10 Things to Look Forward to at UFC 118

What a way to wrap up the summer, huh?

The UFC has made its way into every neck of the woods, from Colorado to Canada, from LA to Houston, from Las Vegas to Dallas, and just about every major fight town in the world.

All except the original fight town, The Celtic City that we all call Boston.

As a matter of fact, the UFC has never been to Massachusetts ever, so this event will be a milestone and then some in the promotion's history.

And after UFCs 116 and 117, you all must be wondering, "Damn, well now what in the hell can I expect here?"

That's why I write, folks.

You're always wondering what's going to happen next, so I figure now would be a good time to tell y'all what's really going down in Beantown.

Here's a few of the works you can expect next weekend, if you're watching.

A Night of Returns and Changes, but Change is a Good Thing

Contrary to the picture, Nate Marquardt will no longer be fighting Rousimar Palhares at this event.

For that matter, neither will Phil Baroni, Terry Etim, Alessio Sakara or Gerald Harris, among others previously hoped to be on the card.

Not that it's a bad thing though.

In their places are a few strong fighters, with Demian Maia's bounce-back from Abu Dhabi against Black House's Mario Miranda, as well as the return of TUF 5 alumni Gabe Ruediger against Joe Lauzon.

Also, in the place of Baroni is Dan Miller, who might be on the chopping block, so to speak when he faces John Salter.

The fight Gerald Harris was supposed to have with Joe Vedepo has been taken off the card completely due to scheduling conflicts.

Now that the card has changed, expectations for the event might have dropped from what they were initially, but my expectations persoanlly haven't really altered any.

I say with the fights that have been altered on the card, I can still expect there to be a lot of surprised in store for all involved.

Will Andre be a Winner in Boston?

In his first PPV fight since UFC 105, Andre Winner will be fighting at UFC 118, though he'll be in a prelim fight with Nik Lentz.

Still, this fight is the first non-UK card in which Andre will have a major chance to shine brightly and make his shot count.

His teammate Ross Pearson is already making waves, having won a decision against Dennis Siver.

Now, it's Andre's turn to make his name known at 155.

All he has to do is beat Nik Lentz to start making those waves,

Dan Miller is on the Chopping Block

Dan Miller is a man with nothing left to lose.

He doesn't have a second option against John Salter, who now stands at 5-1 in his pro career — he has to beat John Salter.

The submission expert had better be wary of Salter coming in though. Miller will be facing a Wrestler and Jiu Jitsu artist like himself, but for a guy who has six pro fights, Salter has done a good job of keeping those fights away from the judges.

Miller will be coming off of the UFC 114 loss to Michael Bisping, his third straight loss so far in the UFC.

To restate it simply, it's like this: If Dan Miller doesn't beat John Salter, he's gone from the UFC, so whatever he can do to Salter is what he better do to Salter if he wants to stay relevant in the UFC.

New Mentality, New focus, Same J-Lau

What a few months it's been for Joe Lauzon, huh?

He's had some problems, as had others in his camp, with baby brother Dan Lauzon, but he's managed to stay on a good path, and a hard fought showing against Sam Stout at UFC 108 — despite dropping the fight by a Unanimous Decision  just kept the ball rolling for the TUF 5 Veteran, who shocked a lot of people when he beat Jens Pulver in his UFC debut.

Now, he's going from training for Terry Etim's submission game to being a welcome-back committee once again, this time for Gabe Ruediger.

The BJJ black belt from Team Quest will give Lauzon trouble in their fight, but Lauzon may very well have an answer for what Ruediger presents, and it could result in another win for Lauzon.

UFC 118: A Night of Heated Trash Talk?

Kicking off the pay-per-view broadcast is a battle between Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu's Nate Diaz, who will make his OFFICIAL welterweight debut for the UFC against Ultimate Fighter Season Two veteran Marcus Davis.

Now, the TUF 2 veteran and the original Lightweight Ultimate Fighter are known for their offense — Diaz for his ground game and brash personality, and Davis for his lethal Boxing game.

One thing that's become something of truth since UFC 99 is that Marcus Davis can talk a little bit of trash.

