In the opening PPV bout of the evening Carlos Condit will take on the unbeaten Rory MacDonald. Carlos Condit formerly fought in the UFC's sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting, where he was the final WEC welterweight champion and also competed for Pancrase. He holds notable wins over Frank Trigg, Brock Larson, and Renato Verissimo. Condit recently changed camps and now trains at Jackson's Submission Fighting out of Albuquerque, NM. Condit made his debut for the WEC at WEC 25 where he defeated Kyle Jensen in the first round via submission (Rear Naked Choke). Condit's second fight would be for the vacant WEC Welterweight Championship against John Alessio at WEC 26. Condit would win this fight in the second round, once again, by Rear Naked Choke and became the WEC Welterweight Champion.
Condit would then defend the title against Brock Larson at WEC 29 and Carlo Prater at WEC 32, defeating both by submission in the first round. Condit's final defense would be against Hiromitsu Miura at WEC 35. The fight would end via TKO in the fourth round, winning Fight of the Night honours, which meant that Condit would be the last ever WEC Welterweight Champion after the UFC dissolved the title and division. Condit's record in the WEC would end at a perfect 5–0. Condit would make the move to UFC after the WEC buyout and he made his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization, losing via split decision against Martin Kampmann at UFC Fight Night 18. He was then scheduled to fight Chris Lytle on September 16, 2009 at UFC Fight Night 19, but Lytle had to drop out due to a knee injury. UFC newcomer Jake Ellenberger would step up to replace Lytle. Condit then defeated Ellenberger via split decision to get his first win in the UFC.
Rory MacDonald trains with David Lea and his fight team Toshido Fighting Arts Academy. Rory made his professional debut at the age of sixteen winning against Terry Thiara at an Extreme Fighting Challenge event. He then moved to 2-0, by beating Ken Tran in his King of the Cage (KOTC) debut. He won a fight in Rumble in the Cage, and then signed exclusively with King of the Cage. He won two fights after signing and was then rewarded with a shot at the KOTC Canadien Lightweight title, against Kajan Johnson, which Rory won. Rory then was awarded a shot at the KOTC World Lightweight title, against Clay French, Rory knocked him out in the second round. After the fight Rory moved up to welterweight and was successful defeating Elmer Waterhen. After his win over former KOTC 205-pound champion Nick Hinchliffe, Rory was signed to the UFC. He made his debut for the promotion at UFC Fight Night 20 against Mike Guymon, winning the fight via submission (armbar) in the first round.
Carlos Condit has not exactly set the division alight since moving from the WEC & vacating the welterweight title, thus far into his UFC career he had a split decision loss in his 1st fight followed by a split decision victory in his most recent. If he is to live up to his potential then he will need to stop Rory decisively in this fight to send a message out to the rest of the welterweight division. MacDonald is currently unbeaten as a professional however this will be a step up in competition for him & it should give everyone a good idea of where he belongs in this stacked weight division. Condit will be the bigger fighter in this bout & has considerably more experience than the 20 year old MacDonald, which could prove vital in deciding the winner. Both fighters possess fairly similar skill sets & are well rounded, however with Condit’s superior reach I can see him wanting to try to utilize this to try & out-strike the Canadian. This may cause Rory to attempt to take the fight to the ground where he would be able to work for the submission. I think Rory will have a good showing in this fight however I think Condit will have too much experience and will also have point to prove so I’m going to go with a win for the ‘Natural Born Killer’.
Prediction: Carlos Condit via TKO.
In the first heavyweight bout of the evening, dangerous striker Gilbert Yvel will look to rebound from his disappointing debut by taking out tough veteran Ben Rothwell. Rothwell began fighting in 1999 at the age of 17, he won his first 4 professional fights before suffering the first loss of his career to future UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. Ben then put together a 6 fight win streak before dropping a decision to Mike Whitehead. Rothwell re-bounded from the 2nd loss of his career by winning his next 3 fights before going on to what has been the worst spell of his career to date by going 3-3 in his next 6 fights. 2 of these 3 losses were by way of KO, the first time Ben had been KO’d in his career.
