MMA: 6 Predictions for the Month of June

The month of June consists of many events, setting up for a huge summer of MMA. Many fights that will affect the rankings will take place, and in this article, I will discuss the six things to expect for the entire month.

The first event will be the Ultimate Fighter Finale. This card is headlined by Anthony Pettis and Clay Guida. This card will also decide who the new Ultimate Fighter will be.

The next event will be UFC 131: Dos Santos vs Carwin. This is a very stacked card that will feature the highly anticipated debut of Dave Herman. This card will also feature the title eliminator bout between Shane Carwin vs Junior Dos Santos. Expect fireworks from this entire card.

The next event will be Strikeforce: Overeem vs Werdum. This card will consist of the first-round bouts of the Heavyweight Grand Prix. We will also see the Strikeforce debut of Jeff Monson. This will consist of Alistair Overeem vs Fabricio Werdum, Brett Rogers vs Josh Barnett, as well as the return of Gina Carano. The other fight to keep an eye on is the bout between Jorge Masvidal vs KJ Noons, which maybe a title eliminator bout for the Lightweight title.

The next week will be a Strikeforce Challenger's series event, then two days later we will see Bellator 46. This will be the beginning of the Featherweight tournament. It will be the debut of the highly touted Marlon Sandro. This event is a must see for sure.

The final event of the month will be UFC Live 4: Johnson vs Marquardt. This could be the best free card that the UFC has ever produced. This event will feature Pat Barry, Matt Mitrione, Martin Kampmann, John Howard, Cheick Kongo and many others. This event will be headlined by Anthony Johnson and Nate Marquardt, which will be Nate's Welterweight debut.

From here, this will feature six bold predictions that will take place during the duration of these events.

6. Marlon Sandro Will Prevail in His Bellator Debut

Marlon Sandro is 17-2 in his MMA career and will be making his Bellator debut in the Featherweight quarterfinals against Genair Da Silva. Marlon is very unknown to fans who follow only follow Zuffa owned MMA companies. His overall ability is incredible. He is outstanding in all aspects of the game and has the tools to finish a fight at any moment.

He is the current featherweight King of Pancrase and the former World Victory Road Featherweight champion.

He signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator back in February and truly has the potential to win the whole tournament. If he wins this whole tournament, and Friere defeats Warren then expect the possibilities of fight of the year.

Welcome to Bellator, Marlon Sandro.

5. Anthony Pettis vs Clay Guida Will Become Front Runner for FOTY

Anthony Pettis vs Clay Guida. What happens to the winner? There are many questions that truly surround this fight, but there is one that may not be so hard to answer. Will this be fight of the year?

The fight has all the potential in the world to become the fight of the year. Yes there are many more events to go, but these are arguably two of the most exciting fighters in the sport today. 

Guida is known for his caveman style head movements, while Pettis is known for the Showtime kick. Who will prevail?

Guida's most recent fight was at UFC 125 where he faced former Pride Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi. Gomi was a favorite going into that fight, but everyone saw a totally different Guida in that bout. It was less excitement and more of an executed gameplan. It was genius. His head movement was very odd, but Gomi couldn't time it at all and was submitted. That fight made Guida catch the eyes of many critics and now has the chance to become the top contender.

Pettis last fought at WEC 53 against Ben Henderson, in what was the final event for WEC. This fight was filled with excitement. The fight was back and fourth for the first four rounds and on many cards it was tied up going into the final round. In the fifth round, we saw Pettis do the most amazing kick in MMA history and he went on to win and become the Champion.

When this fight comes to mind, all that is thought about is excitement. Expect this to be one of the best fights of the year and maybe one of the best in UFC history.

4. King Mo Makes a Successful Return to Strikeforce

King Mo has been out of action ever since his fight with Rafael Cavalcante, which he lost via TKO. This loss made Mo think, and since then, he has made many strives to improve. 

He has trained in Amsterdam to improve his stand up, and even lost some teeth in the process. His base is wrestling, but with a solid stand-up game, he has all of the tools to be one of the world's best. 

He will be facing the highly touted, up and comer Ovince St. Preux at the June 18th, StrikeForce: Werdum vs Overeem. This bout has some interesting possibilities to it, like: has OSP improved his cardio? Will OSP be able to defend the take down and keep the fight on the feet?

Both men have a wrestling base, but Mo is obviously the better of the two. If Ovince comes into this fight very well conditioned and polished, then he could win this fight.

In all truths, let's face facts, King Mo is hungry, he is coming back with a vengeance. He wants that belt back and will do whatever it takes to achieve that. Sadly, Ovince St. Preux happens to be in his way.

3. Kampmann Will Discover His Killer Instinct and Finish His Fight

Martin Kampmann will face John Howard, in what has all the makings of a sluggfest. Kampmann at this current moment may be the most unliked fighter by judges. His past two fights were controversial decisions that did not go his way. 

Since the controversial decision against, Kampmann has shown how he feels. He went at Sanchez on Twitter stating that he wants his rematch, and Sanchez of course doesn't want a rematch. 

It has now been announced that Kampmann will face John Howard, who likes to stand and trade. While Howard has heavy hands, Kampmann is virtually better in all categories of this fight.

This is the fight where Kampmann will break from his shell and show his true talent that so many know is there. 

Expect an impressive performance from Kampmann in this fight. This has all the makings for slug fest of the year!

2. JDS Will KO Shane Carwin

Brock Lesnar has another bout with Diverticulitus and now Shane Carwin will step in to face Junior Dos Santos at UFC 131. 

This fight almost guarantees a big KO. Shane Carwin has lost 30 lbs since his fight against Lesnar at UFC 116. He is truly in very good shape for this fight. 

Junior Dos Santos has very heavy hands, his chin has never been truly tested, and this is the fight that will test it.

Both me will fee each other out for the start, and then it will be an explosion, it could literally be a whomever strikes first, wins. Carwin has wrestling, while JDS has great TDD. This fight is a huge fight for the heavyweight division, and the month of June alone five of the top-10 heavyweights will be competing, and there is a chance that there will be a big change in rankings.

Be on the lookout, calling it now. Junior Dos Santos will win via KO. I am feeling a special kick for some reason. 

1. History Repeats Itself

Ninety percent of MMA fans are jumping on this Alistair Overeem bandwagon. Sadly, the majority of these people have only seen the sport for under three years. Overeem has tons of talent. He won his belt against Paul Buentello, defends it once and everyone goes banana's. 

Who would've ever thought that defending your belt once in three years against a guy coming off of a loss would make you appear as a top-five guy?

That being saud. Overeem is 2-8 in his career against top 10 guys. Since Prode ended he hasn't faced high caliber fighters. The toughest he has faced was Kharitonov, and he was KO'd through the ropes. 

Werdum holds a win over Overeem and has also defeated Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Silva and Aleksander Emelianenko. Yet, he is still the underdog. 

Overeem has gotten better, ever since he started that strict "horsemeat" diet. The excuse is used that he is crushing people. Well, that is true. He is the can crusher, he is beating guys past their prime and most are coming off of a loss. Of his past 10 wins, the opponents average record is 14-10.

This fight could and should go like before, except Werdum has an even bigger advantage. Overeem is slower, and the gas tank is in question. Many will disagree and say Overeem will beat Werdum, all I can say is wait and see......