He spent every minute of every day thinking about how much he hates Dan Hardy, and heaven only knows if he still does hate The Outlaw.

Funny we even mention that, because Nate Diaz spends every minute of every day with brother Nick thinking about how much he wants to beat the living sh*t out of the guy in front of him in the cage, no matter who it is in front of him.

I'm sure he didn't plan on taking much away from the efforts of Rory Markham in what would be Markham's last UFC fight at UFC 111, but nonetheless, there had to have been a part of Nate that felt satisfied with the fact that he got to beat another person up in the cage.

The countdown will probably air sometime next week on Spike, but I wouldn't be surprised if Nate and Marcus had some heated words for one another.

Even less surprising is if fireworks happen in this fight.

The Main Event's Victor May Have Their First Challenge Ahead of Them

Solid wrestling, vs. a well-rounded fighter with sick BJJ prowess.

Not so oddly enough, the winner of this might actually be the next in line for the belt, should they impress easily in the fight.

It'll be tough for Gray Maynard to Bully around Kenny Florian for three rounds en route to another decision.

Gray will have to cut Kenny open or submit him, as a TKO by strikes might be tough to get on someone like KenFlo.

Likewise, Kenny will have to pull something out that Gray doesn't expect to get another submission win, because for what Kenny is known, Gray will have an answer.

Will this be your average clash of BJJ master vs. Wrestler?

Not in the least, because Florian and Maynard aren't your average fighters.

This one could stay on the feet for a while, but this one's ending on the ground.

The only wonder here is whether Florian or Maynard will be the one that gets the victory, and if the judges will decide the victor or not.

Demian Maia vs. Black House? Close Enough

First Anderson Silva, and now Mario Miranda.

Well, it almost seems like a war on Black House for Demian Maia ever since UFC 112.

Now, one of the UFC's best Middleweight practitioners of BJJ gets to face a man who, like him, was once seen as a prospect in the middleweight division in another 185-lb. BJJ ace and Greco-Roman specialist, Mario Miranda.

Now, Miranda represents AMC Pankration and trains at AMC Kirland in Washington, but he is a close affiliate of Silva's having helped prepare the man for fights like the one he had recently against Chael Sonnen.

Though he has been handed a loss by TKO against Gerald Harris, don't think Maia will handle Miranda in the first fifteen seconds of the fight.

Do you think that Miranda would expect Demian to try and put him away early?

I certainly do, but maybe Demian wants Miranda to expect an attempt at an early finish just so that Demian could methodically expose a possible lack of solid conditioning over three rounds.

Then again, Miranda could expect that grinder mentality out of Maia, and catch Maia when he is trying to push the pace frantically against him.

I don't know that someone would make a mistake here, but there's not too many fights on either man's record that serve as substantial evidence as to why it's guaranteed that neither man will.

Someone's going to slip, and when that happens, someone's going to sleep.

Was Frankie Edgar Really the Answer in Abu Dhabi?

Was BJ Penn robbed of the Lightweight belt, was he caught on a bad night, or was Frankie Edgar really The Answer to "Who can beat BJ Penn" at UFC 112?

That question finally gets an answer in Boston.

Everyone knows what BJ can do in the cage, and everyone knows that Frankie doesn't quit.

What we all don't know is if what happened in Abu Dhabi was for real or if Edgar just got lucky.

Only place appropriate to find out is the city with the Luck of The Irish, as far as I'm concerned.

Expect fireworks, a fast pace, some takedowns, some solid striking... hell, call a submission or a KO.

Just don't expect the question of "Was Frankie lucky" to go unanswered next weekend.

Can James Toney Make the Transition from the Ring to the Cage?

Pretty straightforward question.

Some say Randy's got this, others say Toney's got this — one man even boldly predicted that Toney will knock Couture out in the first round.

I say Couture is making Toney tap.

Whatever you say, don't expect both men to walk around for fifteen minutes just talking about whooping each other's ass.

You can expect a hell of a war in which someone is seriously going to get their ass handed to them, while the other proudly defends their sport.