Gabriel Gonzaga v. Justin McCully It is almost guaranteed this will be the fight shown on the broadcast after the main event pending time constraints. Gabriel Gonzaga is coming off two straight losses against Randy Couture and Fabricio Werdum in which both fights were ended by TKO’s. He is still ranked as one of the Top 10 Heavyweights in the world and I don’t see why they didn’t move this fight to the main card.
His great submissions and kicks are very good and this should be an easy fight for him. Justin McCully is coming off his UFC debut win against Antoni Hardonk, but I don’t think that will be enough experience to be stepping in the ring with one of the top heavyweights.
McCully trains with Team Punishment and I’m sure they are trying to figure out how is McCully going to be able to come out victorious. I think Gonzaga is too strong and too hungry to give up this fight, I think he will use his striking power to end this in the early rounds. Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio A win for either of these men could set up a future title shot. Tyson Griffin has won three straight fights after losing a war to Frank Edgar. He managed to beat Clay Guida, Thiago Tavares, and Gleison Tibau in his recent fights.
His opponent, Jiu-Jitsu specialist Marcus Aurelio, looked astounding in his last fight against Ryan Roberts as he submitted him 16 seconds into the fight at UFC Fight Night 13. Aurelio also holds a win and a split decision loss over one of the top lightweights in the world, Takanori Gomi.
Both fighters train with top notch camps as Tyson trains with Xtreme Couture and Marcus Aurelio trains with American Top Team. If the fight stays on its feet, Griffin will win it, but if it goes to the ground I see Aurelio using that world famous American Top Team Jiu-Jitsu to win.
For my prediction I think Griffin will win and work his way into a title shot against the winner of Huerta/Florian vs. Penn.
Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau After losing his Lightweight title shot to B.J. Penn, Ultimate Fighter Two winner Joe “Daddy” Stevenson is looking to revamp his career and work his way back up the ladder and into a possible rematch for the title in the distant future.
Before losing to B.J. Stevenson, he had victories over Melvin Guillard and Yves Edwards. Gleison Tibau is coming off a loss to Tyson Griffin and I don’t know why they didn’t put Griffin in this fight and Tibau in the Aurelio fight.
However I don’t think Joe is taking this fight lightly at all because Tibau has been in the octagon with some tough fighters including Nick Diaz and he is yet another fighter on this card to represent American Top Team. Both of these fighters have tough submissions and either of them could end the fight at any point.
I think Stevenson’s big fight experience will prevail over Tibau’s strength and he will walk out of Vegas with the win.
Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle
This could very well be the upset of the night, Josh Koscheck is coming off a win on the undercard of UFC 82 against Dustin Hazelett. Before that he lost to Georges St. Pierre in a decision, but he did put up a good performance. With a win in this fight he may be next in line for a shot at GSP once again, but for the title.
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