. Along with Xtreme Couture teammate, Gray Maynard, Griffin is one of the young up and coming superstars in the UFC.

A solid wrestler, Griffin has vastly improved his boxing over his past few fights. He will need everything in his arsenal to get by Franca. A former title contender, Franca will be looking to make another run for the title. Possessing excellent jiu-jitsu, Franca has 19 career wins with 11 coming by submission.

I really like Griffin’s tenacity as he has a real bulldog mentality that I feel will be too much for Franca to overcome. Griffin will have to be on his toes as Franca can pull of a submission from anywhere. Griffin will look to keep the fight standing and win a close decision. Griffin via unanimous decision.

Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg- Welterweights:

It’s very rare that I find a fight that has two fighters that I severely dislike, here is such an occassion. Both men have stellar wrestling backgrounds and when you have a bout with two great wrestlers chances are the fight will turn into a kickboxing match. I have read comments coming from Koscheck’s camp that he is going back to his bread and butter after getting knocked out in his last bout by newcomer Paulo Thiago.

In fact it has been a long time since we have seen Koscheck utilize his wrestling skills to win a fight. He seems to have fallen in love with the knockout. Being the younger, quicker fighter here, it would behoove Koscheck to go with his strengths as he is going up against a battle tested veteran in Trigg.

Fighting for the first time in the octagon since his embarrassing loss to a young Georges St. Pierre at UFC 54 in 2005, Trigg is winding down a long, successful career, one that started back in 1997. At 37 years old, Trigg is looking for one last shot at glory. He has stated that he is here to win titles, being in one of the UFC’s toughest divisions, Trigg will have his hands full.

It will be interesting to see how Trigg fights at 170lbs as he has been fighting as a middleweight for the past few years. They say that the older a fighter gets, the tougher the weight cut becomes. Both fighters are talented and this one is tough to call. For me I have to go with the younger fighter here because the one advantage Trigg would have over a younger fighter here is irrelevant as Koscheck will be fighting for the 15th time inside the octagon, so experience will not be a factor here. Koscheck by unanimous (Boring) decision.

Paul Daley vs. Martin Kampmann- Welterweights:

Daley is stepping in for the injured Mike Swick in what was supposed to be a fight to determine who would be the next fighter to face Georges St. Pierre. No worries here as Daley and Kampmann are two dynamic strikers and should put on a fight full of fireworks.

Daley has an overall record of 21-8-2 with 16 knockouts. He has dynamite in his hands but a very suspect ground game. Jake Shields took advantage of Daley’s subpar ground skills when they fought for the EliteXC welterweight title on CBS in 2008. Five of his eight losses have come by submission.

Kampmann is a former kickboxer and has dangerous Muay Thai skills. He holds a record of 15-2 with 7 wins coming by way of knockout and 5 by submission. While the thought of a stand-up war is very appealing to the fans, if Kampmann is smart he will look to expose Daley’s weakness on the ground. I expect they will feel each other out for the first round and the first time Kampmann tastes Daley’s power he will attempt to take it to the ground. When that happens, a victory for Kampmann is evident. Kampmann by second round submission.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic- Heavyweights:

Ok, there is pretty much no chance that this fight will end up anywhere but on the feet. Although Dos Santos is trained in jiu-jitsu by the Nogueira brothers his strength is his boxing. He has shown he has tremendous power in both of his bouts inside the octagon. He defeated former heavyweight contender, Fabricio Werdum with a sick uppercut at UFC 90 in just 81 seconds. His next victim lasted all of 54 seconds as he tore through the 6′11″, Stefan Struve at UFC 99.

Cro-Cop is a man who needs no introduction. One of the most feared strikers in all of MMA, Filipovic seems to have lost a step over the past few years. He made his return to the octagon after an almost two year hiatus at UFC 99. Although he defeated Mustapha Al-turk by knockout, he didn’t look too impressive and was fortunate that the referee didn’t see an inadvertent eye poke that Al-turk suffered.

I’d love to see the return of the old Cro-Cop but at 35 years old, I think his best is behind him. A young hungry fighter like Dos Santos will prove to be too much for the Croatian superstar. Don’t get me wrong if Cro-Cop can land one of those vicious headkicks to Dos Santos’ skull, he will walk away with his arm raised. It just seems to me that with the way fighters have evolved it has become much more difficult for Cro-Cop to survive. Dos Santos by 2nd round knockout.

Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort- Catchweight (195lbs):

The return of the phenom has fans all over the world excited. Is he the man who can finally knock Anderson Silva off his throne? Will we see the old Vitor with guns ablazin followed by crazy knockouts? First let’s get him past his fight with the always tough, Rich Franklin. Belfort is riding a four fight win streak that includes knockout victories over Matt Lindland and Terry Martin. In fact his knockout of Lindland left the Team Quest fighter laying motionless on the canvas for some time in what a very scary moment.

Both Belfort and Franklin have strong standup skills with both men being very capable on the ground as well. Franklin is coming off a split decision win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99 in which the two fighters went toe to toe for 15 minutes. Franklin can handle a powerful puncher like Belfort. Can Belfort handle Franklin’s versatility, does he have the conditioning it takes to compete with a fighter like Franklin who prides himself on always coming into his fights in the best possible shape?

This fight will go one of two ways. Belfort will catch Franklin early and put him to sleep or Franklin will wear Belfort down and utilize a smart game plan while winning a close decision. Franklin does not want to get into a slugfest with Belfort, it makes no sense, he doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. I am really torn on this one. I think a strong fight will go along way in helping both fighters regardless of the winner. With that being said, I think Franklin will take this one. Franklin by unanimous decision.

So there you have it, a solid all around card with the potential for a few fights to be extremely exciting. The last three fights have title implications tied into them. If Kampmann wins impressively he may still receive a shot at GSP. The winner of Dos Santos-Cro Cop will launch place themselves on to the small list of heavyweight contenders. If Belfort wins we may see him fight “The Spider” sometime in 2010. Franklin can go a long way towards getting a shot at the 205lb title with a victory on Saturday night.

When fighters have the extra something to fight for it usually means the fans will go home satisfied, I don’t see any reason that won’t happen come Saturday night.