UFC 102: The Five Bullet Point Preview

It's UFC 102 time and that means the Five Bullet Point Preview: five talking points for each of the televised bouts that you can print off and use to be the coolest guy or gal at your party tonight. Let's get to it!


Randy Couture (16-9) vs. Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira (31-5-1-1)

• This will be only be Couture's second fight in the last two years—the first since losing his heavyweight title to Brock Lesnar last November at UFC 91. It's Nogueira's third in the same time frame—also his first since losing his part of the heavyweight title to Frank Mir at UFC 92 last December.
  
  
• The two have several common opponents including Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett, Ricco Rodriguez, Valentijn Overeem, Tsuyoshi Kohasaka, Enson Inoue and Jeremy Horn.
  
  
• The two have a combined 53 professional fights, 22 years of professional experience and both have held parts of the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
  
  
• Two of Nogueira's last three wins have come via decision and, 61% of all his wins were by submission. Couture hasn't lost by submission since September 2002, and has gone to a decision just twice since September 2003.
  
  
• 13 of Couture's last 15 fights have involved either the light heavyweight or heavyweight title.
  
  

Demian Maia (10-0) vs. Nate Marquardt (28-8-2)

• Before debuting in the UFC in August 2005, Marquardt was a seven-time King of Pancrase middleweight champion in Japan.
  
  
• Despite being just 30, Marquardt has competed professionally for over a decade, with nearly 40 pro fights to his credit.
  
  
• Maia has yet to taste defeat since turning pro more than three years ago, and has been in the UFC since October 2007.
  
  
• While Maia's submission talents are undeniable, Marquardt is also a black belt and has won 15 fights by tapout.
  
  
• Marquardt has won two in a row and three of his last five, while Maia has two straight first-round choke victories coming into Saturday.
  

Keith Jardine (14-5-1) vs. Thiago Silva (13-1)

• Despite big wins over former light heavyweight champs Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin, Jardine hasn't put together two straight wins since he beat Wilson Gouveia and Griffin in 2006. He's 2-3 in his last five fights.
  
  
• This is Silva's first fight since his 13-0 undefeated streak was snapped by Lyoto Machida at UFC 94 in January.
  
  
• Silva has a 77% win by T/KO rate, while three of Jardine's five losses have come by T/KO.
  
  
• Six of Jardine's 10 Octagon fights have gone to a decision.
  
  
• If the fight goes more than one round, conditioning might be an issue for Silva who has been past the first round just once since April 2006.

Brandon Vera (10-3) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (18-8-1)

• This will be Vera's fourth fight since dropping down to light heavyweight.
  
  
• After racking up an 8-0 record that apexed with a first-round TKO win over Frank Mir at UFC 65, Vera sat out for nearly a year in a contract dispute and upon his return lost two in a row before dropping in weight.
  
  
• Since being inked by the UFC after a successful run on season eight of TUF, Soszynski has won three in a row and is undefeated in his last six.
  
  
• Soszynski has shown a taste for submission as of late, ending three of his last four by kimura submission. Vera has never lost by submission.
  
  
• Three of Vera's last five fights have gone the distance.
  

Chris Leben (18-5) vs. Jake Rosholt (5-1)

• This is Leben's first fight since being suspended nine months for testing positive for Stanozolol after his loss to Michael Bisping last October.
  
  
• After losing two straight, Leben looked impressive in two victories leading up to the Bisping loss, knocking out Terry Martin and T/KO'ing Alessio Sakara.
  
  
• Rosholt will be looking for redemption in his second fight since being "called up" from the WEC. He last was seen getting choked out in the first round by Dan Miller in February.
  
  
• The 26-year-old Rosholt is a wrestling stud, having won two NCAA titles, four All-American honors and a Big 12 title while at Oklahoma State University. However, four of his five wins have come via TKO.
  
  
• The last two losses for the 29-year-old Leben has come via decision.
  

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007 and Bleacher Report since 2008. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine since January 2009 and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.