UFC 131 Fight Card: 10 Predictions to Bank on for the Dos Santos vs. Carwin Card

When Shane Carwin lost to then-UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar by second-round Arm Triangle at UFC 116 last July, the MMA world—quick to jump to discussions about dream fights for Carwin against the likes of Cain Velasquez and Junior "Cigano" Dos Santos—was on the verge of becoming accommodated with the Brock Lesnar era and started to question whether or not they would ever get to see Carwin in meaningful fights against Velasquez or Dos Santos for as long as they lived.

Fast forward almost a year later to now, when we as a proud MMA-addicted community are less than a week away from UFC 131, and what fight do we have to call "the main event of the evening" for this Saturday's fight card?

Four months ago, the answer was a Heavyweight bout between Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos, but on May 12, 2011, multiple Mixed Martial Arts news outlets were able to confirm that the now-former UFC Heavyweight Champion was not only out of the bout, and not only forced to have a full foot of his colon removed, but Shane Carwin has stepped in for Lesnar.

It's the Heavyweight main event we thought we'd never see, and it's our main event this Saturday, backed by the continuing "Gold Rush", so to speak, of TUF 1 Middleweight runner-up Kenny Florian against the fast-rising, hard-hitting, well-rounded Muay Thai mutilation machine and Black House Featherweight prospect Diego "The Gun" Nunes, who comes in off of the heels of a big UFC 125 victory over former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown.

Also, Demian Maia walks into UFC 131 with only glaring defeats to Nate Marquardt and Anderson Silva on his otherwise blooming-bright professional record, and he looks to step in front of Silva once more, provided of two things, one of which is for him to soundly make rapid work of well-known Black House affiliate and Reign MMA standout Mark Munoz, who is looking to capitalize on the success he garnered against CB Dollaway at the most recent UFC Live event.

From top to bottom, the overall fight card is stacked with a little bit of something for every MMA fan's insatiable appetite, but what's going to happen this Saturday when UFC 131 is all said and done?

On behalf of myself, I present to you the answer to that daring question.

In my own poetic manner, I present to you 10 truths of what to expect to go down at UFC 131!

(Original article courtesy of The MMA Truth)

MIchihiro Omigawa Will Submit Darren Elkins with an Ezekiel Choke

One of the top 145'ers in MMA right now and currently one of the leading names when it comes to Judokas in the sport, Michihiro Omigawa has the opportunity to erase the memory of a clear 27-30 unanimous decision loss to one Chad "Money" Mendes at UFC 126 and replace it with a win over Darren Elkins at UFC 131.

Elkins's last fight ended with an armbar from Charles Oliveira, and he's been MIA since the fight until now, but he does have the reputation of being a good wrestler with the ability to, dare I say it for a Wrestler, actually finish fights.

One thing Elkins is not is Chad Mendes in the wrestling department, and that could mean he has a tougher time keeping Omigawa down than Mendes did.

What that means is that while Omigawa will still have to walk down to the cage in order to face Elkins, he should have a relatively good time dictating the pace of the fight with his Boxing and utilizing his Judo on Elkins.

Michi has only submitted two people in his career, and he's only done so by choke once, so needless to say, it will by no means be an easy feat.

It will happen, however, but it will start with a failed attempt at a rear naked choke after Omigawa stuffs a takedown from Elkins and eventually gets his back.

Omigawa will get one hook in, but Elkins will do a good job of keeping his head down until he turns into Omigawa, who will drape his right forearm across the trachea of Elkins while keeping the other arm along the back of the neck, and he will somehow find a way to secure the Ezekiel Choke until Elkins taps out.

Everything UFC Fans Need to Know About Jason Young, They Will Learn at UFC 131

Dustin Poirier became one of the latest examples of a certain truth—one of the few truths that fans have concurred with Dana White upon regarding UFC fighters—with his upset victory by Unanimous Decision over Josh Grispi at UFC 125, and that truth reads something like this:

Nothing is really ever "supposed to happen" in Mixed Martial Arts.

We could talk about how many thought the only way Brian Stann would beat Chris Leben was by a poor decision, or we can run through the story of how Clay Guida's chin was predestined by MMA pundits to suffer the same ill fate that Tyson Griffin's suffered when Guida opened up the UFC 125 main fight card against Takanori Gomi.

Then again, we could easily mention how Frankie Edgar's rematch with Gray Maynard was supposed to make the Anderson Silva-Demian Maia bout from UFC 112 look like Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar 1—remember how much of a snoozer that title fight was supposed to be?