After his fight with Dan Christison, Rothwell went on to have a 13 fight win streak which saw him go undefeated in the IFL. This impressive streak convinced Affliction to sign him to fight Andrei Arlovski at their Affliction: Banned event. Rothwell more than held his own against the former UFC champion but got caught in the 3rd round & lost the fight via KO. Ben then defeated Chris Guillen via TKO in the first round. After this Rothwell was set to meet Chase Gormley at Affliction Trilogy on August 1, 2009, before Affliction decided to cease MMA promotions, he instead met Cain Velasquez at UFC 104 where he lost by TKO at 0:58 of Round 2 due to strikes.
Gilbert Yvel made his professional debut after only 2 years of training at 17 years of age, representing Vos gym. Gilbert was off to a flying start winning his first 9 fights, primarily fighting for the Rings promotion. His first loss came to "dirty" Bob Schreiber in 1998. In the following years Yvel came to be considered the best Dutch heavyweight fighter active on the European fighting circuit. However despite being considered one of the best fighters in his homeland Yvel also acquired a lingering reputation in the MMA community for his temper and poor sportsmanship in the ring.
In his May 1998 bout with Karimula Barkalaev, Yvel was disqualified for biting his opponent (earning comparisons to the Tyson-Holyfield biting incident of 1997). In his September 2001 match with Don Frye, Yvel repeatedly raked his fingers across Frye's face and pushed his thumb into Frye's eyes to avoid being wrestled to the mat. Yvel was disqualified in this match, as well, although the official reason given was for grabbing the ropes. During Yvel’s November 2004 match with Atte Backman, at one point, the referee separated the fighters, as they were falling over the ropes in a clinched position. Yvel refused the attempts by the referee to get the fighters to resume the clinched position away from ropes, swatting the referee’s hand away when he attempted to guide the fighters back together. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to restart the fight in the clinched position, Yvel suddenly punched the referee in the head, dropping him to the canvas, and then kicked him while he was down. This was Yvel’s 3rd disqualification in six years.
These incidents prevented Yvel from getting a license to fight in the US for a long time until he was finally granted a 1 fight only license to take on Josh Barnett at Affliction: Day of Reckoning. During the fight, Yvel showed great resilience against his wrestling opponent, and kept an active guard which prevented Barnett from submitting him in the first two rounds, until Yvel finally succumbed to punches at the 3:05 mark of the third round. After this fight Gilbert then brutally KO’d Pedro Rizzo in the first round at Ultimate Chaos: Sapp vs. Lashley. Yvel recently fought up-and-coming Brazilian heavyweight Junior dos Santos at UFC 108 replacing Gabriel Gonzaga for the bout on January 2. Yvel lost the fight, with Herb Dean stopping the fight at 2:07 in the first round due to strikes.
It should be no secret as to what Gilbert Yvel will want to do in this fight; he will no doubt be looking to stand & trade so he can get that big impressive KO win. With 31 KO’s in his 36 wins, it’s evident that Gilbert possesses devastating power in his hands & with the technique to back it up he is a handful for anyone when it comes to striking. Big Ben will be fully aware of this & I think the best strategy for him in this fight will be to use his size advantage to get the fight to the ground, which is an area that Gilbert has seemed t struggle with over the years. If Ben is able to maintain top control, he will be in a position to start landing his heavy shots & try to force a referee stoppage. Gilbert’s best chance at winning this fight is early on while the fight is still taking place on the feet, if he is able to land cleanly then we’ve already seen Rothwell get stopped previously & if Yvel connects then I have a feeling we could see him get stopped once again.
My Prediction: Gilbert Yvel via TKO.
In what should prove to be an interesting welterweight fight, Paulo Thiago will look to continue to climb the rankings against Martin Kampann. Paulo Thiago made his professional debut at Storm Samurai 8 in 2005. He fought Ricardo Petrucio and won the fight via submission in round three. His next three fights came on the same night almost a year after his debut. Paulo competed in the Grand Prix Planaltina, winning all three of his fights and became the tournament winner. Paulo finished all three of the fights by submission. After two more victories, Paulo was signed by Jungle Fights MMA. Paulo won four fights for the promotion before being signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championships.
