UFC 102 Vs. UFC 103: Which Are You More Excited About?

This article was originally posted on MMA Madness.

The UFC has a busy schedule in the coming weeks. It hits Portland, Oregon, for the first time on Aug. 29 for UFC 102, which features a stacked fight card headlined by former champions Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Then just three weeks following that event, UFC 103 takes place in Dallas, Texas, and features an equally stacked card with a main event of Rich Franklin taking on a returning Vitor Belfort.

With the way the economy has been recently, it’s hard to imagine every MMA fan being able to afford both cards. Some fans are going to be forced to choose between the two, so MMAMadness has broken down both cards to determine where your hard-earned money should go.

Main Event: Randy Couture-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Rich Franklin-Vitor Belfort

Neither of these fights will be championship bouts, but they are certainly worthy of main event status.

Couture vs. Nogueira is a fight that fans have been wanting to see for years, but with both fighters coming off mediocre performances in their last outings, it would seem the level of excitement for this bout has dropped from where it was a few years ago.

However, this is still a huge fight between two icons and should go down in history as an instant classic. Stylistically, this fight could either be an all-out war with both fighters putting it all on the line to prove their relevancy, or it could be a snooze fest between two great fighters canceling each other out.

Franklin vs. Belfort, on the other hand, is almost guaranteed to be an exciting fight. These two are going to stand and trade with each other for three full rounds until someone gets knocked out. You’re talking about a fight between two ferocious strikers who have made a career out of having exciting fights.

On the flip side, this fight will be taking place at a catchweight of 195 pounds and will not be contested as an official light heavyweight or middleweight contest. This means that this fight has little to no meaning in terms of rankings and potential title shots. After the fight, Franklin will move back up to light heavyweight and Belfort will drop back down to middleweight.

This begs the question of what’s more important for a main event bout: a meaningful battle between two legends or an exciting stand-up war that has very little meaning at all?

Point goes to UFC 102

Co-Main Event: Keith Jardine-Thiago Silva vs. Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic-Junior Dos Santos

Both are solid co-main events that have the potential to earn the Fight of the Night bonus on their respective fight cards.

Jardine and Silva compete in a stacked light heavyweight division, and both just barely make the top 10 in the rankings. With both fighters coming off losses, they are in desperate need of a win in order to remain relevant in the division. This means you are either going to see both fighters go to war, or you’re going to see one fighter play it safe just to get the victory on points.

Silva isn’t exactly the "play it safe" type of fighter. He is going to come out aggressive and either knock his opponent out or get knocked out. Either way, he ensures his fights do not go the distance.

Jardine presents a very unorthodox style of fighting and has used it to frustrate and pick apart several of his opponents. Jardine also kicks like a mule and leaves nasty welts all over his opponent's body and legs.

This should be a great fight. Even if by some chance it does go to the judges’ score cards, it will still be exciting.

The Cro Cop/Dos Santos fight is a battle between two hard-hitting heavyweights that are looking to climb up the division ladder and potentially fight for the heavyweight championship in the near future.

Hardcore MMA fans still remember Cro Cop as that Croatian wrecking machine who was kicking heads off left and right in the PRIDE Fighting Championships. Recently, he has been lacking the same aggression he showed in PRIDE, but make no mistake about it, he’s still a world-class striker with some of the best kicks in the business.

Dos Santos is a Brazilian wrecking machine with immense knockout power in his hands and feet. He first burst onto the scene with a stunning knockout over a then top-ranked Fabricio Werdum in his UFC debut. Since then, many fans have been looking at this Brazilian as a future heavyweight champion. 

Both fights look great on paper, but the heavyweight showdown between Cro Cop and Dos Santos is likely to produce more fireworks than the UFC 102 co-main event. After all, what can be more exciting than a battle between two heavyweight powerhouses?

Point goes to UFC 103

Demian Maia-Nate Marquardt vs. Mike Swick-Martin Kampmann

These are the most intriguing bouts on each of their respective cards, as both have title implications. UFC President Dana White has promised the winner of Swick vs. Kampmann an immediate title shot against welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

While the Maia vs. Marquardt winner hasn’t been guaranteed a title shot, one could only assume the winner will have deemed himself worthy of a shot against middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

These fights are also very interesting because they are matchups between two of the top contenders in their respective weight classes. Despite the Swick-Kampmann fight being deemed a number one contender bout, it would seem that the more exciting bout is the Maia-Marquardt matchup.

Maia is widely regarded as the world’s best Jiu-Jitsu specialist in MMA, and it will be interesting to see how he fares against a much more well-rounded Nate Marquardt. Certain fans have even gone as far to say that they are more excited about this matchup than the Couture-Nogueira main event.

Point goes to UFC 102

Chris Leben-Jake Rosholt vs. Frank Trigg-Josh Koscheck

Neither of these matchups is anything to jump for joy about, but they are both solid mid-card bouts to fill out a card.

Leben is a cult favorite among MMA fans after his stint on the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter. He is a heavy-handed brawler that has scored some impressive knockouts in his career but has never surpassed gatekeeper status.

Rosholt is an All-American wrestler and one of the most athletic fighters in the middleweight division, but he’s a bit inexperienced in MMA. Against Leben, he’s either going to get knocked out in exciting fashion, or he’s going to take him down and lay n’ pray to a lackluster decision victory.

The fight between Trigg and Koscheck is likely to be a much more exciting bout between two explosive welterweights. Trigg is making his first appearance in the UFC since a 2005 loss to Georges St-Pierre. Since then, Trigg has won seven of his last nine fights and is ready to make his mark in the UFC’s welterweight division.

Koscheck, on the other hand, is going to be looking to erase his knockout loss at the hands of Paulo Thiago from everyone’s memories with a convincing victory over Trigg. You put two and two together, and you’re basically guaranteed a great fight.

Point goes to UFC 103

Krzysztof Soszynski-Brandon Vera vs. Tyson Griffin-Hermes Franca

Both are strong opening fights that will set the pace for the rest of the event. In one corner you have a bout between two experienced light heavyweight sluggers, and on the other side a lightweight war between a powerful wrestler and a crafty Jiu-Jitsu wizard.

It’s difficult to determine the more exciting bout at this point, as each has potential to be an absolute war. It really depends on whoever you ask as far as which fight is more intriguing, so we’ll call this one a draw and give points to both fight cards.

Draw

After adding up the scores, it would seem both fight cards are tied at three points apiece. Both events have an equal number of quality fights, but on the same token, neither presents anything spectacular.

If you have to choose between watching one or the other, it really depends on your preferences as a fight fan. If you fancy a more exciting fight card featuring explosive matchups, then UFC 103 should be your pick hands down.

On the other hand, if the bigger name fights interest you, you should spend your money on UFC 102 instead, just for the main event alone.

Either way, you will get your money’s worth and be treated to a night of nonstop MMA action.

Mitch Ciccarelli is a staff writer at MMAMadness.com. He can be reached with questions and comments at [e-mail].