The first sign that things were going to get unpredictable in 2011 was when Grispi lost to Poirier, a young man out of Gladiator LA who was in the same boat as Stann in that he was not supposed to win decisively.

Rather than get his beatdown for three rounds and get saved by three dudes, Grispi picked on in middle school, three cageside judges scored what was a clearly favorable fight for a young man who had told us everything we needed to know about himself by posting up a strong performance against the man who was supposed to be the next guy in line for Jose Aldo.

Enter Jason "Shotgun" Young.

When Rani Yahya was forced out of his bout with Poirier, Young filled in and brought in the reputation of being an active-agreesive and very technical striker whose arsenal includes some beautiful high kicks, fantastic movement and an intense fire that is difficult to extinguish.

Now, this past Saturday's Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale saw George Roop do to Grispi in 13:14 what Poirier couldn't do before the end of the 15 minutes he was given at UFC 125, so there will be a question as to whether Poirier's hands have packed any more weight in explosives within his hands since the Grispi fight, but the fight will do much more than merely tell us about how much Poirier's progressed as a fighter.

This fight will do for Young what the fight with Grispi did for Poirier—the fight will speak to who Young is as a competitor, and his performance will give us an early glimpse of what could be in store for this kid in the future.

A Body-Hook/uppercut Combo Will End Aaron Rosa's Debut Against Joey Beltran

Joey Beltran has gained a reputation for being tough for anyone to finish, which could spell trouble for Aaron Rosa, who debuts at UFC 131.

I would not be surprised if this one saw the third round, as Beltran has been able to hold his own in the third frame in the past, as has Rosa.

However, this will not be any regular three-round bout, if it goes three rounds.

Regardless of how long the fight really lasts, the action will take a lot out of both guys, but the finish will see an exhausted Rosa leave his body wide open, and when he does, Beltran will connect with a left body hook and follow up with a right uppercut to floor Rosa and score a KO of The Night contender.

Before the KO happens, however, it will appear as though Beltran will have lost the fight, but Beltran, the zombie he is, will bounce back, mentally crush Rosa's will and come out with the victory.

Chris Weidman Will Either Face Court McGee or the Belfort-Akiyama Winner

Chris Weidman made it official at the expense of Alessio "Legionarius" Sakara on the last UFC Live card: The young prospect known as "The All-American" is someone to stay wide awake on in the UFC's Middleweight division.

He showed a good wrestling game as well as some painful striking offense against the consumate striker Sakara, and it has led Weidman to Saturday night in this fight against Jesse "Water" Bongfeldt.

Little can be said about Bongfeldt because fans have not had the chance to see him in action, but the skills of Weidman could be too much for Bogfeldt to handle.

As for after the fight, Weidman has two options if he convincingly defeats Bongfeldt.

He can either take on Court McGee in a battle of rising Middleweights, barring injuries to Weidman or to McGee after his bout with Dongi Yang at UFC Fight Night: Battle on The Bayou, OR he can get the winner of Vitor Belfort's UFC 133 bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Now, mind you, Joe Silva will not sign it as the initial bout if Weidman gets Belfort or Akiyama.

The winner of Belfort-Akiyama could possibly get either Brian Stann, or, if the winner of Michael Bisping-Jason Miller qualifies, then the prevailing party of Bisping-Mayhem, but unfortunately, the opposing party to whomever said UFC 133 winner is will be injured.

Why not let Weidman step up and take on the winner of Belfort-Akiyama, provided they find themselves left without an opponent?

Despite His Ground Prowess, Yves Edwards Will Try to Knock out Sam Stout

Yves Edwards is a well-rounded Lightweight dark horse if there ever was going to be one, as his return to the UFC has been a two-fight-long exhibition that has had his accurate striking and his alway-exciting ground game on full display.

He faces a tough test in the returning Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout, who is 16-4-0 as a kickboxer and ties with Tyson Griffin for the most Fight of The Night bonuses in the UFC and is seen as one of three UFC fighters to hold the unofficial UFC Fight-of-The-Night Championship belt.

In the cage, Stout will provide problems because of his stand-up, his takedown defense and the type of game plan that only an evil genius like Shawn Tompkins could concoct to combat Edwards.

Don't expect Edwards to get the memo, though.

