UFC 97 is fast approaching, so it's time for the quick and dirty breakdown of the card.

Well, if you've read my articles before, we both know this might be dirty, but it will probably not be so quick by the time it's over. I'll try to keep my pontificating to a minimum though, for the people just looking to hedge their bets.

Anderson Silva d. Thales Leites

I just can't see it any other way. I'm not entirely on the "Silva is invincible" bandwagon, but at the same time, Leites doesn't have much of a chance here.

His wins are all over middling or one-dimensional competition, save for Nate Marquardt, and anyone who saw that fight knows that he won on a technicality despite getting beat from pillar to post.

In addition to that, Leites has a tendency to stand and bang when he shouldn't, which has led to him getting knocked around by the likes of Ryan Jensen, and losing a decision to Martin Kampmann, whom he failed to take down time and again.

Silva has heard his detractors after the Cote fight, and will make a statement in this fight.

Chuck Liddell d. Shogun Rua

I might eat a lot of crow on this one, but I've always thought that even a Shogun with cardio is begging to be counter-punched. Shogun has a reputation as a vicious striker, and rightly so, but a lot of his finishing techniques are illegal in the UFC, and at the least require his opponent to be on the mat.

Even in his twilight years, Liddell is not an easy man to take down. Both men have shown glaring weaknesses in their last fights, but cardio is going to be the killer in this matchup. Liddell has never been one to get blitzed early in the fight, and he won't be underestimating the dangerousness of his opponent. Liddell by eventual TKO.

Krzysztof Soszynski d. Brian Stann

This matchup is hard to call, but I'd have to say that based on what I've seen before, even working at Xtreme Couture, Stann's ground game is suspect. He seems to rely on the gameplan of "punch the other guy until he falls down," and thus far it's worked pretty well for him.

I don't think he can catch Kryzstof fast enough, though. The Team Quest fighter is willing to stand and bang, but he also knows when to go to the ground, and has won there many times.

The only person of note to definitively stop Krzysztof is Ben Rothwell, and while I don't think trading blow for blow with Stann is a good idea, I also don't think he packs quite the punch that Rothwell does.

Cheick Kongo d. Antoni Hardonk

This an interestingly close fight. Both men excel at the striking, and both have proven to have incredibly dangerous kicks. In Hardonk, Kongo will finally be facing someone his own size, but Hardonk has shown that he can be overwhelmed by strikers like the brawling Eddie Sanchez, who was rag-dolling Hardonk before gassing out.

This fight could go either way on the feet, but Kongo has finally seen fit to improve his takedowns, and working with Rampage has made his ground and pound downright vicious.

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