Paulo never signed a contract before his debut against Josh Koscheck, as he was only able acquire a tryout. He ended up shocking the world, scoring an upset victory over the top contender at UFC 95 in what was eventually contested as a controversial stoppage with Koscheck regaining consciousness having hit the ground knocked out, by which time the referee had already called a stop to the contest though. Thiago won the fight by a TKO, with a flush right uppercut and a left hook. At the post-fight conference, Dana White confirmed that Thiago had won knockout of the night honors.
Thiago had his second fight in the UFC, fighting against welterweight contender and Koscheck teammate Jon Fitch. The fight took place at UFC 100. This was Thiago's first fight in the United States and he lost via unanimous decision. He then defeated UFC newcomer Jacob Volkmann at UFC 106. The fight originally was set to be on the undercard but after a fight was cancelled at last minute, Paulo's fight was bumped up to main card. In Paulo's fourth outing in the UFC octagon, he was set to have a rematch against Josh Koscheck at UFC 109. However, Koscheck pulled out of the bout after an undisclosed injury. Koscheck was replaced by AKA team-mate Mike Swick. Thiago won via submission (Brabo choke) in the second round and earned his second UFC fight bonus with the win.
Martin Kampmann made his MMA debut in 2003 against Gert Mannaerts, winning via TKO. Martin improved his record to 4-0 before suffering his first loss due to a cut against Andrei Semenov. Kampmann won his next 5 fights before he made his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 6 as a late replacement for Kalib Starnes. In this fight, Kampmann defeated opponent Crafton Wallace by first-round submission. His next victory came by way of a unanimous judges' decision over Thales Leites in The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale on November 11, 2006, and at UFC 68, he defeated Drew McFedries by arm-triangle choke in the first round.
His next UFC fight was scheduled for UFC 72 against Rich "Ace" Franklin, but he was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury. Kampmann returned from his injury at UFC 85, where he defeated Jorge Rivera by Guillotine Choke at 2:44 in the first round. Kampmann's first fifteen fights were at 185lb, however after losing to Nate Marquardt at UFC 88, Kampmann announced that he would drop down to the welterweight division (170lbs). He made his Welterweight debut at UFC 93 defeating Alexandre Barros by second round TKO. Kampmann defeated the last WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit in a closely contested split decision victory in the main event at UFC Fight Night 18. Kampmann was to fight Mike Swick on September 19, 2009 at UFC 103. The winner was to receive a title shot against Georges St. Pierre. On September 4, it was announced that Mike Swick had suffered an injury while training for his upcoming bout with Kampmann. Paul Daley replaced Swick for the fight. With Swick pulling out, the fight was not for the No. 1 contender spot anymore. Kampmann lost the fight via TKO due to strikes, however many felt the fight was stopped prematurely. Kampmann was still standing and covering his face to block strikes when referee Yves Lavigne stopped the fight.
Kampmann was expected to face Rory Markham on January 2, 2010 at UFC 108 however, on December 14 this fight was called off because Markham received a knee injury during training. Instead Kampmann fought Jacob Volkmann on the card and won via first round submission using a modified guillotine choke
This should be a very entertaining fight, Paulo Thiago has really made a name for himself in the octagon since debuting back in 2009 and his skill set seems to improve every time we see him. Martin Kampmann will prove to be a tough test for Paulo, however if he is able to get past the Dane then he will be right up there in the hunt for the title. I can see Martin wanting to keep this fight standing, he is an excellent kick boxer & he should have the superior technique when it comes to striking, however he will need to be careful as Paulo will hold the power advantage in this fight. I think Thiago will be happy to trade with Kampmann, however it may be in his best interests to take the fight to the ground where he will be the superior fighter, his ground game is world class & if he gets Kampmann down then I think it’ll only be a matter of time before he locks in a submission hold. This is a tough fight to pick however due to the fact that he’s improving all the time I’m gonna have to go with Paulo Thiago in this one.
My Prediction: Paulo Thiago via submission.
