UFC Fight Night Marquardt vs Palhares Preview and Predictions

This is my first article so pardon if my article doesn't seem right.

In just a few days, UFC Fight Night will be live in Austin, Texas. The card's main event will feature a Middleweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares. And co-main event between Efrain Escudero and Charles Olivera will now be in catch-weight. Here is my take of how the event will go.

Main Event: Marquardt vs Palhares 

Marquardt returns to the octagon after an unanimous decision loss to Chael Sonnen, while Palhares comes back with a submission victory over Tomasz Drawl via heel hook. Many of the fans will probably recognize Palhares as the man who almost snapped Drawl's heel in half after not letting go when the fight was stopped. Before that fight, Palhares was 3-1 in the UFC, his only loss coming from Dan Henderson, and all but one fight were finished with a submission.  Marquardt on the other hand, is 7-3 in the UFC. He's had a string of bad luck when it comes to getting a title shot; he does well when on the rise, but when it comes to earning the title shot, it just seems as if it's never his night. 

Before Sonnen, Marquardt was known to have Anderson Silva's 'kyrponite', which is wrestling. And to go along with that, he has to have heavy hands as most of his recent victories came via TKO or KO. Look for Marquardt to use his wrestling to keep the fight standing and out strike Palhares. Palhares, on the other hand, has most of his victories via submission.  Almost all of those submissions were heel hooks. So expect to see heel hook attempts if Marquardt ever decides to throw a leg kick. 

I think that Marquardt will be able to use his wrestling to keep the fight standing, and if he ever gets in trouble, pin Pahlares against the cage to stifle any leg hook attempts. 

Nate Marquardt via Decision

Efrain Escudero vs Charles Olivera 

Efrain Escudero, unfortunately, missed weight and this bout will now be contended in catch-weight. Despite that, Efrain will be the first to welcome Olivera into the UFC, and it will certainly be a great contest. Between the two men, they have a combine of 26 victories and 1 loss, each with 13 victories.  Both are no slouches. Only four fights went the distance between the two.

Escudero has returned to his winning ways after beating Dan Lauzon via decision, while Olivera is currently undefeated in his Mixed Martial Arts career. It will be interesting to see how Escudero will approach this fight: Olivera has dangerous hands, as well as a good set of submission skills. Escudero also has the same advantages, but with him missing weight, I'm afraid that something must have gone wrong during his training. To come into the fight four pounds over is certainly not good. We'll see how well he performs this Wednesday.

I think this fight could go either way, but since this is Olivera's first time in the Octagon, I'll have to give the 'W' to the veteran.  With Efrain missing weight, I think this fight won't be finished, but it will certainly give us a candidate of 'Fight of the Night'

Efrain Escudero via Decision

Jim Miller vs Glesion Tibau

A fight in the light weight division, it will feature the brother of Dan Miller and rising light weight, Glesion Tibau. Tibau is returning after decisively beating a much under-sized Caol Uno via TKO.  Miller is coming with four consecutive victories, his lastest victim being Mark Bocek via unanimous decision. Unfortunately, the fight with Bocek left some fans questioning Miller's victory as the fight was closer than what the judges gave it. 

Miller will still keep to his game plan however to earn the victory, and rightfully so. Tibau is a large lightweight: I would even dare say that he is the Thiago Alves of the light weight division, as far as weight goes. For Miller to win this fight, he'll have to keep Tibau down and wait for the opportunity for him to make a mistake and get a submission victory. Tibau will try to keep the feet standing and knock out Miller. 

I think that Tibau will win the fight with his striking. Out of all the losses that Tibau has had in the past, only one came from a submission, which was a guillotine choke from Joe Stevenson. And I don't that Miller will be able to hold Tibau down long enough to catch a submission properly, due to his size.

Glesion Tibau via Knockout (2nd round)

Ross Pearson vs Cole Miller

Another light weight bout featuring the season nine winner of the Ultimate Fighter, Ross Pearson, and former Ultimate Fighter contestant, Cole Miller.  Miller has only lost two fights in the UFC while earning four victories.  Pearson is undefeated in the UFC and he seem to improve with every fight.  Miller poses an interesting threat to the rising British star. Like Aaron Riely, Miller has a great set of submissions. If Miller can take Pearson down, we'll  see how well Pearson can fight off his back.  British fighters aren't really known for their ground fighting, and it doesn't help that his gym and fellow teammates, Andre Winner and Dan Hardy, don't have much of a ground skill set either.  Should Pearson end up on the ground, don't expect the fight to last much longer.  With Pearson, he'll have the potential to win with his striking, especially against Miller. His two defeats were way of KO or TKO, so if Pearson can keep the fight standing, expect him to get the victory. 

I think that Pearson has learned from the mistakes of his fellow teammates, after they were dominated by grapplers. So he'll probably come to this fight with the proper techniques to defend against Miller's takedowns, which is bound to happen. As the fight goes on, Miller will look for more takedowns and if Pearson can defend against them properly, or even learn how to get back to his feet, then the knock out or TKO will eventually come. It will boil down to a battle of patience, I belive.

Ross Pearson via Knock-Out (3rd Round)

Quick predictions on Prelim Cards.

John Gunderson def. Yves Edwards via Submission 1st Round

Kyle Kingsbury def. Jared Hamman via Decision

Dave Branch def. Tomasz Drawl via Submission 3rd Round

Rafael Natal def. Rich Attonito via Decision

David Mitchell def. Anthony Waldburger via Knock-out 1st Round

Forrest Petz def. Brain Foster via TKO 2nd Round

Hope you enjoyed this article.