UFC Fight Night 20: Gray Maynard and Nate Diaz Top the Bill in Fairfax

UFC Fight Night 20: Jan. 11, 2010
Patriot Center, Fairfax, Va .

Main Event

Gray Maynard (8-0) vs. Nate Diaz (11-4)

Main Bouts

Efrain Escudero (12-0) vs. Evan Dunham (9-0)
Aaron Simpson (6-0) vs. Tom Lawlor (6-1)
Amir Sadollah (2-1) vs. Brad Blackburn (15-9-1)

Preliminary Bouts

Chris Leben (18-7) vs. Jay Silva (5-2)
Jesse Lennox (11-1) vs. Rick Story (8-3)
Nik Lentz (17-3-1) vs. Thiago Tavares (14-3)
Mike Guymon (10-2-1) vs. Rory MacDonald (9-0)
Kyle Bradley (14-6) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (12-4)
Gerald Harris (13-2) vs. Mike Massenzio (11-3)
Nick Catone (6-2) vs. Jesse Forbes (11-3)

Predictions are in BOLD.

Previews:

Main Event: Gray "The Bully" Maynard steps back into the Octagon off the heels of a September split decision win over Roger Huerta. His opponent Nate Diaz his also coming off a win during the same event(UFN 19) where he submitted Melvin Guillard. Maynard is coming into this contest knowing that he's a impressive win away from competing for the UFC's lightweight title. Maynard will have the decisive edge in wrestling which has been Diaz's downfall in his recent losses to Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida. The standup is fairly even with Diaz having a reach advantage. These two have a history with one another and I believe that Maynard's overall game is more well rounded in which he'll take the unanimous decision victory over Diaz.

Co-Main Event: Efrain Escudero steps in against Evan Dunham in a matchup that is sure to produce fireworks. Escudero has spend time training with BJ Penn as Dunham has spend the majority of his training camp with the Xtreme Couture camp working alongside Gray Maynard. Dunham is 9-0 coming off a victory over Marcus Aurelio back in August. Dunham's victories are as follows: 2 tko, 5 subs, and 2 decisions. Escudero comes in at 12-0 with: 1 tko, 9 subs, and 2 decisions. He will have the edge in wrestling and his coming off the heels of a very impressive tko of Cole Miller back at UFC 103. However, as promising as Escudero is i feel that Dunham will have the edge in standup and he posseses solid takedown defense that will control where this contest goes. I have a really hard time believing that if Marcus Aurelio didn't submit Dunham Escudero won't either. This matchup is really hard to pick but I feel that Dunham may get the split decision win.

On to the Kyle Bradley vs. Rafael dos Anjos preview request. dos Anjos comes into the bout fresh off a victory over Robert Emerson back at UFC 103. dos Anjos showed violent kicks and very solid jiu jitsu. Anjos has powerful kicks with solid punches and posseses a very solid ground game. He gave top contender Tyson Griffin everything he could handle in a last April matchup where he dropped a close decision. Bradley is coming off a tko win over Phillipe Nover back at UFC 98. While neither fighter posseses a stand out record in the UFC, Bradley has been less impressive than dos Anjos. dos Anjos is more well rounded then Bradley and will punish him with leg kicks and will end the contest with a 2nd round submission.