We’ll see two excellent kick-boxers face off in this bout as Mirko Cro Cop will look to continue his comeback against the dangerous Pat Barry. Mirko Filipović (better known as Mirko Cro Cop), is a Croatian law enforcement officer turned kickboxer and mixed martial artist. His nickname, short for "Croatian Cop", comes from his membership in Croatia's most elite Anti-Terrorist Unit ATJ Lučko.
Cro Cop started his professional career in 1996 as a kickboxer accumulating an amateur record of 40-5 (31 KO's). In 1996, at the age of 21, Cro Cop entered the K-1 World Grand Prix elimination tournament. After defeating the previous year's finalist, Jérôme Le Banner, he was stopped in the next round by Ernesto Hoost. Cro Cop continued building a successful K-1 career with wins over some top ranked opponents including Peter Aerts, Mark Hunt and Remy Bonjasky. He was also the first fighter to beat then-undefeated giant, Bob Sapp in just 86 seconds, breaking Sapp's orbital bone with a left punch. In 2001, Mirko began his switch to fighting in PRIDE, citing personal challenge, as well as dissatisfaction with K-1 salaries. A year later, he also left his job at the anti-terrorist unit in order to focus fully on his martial arts career. In just 2 years Cro Cop compiled an impressive 7-0-2 record in PRIDE taking on some impressive opposition in the form of Wanderlei Silva, Heath Herring & Igor Vovchanchyn. His performances in these fights earned him a shot at then interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Cro Cop’s stand-up was effective in the first round, controlling the fight from his feet. However, Nogueira prevailed in the second round after a successful takedown, led to an armbar forcing the tap. After an upset to Kevin Randleman, which he later avenged, Cro Cop put together another 7 fight win streak to set-up one of the most anticipated Heavyweight fights in MMA history against Fedor Emelianenko for the heavyweight title at Pride Final Conflict 2005.
After three rounds, Fedor won by unanimous decision and retained his title. Mirko later stated on Croatian national television that he came exhausted to the match, mostly because he was not used to the time difference in Japan and he had sleeping problems. He also said many times after the match that he fought too defensively and cautiously. The champion, likewise, was not in his top form. According to Fedor he "could not take full advantage of right hand during the striking exchanges and had to try to close the distance," due to a previous hand injury. After this fight Cro Cop was 1-1 before competing in Pride's 2006 Open-Weight Grand Prix, he went on to win the tournament in impressive fashion KO’ing Wanderlei Silva in the semi-finals with his trademark left high kick before defeating Josh Barnett in the final to become the Open-Weight Grand Prix champion. After the Grand Prix, Cro Cop signed a 2 year 6 fight deal with the UFC.
After a lot of hype, Mirko failed to deliver in his first 3 UFC fights winning his debut before losing his next 2 bouts to Gabriel Gonzaga & Cheick Kongo. It was at this time that the UFC agreed to let Cro Cop fight in Japan where he went 2-0-1 before finally bringing him back to face Mostapha Al Turk in a fight that he won via TKO due to strikes in the 1s round. After the Al Turk fight Filipović fought Junior dos Santos at UFC 103. During the third round, Filipović sustained a punch to his left eye that caused him to wave his hand at the referee saying "I can't see". The fight was stopped due to submission, giving Dos Santos the win. Filipović was scheduled to face Ben Rothwell on February 21, 2010 at UFC 110. Just days before the fight, Rothwell was forced to withdraw from the event because of an illness. Australian fighter Anthony Perosh stepped in to replace Rothwell. During the fight, Filipović dominated for two rounds before opening a cut on Perosh's forehead which forced a doctor stoppage before the third round and awarded the TKO win to Filipović.
Pat Barry made his MMA debut on May 30, 2008 with the Combat USA organization. Whilst there he fought 3 times over 4 months, winning two fights via TKO with leg kicks, and the other fight by KO, ending each of the bouts in the first round. On December 27, 2008, Barry made his successful debut in the UFC against Dan Evensen, at UFC 92, injuring the Norwegian's left knee with a brutal right low kick (the 3rd such kick of the round) at 2:36 of Round 1. Barry lost to UFC newcomer Tim Hague via submission at UFC 98. His last fight was against Antoni Hardonk on October 24, 2009 at UFC 104. Barry won by second round TKO. After weathering several leg kicks in the first round from Hardonk, Barry found his range in the second round with fast jab combinations, hurting Hardonk several times before dropping him, following up with strikes to finish the fight at 2:30 of round 2 for a TKO victory.