On paper, this is automatically a Fight of The Night contender for Stout's place on the card, and on paper, this fight is a classic "Striker vs. Grappler" sort of affair in that grappling is the only way for Edwards to win, right?

Not quite.

Some guys get beaten at their own game even when they're the best at it, and considering that there are times where Stout does more to keep a fight standing than he does in order to finish a fight while standing, Edwards' game plan will focus on Stout showing good takedown defense at the expense of the energy he needs to land any significant offense.

If this fight winds up being a KO-Of-The-Night contender, do not be surprised.

Donald Cerrone Will Go to Hell and Back With, and Then CHOKE Out, Vagner Rocha

There are fighters who always entertain crowds, and then there are Greg Jackson fighters that entertain crowds...

...and then there are fighters like Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone.

Arguably one of the most marketable and most outspoken machines in the UFC factory, Cerrone brought into the UFC an image that nobody in the MMA world will soon forget.

Conspicuous by his signature cowboy hat, his outspokenness and his natural ability to control the fight however he wishes to control it while still giving the crowd a show, Cerrone will look to garner the attention of the unbelievably high-voltage UFC 155-lb. Lightweight division and cement a case for a future date with the winner of the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard trilogy, but 6-1 prospect Vagner Rocha stands in his path.

Now Cerrone is a Greg Jackson boy, and if there's one thing we know about Jackson's fighters, it's that they tend to be a bit on the "well-rounded" side of the MMA spectrum.

Cerrone may or may not have the reach advantage on Rocha, even by a slight, but as fights start standing, and as Cerrone's stand-up is as sick as any in MMA, whatever reach he has will be used effectively against Rocha, who I would expect has at least done a minimal sort to improve his stand-up.

The first round may see a stand-up war, and it will likely be decided by one takedown, as well as Cerrone's ability to escape Rocha's submission attempts.

The second round might be more of a ground based affair, with Cerrone and Rocha going back and forth in their attempts to finish with their grappling, although Rocha could win the round if he comes out the aggressor and tries to get Cerrone down before working on top, and as the Miguel Torres-Demetrious Johnson fight showed, judges really only look at who was on top and who was on bottom.

The third round is where Cerrone will shine in what many will call "a surprisingly difficult bout for Cerrone" against an obviously tough foe, but nobody will say that Rocha is not tough after this fight.

After a successful second round, Rocha will look gassed, but he will still take the fight to the ground in the third, but after being unable to control Cerrone, Rocha will get swept and eventually caught in a failed guillotine attempt.

However, the misfire on the guillotine may open a perfect shot at a D'Arce Choke, and once Cerrone takes it, it'll be lights out for Rocha.

Literally, he will be knocked out by the choke.

Mark Munoz Will Easily Neutralize Demian Maia's Wrestling En Route to a TKO Win

No lengthy detailed explanation needed here.

Demian Maia has always been someone to keep an eye on in the UFC Middleweight division, but ever since UFC 109 and his bout with Dan Miller, Maia's performances have been...let's say...torturous.

It's been torture for the opponents because Maia has come to stick to his foes like white on rice and has not attempted to do anything less than stay on top of them with his newfound Wrestling game.

On the other hand, though, the fans would call it torture because none of Maia's takedowns led to any attempt at another highlight reel submission win, and his stand-up, while improving, is still a flaw that has not been taken care of.

That, along with the wrestling game, spells trouble for Maia coming into this fight with Munoz because he is a Wrestler, but he possesses good striking, deadly ground-N-pound and he does has some sick KO power in his hands.

While Maia is clearly growing as a fighter, he doesn't have enough skill in the Wrestling department to properly contend with Munoz's Wrestling, and once his Jiu-Jitsu fails him, Maia will have no choice but to stand with Munoz.

It will not be a KO win for Munoz, as Maia will get knocked down and fight Munoz off for a time, but eventually, Munoz will gain his edge and rain down with that hellish ground and pound attack, handing Maia a loss that was more impressive in its duration than any of Maia's most recent wins.

Jon Olav Einemo Will Score the Submission of the Night on Dave Herman

To be honest, it was between a Standing Arm Triangle or a Peruvian Necktie as far as the maneuver that I saw Dave Herman getting choked out by, and being even more honest, I'm not exactly sure what it is that is influencing my choice of Einemo over Herman,

Maybe it's because he trains with Alistair Overeem and the Golden Glory squad.

Either way, the finish comes before the end of round two, when a flurry of punches will stun and rock Herman but will not warrant a TKO.

