UFC: Predictions for the 7 Biggest Fights Scheduled for 2012

Brace yourselves: the biggest fights of 2012 are coming.

The UFC hasn't rolled out its biggest stars in months, and that's what makes the next few months all the more exciting for fans. While we still await Georges St-Pierre's return, and no date has been set for Frankie Edgar's rematch with Benson Henderson, there are plenty of fights currently scheduled to get excited for.

Beginning April 21, UFC fans will be treated four title fights, two The Ultimate Fighter coach fights, a tournament semi-final rematch and another high-profile UFC on Fox main event. All in a four-month period.

Here's a look at some of the biggest fights scheduled in 2012 so far along with a prediction for each.

Jon Jones Establishes Dominance Against Rashad Evans

Kicking off this awesome four-month fightfest is the long awaited light heavyweight title fight between reigning champion Jon Jones and former champion Rashad Evans.

Make no mistake: Evans is the most dangerous opponent that Jones has faced to date. Evans's prior experience as Jones's sparring partner while they were both under Greg Jackson's direction gives Evans an upper hand in figuring out how to put Jones in trouble.

However, Evans has nothing more than a puncher's chance in this one. Lyoto Machida was able to land a flush strike in the first round of his encounter with Jones, only to be choked out in a lopsided second round that showed Jones was touchable but not yet beatable.

Evans has been able to get under the champion's skin, so it will be interesting to see how this fight plays out psychologically. One of Jones' greatest strengths is his ability to be patient in picking his opponent apart.

Evans feels that he is at a point in his career where he can take anyone down and ground and pound, and there is little doubt that Evans will attempt to be the first one to put Jones on his back, but Jones isn't Phil Davis.

Evans was able to thoroughly dominate the rangy, young Davis with his controlling wrestling and ground and pound. That fight only served to show that the comparisons between Davis and Jones were ill-conceived.

As long as Jones doesn't allow his emotions to take him away from his game plan, he will showcase just how dominant he is in easily handling Evans to defend his light heavyweight championship.

Jim Miller Stops the Nate Diaz Hype Train

The Diaz brothers finished 2011 as two of the hottest names in the sport and one fight away from a title shot in their respective divisions.

Older brother Nick Diaz put on one of the best fights of the year in an all-out slugfest with Paul Daley before moving over to the UFC and beating B.J. Penn into retirement.

Nick rode the momentum to a shot at the interim welterweight title against Carlos Condit. However, Condit was able to take a unanimous decision over Diaz to claim the title. A frustrated Diaz announced his retirement in the post-fight interview.

Younger brother Nate Diaz had a rough start to 2011 dropping back-to-back welterweight bouts in convincing fashion before dropping back down to the lightweight division. The move proved to be brilliant, beating Takanori Gomi and Donald Cerrone to set himself up with a headlining spot on UFC on Fox 3 against Jim Miller.

Miller and Diaz are at the top of the lightweight division and the winner is expected to become the number one contender to take on the winner of the Benson Henderson-Frankie Edgar rematch.

Consider this the oft-underrated Miller's coming out party.

Miller sports an impressive 21-3 record and has only lost to the best in the division in Henderson, Edgar and Gray Maynard. Diaz's jiu-jitsu is legitimate, but Miller is arguably the best submission specialist in the division and claims twelve career submission victories.

Diaz holds the advantage in the striking department but has struggled in the past with fighters that are able to out-grapple him, and Miller definitely qualifies. Expect Miller to outmuscle Diaz to a unanimous decision.

Junior Dos Santos Emphatically Defends His Title

With Alistair Overeem likely out of the UFC 146 heavyweight title fight, it is unclear who Junior dos Santos will find himself pitted against in his first title defense.

Speculation has largely focused on Frank Mir as the most likely choice to step in to take on the champ, but a rematch with Cain Velasquez is in the cards and a contingent of fans have even started a campaign for Mark Hunt to get the nod for the opportunity.

While Frank Mir is the most logical and likely contender to be chosen, it doesn't really matter who fills the slot.

Junior dos Santos will defend his title.

The heavyweight division has historically been the most volatile division in the UFC. The belt has been slippery as it has changed hands more than any other belt in UFC history. In dos Santos, we could have our first dominant heavyweight champion in a long time.

Dos Santos' impressive takedown defense, technical boxing and brutal knockout power allows him to control the fight like few strikers are able to do, and it is hard to see him not defending his title.

Alistair Overeem presented the greatest threat to dos Santos' title because of his ability to dole out damage from the clinch and close the distance with dos Santos, but with Overeem out of the picture dos Santos should be able convincingly defend his title with a finish.

Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall Sequel Will Be as Good as the Original

At UFC on FX 2, UFC fans got their first taste of the flyweight division—and now we can't wait for more.

As part of the 4-man flyweight tournament to determine the inaugural champion of the newly minted division, Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson squared off in a highly entertaining back and forth fight to advance in the tournament.

Due to the fight being part of a tournament, special "sudden death" rules were instated for a fourth round to take place in the event of a draw.

Ironically, the fight resulted in a draw anyway. Due to an error in the interpretation of the score card, the bout was announced as a majority decision in favor of Johnson. Later, the error was found, and the fight was overturned and declared a draw.