I’d be very surprised if this fight goes to a decision, here we have two world class kick-boxers who love nothing more than to stand & trade. Mirko has been on a mission recently to prove that he still has what it takes to compete at a world class level, unfortunately his performances haven’t exactly lived up to the hype recently, but this fight will provide him with an opportunity to show everyone that the ‘old Mirko’ is back. Pat Barry is coming into this fight with his confidence at an all-time high after dismantling Antoni Hardonk in his last fight, Barry took his time to settle into the fight but he finally found his range in the 2nd round & dropped the Dutchman before finishing him off. This fight has a kind of old school vs. new school feeling to it, Barry is just starting his career & looking to make a name for himself whereas Cro Cop is a legend in the sport & looking for one last great run. They are both excellent with their strikes so it’ll be interesting to see just how much respect they show for another early on, we could see a tentative start to the fight as each fighter looks to find their range, I think Barry will hold the speed advantage so as long as he doesn’t get too confident then I can see him landing & getting out of range before Mirko has a chance to counter. I’m a big fan of Mirko & just like everyone else would love to see him return to his old self & put together a title run, however I think his time has come and a new breed has taken over so for that reason i’m going with Pat Barry in this one.
My Prediction: Pat Barry via KO.
In the main event of the evening two legends of the sport will collide as Chuck Liddell takes on Rich Franklin in the light heavyweight division. Chuck Liddell made his MMA debut in 1998 earning a decision victory over Noe Hernandez at UFC 17. Despite losing to Jeremy Horn in his 3rd pro fight Liddell went on to record a 10 fight win streak that included wins over the likes of Jeff Monson, Murilo Bustamante, Vitor Belfort & Renato Sobral to name a few. After his fight against Sobral, Liddell was scheduled to take on experienced wrestler and former UFC heavyweight champion Randy "The Natural" Couture at UFC 43. Couture shocked the world when he defeated Chuck at his own game, neutralizing Liddell's hooks with straight punches in the stand-up and eventually taking Chuck down at will. Couture eventually gained full mount and forced a referee stoppage due to punches in the 3rd round. After this defeat, Liddell entered the Pride 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament. After defeating Alistair Overeem in the first round of the tournament, Liddell was eliminated in the next round by Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, losing by stoppage, when his corner threw in the towel.
After his brief stint in Pride, Liddell returned to the UFC to take on Tito Ortiz at UFC 47 in what was probably the most anticipated fight in MMA at the time. Prior to the fight Liddell taunted Ortiz by stating that Tito would never stand with him because he was afraid to get hit, this led to Ortiz purposefully trading with Chuck in the early rounds of the fight. This eventually led to Ortiz’s downfall as Liddell threw a flurry of punches at the beginning of the 2nd round, which knocked Ortiz down and led to a TKO victory. After this fight Liddell became a coach on The Ultimate Fighter, agreeing to a re-match with Randy Couture at the show’s Finale. On April 16, 2005 at UFC 52 Chuck Liddell avenged his loss to Randy Couture with a first round knockout victory making him the new UFC light heavyweight champion. Liddell went on to defend his title 4 times, avenging his loss to Jeremy Horn, beating Couture in a rubber match & defeating both Renato Sobral & Tito Ortiz in re-matches.
At this time Liddell was considered as one of the best light heavyweights in the world & needed to avenge 1 loss to cement his place as the no.1 guy in his division. He got his chance to avenge that loss on May 26, 2007 in a rematch with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Liddell was knocked down by a right hook less than two minutes into the 1st round and was unable to defend himself against Jackson's strikes on the ground, resulting in a TKO victory for Rampage and Chuck’s first loss in almost 4 years. Chuck’s next fight took place at UFC 76, where he lost a split decision to Keith Jardine, the first consecutive losses of his career. Despite these losses Chuck was determined to keep fighting and at UFC 79 he finally got a fight that he had long been waiting for when he fought Wanderlei Silva. Liddell defeated Silva via unanimous decision in what many fans and MMA critics called the best fight of the year.