Herman will push himself away from Einemo and get on his bike before getting taken down on a Standing Guillotine attempt and caught in a Peruvian Necktie—which will likely be confused for a guillotine by some fans and commentators.

If none of the other fights on here end in submission, this will.

Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes Will Be Considered an All-Time Classic

Kenny Florian's case is an interesting one these days—like an anti-Jaime Jara-type of case.

He won a spot in the inaugural Middleweight final of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Diego Sanchez, lost to Sanchez, had an unsuccessful run at Welterweight—capped off by a bout against Sean Sherk for the UFC Welterweight title—before dropping to Lightweight, posting up wins against the likes of Joe Lauzon, Roger Huerta and Joe Stevenson and earning a UFC 101 date with BJ Penn, where again, he was unsuccessful in his bid for the belt, yet found success against the likes of Takanori Gomi and Clay Guida after the Penn loss, only to drop an uninspiring decision loss to Gray Maynard.

Now he's making a bid for Jose Aldo's UFC Featherweight Crown, and it's likely that he gets the crack at Aldo somewhere down the line, but it's only likely that he gets Aldo down the line if he gets by Diego Nunes.

The Rio Nak Muay, Kickboxer and Jiu-Jitsoka (i.e. Kickboxer, Muay Thai fighter and Jiu-Jitsu specialist) brings in 17 career wins, a WEC 44 loss to LC Davis—the only loss of his career—by unanimous decision and the distinction of being the first Brazilian that Florian has faced.

If you're expecting Kenny to easily dispose of Nunes, you're in for a bit of a surprise.

Florian might come out landing the more technical shots on the feet, and he could have the better Jiu-Jitsu compared to Nunes, who earned a split decision win over Mike Brown on the UFC 125 unaired prelims, but the key thing to remember is that Nunes' fight with Brown was on the unaired prelims of a card headlined by the one fight that 97 percent of the MMA World expected to quite-believably suck big time, yet 100 percent of the MMA World talked about the morning after.

Translation: We can't assume that Nunes, who does train with the Black House camp and does incoporate Jiu-Jitsu techniques into his game, has inferior BJJ to Florian just because Florian has been on main cards and Nunes hasn't.

As a matter of fact, when you take into account their Muay Thai, their overall stand-up games and what they can do on the ground, and couple their current skills with the improvements they've made to enhance their games, the title shot could be tertiary to the fight itself, which unquestionably has all the makings of a Fight of The Year contender, let alone Fight of The Night.

In the end, however, expect Florian to have a rough time with Nunes and post up a unanimous-decision loss to Nunes, whose star will rise at Florian's expense this Saturday.

Either way, both men will go out like champions when all is said and done.

Junior Dos Santos Will Net His Shot at Cain Velasquez Via "Cigano-Time Kick"

That's right, I said it.

Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin are competing this Saturday to earn their crack at Cain Velasquez's UFC Heavyweight Title, likely for UFC 136 in Houston if said UFC fight card is in Houston.

For Carwin and his insane semi-truck-shotguns that we are apparently calling his "fists," it's not Brock Lesnar, but it is a chance to put himself back into that main event slot with title implications in the balance.

Carwin has been there before, and he'd like to prove that he deserves to do it again—complete with a full tank of gas—at Dos Santos' expense.

However, Dos Santos wants to prove that he's a fighter's fighter and a warrior's warrior, and that's why, while he could've sat on the sidelines and waited for Velasquez to come back, he felt confident enough in the fact that he could defeat Velasquez that he was ready, able and willing on all fronts to defend his contendership—regardless of who he had to defend it against.

Getting by the notorious power of Carwin—who has never gone to a decision in his career—will never, for as long as the sport of Mixed Martial Arts exists, qualify as an easy feat, so what must JDS do to defeat Carwin?

Take a page out of Anthony "Showtime" Pettis' book, run off the cage wall and land a sick-looking face kick.

Seriously, the "Steven Seagal" thing worked with Anderson Silva's front face kick at UFC 126, and it worked when Lyoto Machida knocked the legendary Randy Couture out with the exact same front kick from The Karate Kid, but with Dos Santos in his fight with Carwin?

No chance that the front kick comes back, unless Cigano lands the Pettis "Showtime Kick", or the "Redefining The Matrix," as a buddy of mine would say.

Not only do I say it can happen; I say it will happen.

Hey, he's been working on it—why not bring it out to send a message to Velasquez?