UFC 146 Predictions: Antonio Silva and Most Likely Candidates to Pull off Upsets

UFC 146 will most definitely be an interesting card, as it will be the first-ever UFC card with five heavyweight fights on the main card. There figures to be plenty of hard-hitting action, but the matchups are likely to yield some surprising results as well.

Top stars like Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez are going to draw in the viewers, but it's likely that we'll be talking about several underdogs by the time the night is through. A couple of the fights feature heavy favorites, while the others are closely contested, but every single fight on the card looks like it could go either way regardless.

Here are three heavyweights on Saturday's main card who look to have the best chances of pulling off upsets and shocking the UFC audience.

Antonio Silva

Cain Velasquez entered his bout at UFC on FOX against Junior dos Santos as a heavy favorite after knocking off Brock Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Velasquez was stunned, however, as dos Santos knocked him out in just over a minute. It was the first loss of Velasquez's MMA career. While he is still a very talented and dangerous fighter, that loss had to have shell-shocked him to some degree.

Velasquez will have to contend with the significantly bigger Antonio Silva on Saturday, and it will be a very tough test for him. Silva is a more experienced fighter, with a career mark of 16-3, and he is coming off a bad loss of his own to Daniel Cormier. Prior to that, though, Silva defeated Fedor Emelianenko to the surprise of many. This will be Silva's first career UFC bout, and he will be eager to prove that he belongs.

Shane del Rosario

In what may be the most intriguing match of the night, undefeated Shane del Rosario will take on another unblemished star in Stipe Miocic. Each competitor has been dominant in 19 combined career fights, but the 29-year-old Miocic is considered to be the slightly better prospect. Del Rosario has stopped each and every one of his fights early, though, as he has scored eight knockouts and three submission victories.

They have very similar body types and fighting styles, but del Rosario is a bit more versatile. He is more than capable of excelling on the mat and getting his opponents into precarious positions. And his background as a kick boxer ensures that he has educated feet. Miocic pretty much has to punch in order to defeat del Rosario, but because del Rosario has so many options, I like him a lot in this particular fight.

Dave Herman

In a fight that will pit two very experienced competitors against each other, 21-3 Dave Herman will take on 16-7 Roy Nelson. Thanks to his big-fight experience, Nelson is considered the favorite, but the 35-year-old hasn't won much of late. He had a nice victory over Mirko Cro Cop in October, but he has recently been defeated by Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos as well.

Herman hasn't had nearly as many big fights—this will be just his third UFC bout—but at 27 years of age, he has the youthful advantage. Nelson has admittedly seen it all in the octagon, but at some point, age is going to catch up with him. He has faced superior opponents as of late, so that probably has a lot to do with his losing, but his skills have to be eroding to some degree. Herman desperately needs a big win, and I believe he'll get it.

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