After his win over Silva, Liddell fought "Sugar" Rashad Evans at UFC 88. In the second round of the fight, Evans threw an overhand right while Chuck simultaneously threw a right uppercut, Rashad connected first as Chuck’s uppercut missed Evans' face and made contact with his armpit. Liddell was out instantly as he dropped to the floor, the knockout was dubbed "knockout of the year" by many MMA fans & critics. On April 18 at UFC 97, Liddell was defeated by Shogun in the first round by TKO.
Rich "Ace" Franklin made his MMA debut in March 2000 and amassed a record of 17 wins and 1 loss before fighting for the UFC title. His sole loss was against the undefeated Lyoto Machida by TKO in the second round. In the run up to the title match, he defeated such well-respected fighters as Evan Tanner, Jorge Rivera, Edwin Dewees, Ken Shamrock, Jason MacDonald, and David Loiseau. Before his fight with Shamrock, Franklin signed an 8-fight contract with the UFC and in 2005, he defeated Evan Tanner for the second time to win the UFC Middleweight Championship.
In his first title defence at UFC 56, Franklin KO’d Nate Quarry, a competitor from season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter in the 1st round. He then defeated David Loiseau in a unanimous five round decision to retain his title once again at UFC 58. Franklin broke his left hand early on in the second round of this fight, which led to him having surgery and put him out of action for seven months. On his return Franklin lost his title to Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 64. The fight was stopped at 2:49 of the first round after Franklin received a knee to the face which dropped him. On October 19, 2006 Franklin underwent surgery due to the nasal fracture he received in his fight against Silva. Rich went on to win his next two fights to set up a re-match with Silva at UFC 77, in what turned out to be an extended version of their first fight Silva defeated Franklin by TKO (Strikes) in the second round. Franklin defeated Travis Lutter in his next fight before moving up to the light heavyweight division defeating Matt Hamill by TKO with a kick to the liver at UFC 88. After this fight, he fought former PRIDE 183 lbs and 205 lbs champion Dan Henderson at UFC 93 on January 17, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. He lost the fight in a controversial split decision in a very evenly contested bout. Frankline the fought Wanderlei Siva at UFC 99, winning via unanimous decision. At UFC 103 on September 19, 2009, in Dallas, Texas, Franklin fought against Vitor Belfort for Belfort's first fight in the UFC since February 2005. Franklin lost the fight via TKO (Punches) at 3:02 in Round 1.
This is a must win fight for both of these legends, Rich will want a win over Chuck to kick off his charge towards earning a shot at the light heavyweight title. Whereas Chuck will want to stop Rich to prove that he is still able to put together a run that will enable him to get that title one last time before calling time on his hall of fame career. We should be in a for a hell of a fight as Chuck is looking in the best shape he’s been in for years & Rich has said that he finally feels like his body has adjusted to the move up to 205lbs. I’m expecting Rich to use a similar game plan to the one he used in his fight against Wanderlei Silva in this fight, he will want to avoid getting into exchanges with Chuck & he will especially want to avoid that big right hand. If he is able to use his quickness to pot shot Chuck and keep moving in & out of range then he stands a good chance of landing the decision win. I don’t think Rich will go for many takedowns as it is extremely difficult to get Liddell to the floor and even more difficult to keep him there, plus going for the shot will just put him in striking range for Chuck. There should be no surprises with Liddell’s strategy he will look to stalk Franklin around the octagon trying to land that big right. If he’s managed to tighten up his defence then this could be a very good night for Chuck, his power is immense and we’ve seen Franklin get caught in a few of his fights. All Rich needs to do is lose concentration for 1 second & Chuck could put his lights out. This is a difficult prediction to make as I can see both guys having the ability to pull off the win, all Rich needs to do is stay calm and essentially outbox Liddell. However I have a feeling that Chuck is going to land that right hand of his at some point in the fight & after seeing what Belfort did to Franklin I don’t think he’s going to be able to get up when it does connect.
My Prediction: Chuck Liddell via KO.