Despite the controversial end and the ever-present "what if" of how epic a sudden death round would have been, fans can take solace in knowing that we will be treated to another fast-paced clash between these two.

While the fans hunger for progress would have rather seen either of these two fight Joseph Benavidez for the flyweight championship, these two won't disappoint, and this fight will be a candidate for fight of the year.

Vitor Belfort Repeats History Against Wanderlei Silva

Serving as the co-main event for UFC 147 (with Silva-Sonnen II), Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva may get overshadowed by the biggest fight of the year, but there is a little bit of history surrounding these two as well.

Belfort made his middleweight debut against Silva way back in 1998 at UFC Brazil in Sao Paulo. A young Belfort ambushed the young Silva early in the fight, winning by knockout in 44 seconds.

Both fighters met as two of the biggest young superstars in the sport with a ton of promise. At UFC 147 they meet as grizzled veterans and have gained enough experience in the sport that they met as coaches on the first international version of The Ultimate Fighter, coaching the next generation of younger fighters with new potential.

While Silva will no doubt be looking to avenge his loss, and you can never count out the "Axe Murderer," Belfort is just as hungry to remain relevant in the middleweight division and appears to have more left in the tank.

Expect Belfort to blitz Silva early to similar results that he had back in 1998 and settle the grudge once and for all.

Chael Sonnen Finishes the Job This Time

Yes, Chael Sonnen had high testosterone levels.

Yes, Anderson Silva had a rib injury.

However, this does not change the fact that Sonnen is the worst possible stylistic matchup for the middleweight kingpin.

Not only does Sonnen have the game plan that can defeat Silva, he has the mettle to pull it off. Whether it is arrogance or ignorance, Sonnen is one of few men who have entered the octagon with the legend and legitimately believed he was the better man.

Silva is undoubtedly the greatest overall striker in the history of the sport and one of his greatest weapons is his ability to use his opponents hesitation to his advantage. You can see him calculating his opponents movements, testing their defense with feints waiting to set up the perfect strike to put them to sleep.

With Sonnen, there is no hesitation. Sonnen's greatest advantage in matching up with Silva is his relentless pressure. Silva has no time to figure out Sonnen's movement because he is right in his face when the bell rings and doesn't stop coming.

In the first fight, Sonnen turned in one of the most stunning performances in UFC history. At the height of Silva's perceived invincibility, Sonnen became the first man in the UFC to truly bring the fight to Silva.

We kept waiting for Silva to unleash a devastating strike that would put the fight away or to secure the clinch and land those vicious knees we had seen so many times.

It never happened. In fact, it was Sonnen that knocked Silva down with an overhand left at one point.

For four-and-a-half rounds Sonnen performed his game plan to perfection, constantly putting Silva on his back and staying in Silva's face until the bell sounded.

Then it happened. Instead of keeping up the pressure and looking to advance position, Sonnen remained in Silva's dangerous guard. It proved to be his undoing as Silva was able to lock in a triangle armbar in the latter half of the fifth round.

The submission was brilliant and a testament to Silva's all-time-great status, to be sure. He found a way to win when his back was against the wall, and it will always be a fight that people remember when looking back on Silva's legacy.

But this time around, Sonnen will finish the job.

Since losing to Silva, Sonnen has claimed back to back victories over Brian Stann and Michael Bisping.

While Stann has always struggled with strong grapplers, Sonnen's victory showed improvement in his game since the loss to Silva as he was constantly looking to improve his position and even looked to finish the fight with a submission, something he failed to do in his bout against Silva.

Then came the fight against Bisping. A primetime matchup on national television, much has been made of Sonnen's less-than-stellar performance against Bisping to set up his rematch with Silva. While Sonnen looked sloppy at times, he showed that he is able to grind out a victory even when he struggles to get the takedown as he did most of his damage in the clinch.

If Sonnen fights Silva with the same sloppiness that he brought to the octagon against Bisping, then he will almost certainly lose, but we've seen Sonnen rise to the occasion before.

Silva has brought out the best of Sonnen before and he will do it again. Can Silva rise to the occasion again?

Dominick Cruz Wins the Rubber Match Against Urijah Faber

In the final title fight that has been announced so far, we will finally see some finality in the budding rivalry between Ultimate Fighter Live coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

Faber won the first encounter when the two met at WEC 26 in 2007 when he submitted Cruz in the first round with a guillotine choke. The rematch occurred in 2011 when Faber became the challenger for Cruz's UFC bantamweight championship at UFC 132.

The two put on a back and forth brawl that won fight of the night honors and saw Cruz even up the score as he successfully defended his belt.

Faber went on to submit Brian Bowles in a title eliminator while Cruz would defend his belt with a unanimous decision victory over Demetrious Johnson.

Now the two find themselves paired up once again, this time with the added tension of weekly television appearances to build up the drama. So far the talk between the two has been minimal, but as the season carries on it would be no surprise to see these two get a little more tense with each other as the fight approaches.

The rubber match should look a lot like their rematch. With Faber only fighting once since the last loss to Cruz, we should expect similar results.

Cruz will use his awkward style and excellent footwork to pick Faber apart while stuffing his take downs. As long as Cruz is able to stay in range, he will outpoint Faber and officially tip the rivalry in his direction.