10 Bold UFC Predictions for November

It almost feels like the UFC is spoiling us with all the great events lately.

Fresh off of a fantastic main event fight between Nick Diaz and BJ Penn, we now enter November with three straight Saturday’s of UFC action, two of which are on free TV.

While there is an obvious hierarchy as to which of these cards needs to be watched (FOX, 139, 138) all three events have something to offer and with the second half of the month off, we can expect a lot of fights to be made as soon as UFC 139 is over.

Brad Pickett Will Defeat Renan Barao at UFC 138

Renan Barao has been called a future title contender at 135 lbs. since the moment he entered the UFC due to his training partner being Jose Aldo and his impressive 26-1 record, but he hasn’t beaten anyone yet and looked mediocre in his UFC debut.

Pickett was tearing it up in the WEC, winning fights against Demetrious Johnson and Ivan Menjivar in his WEC stint, and if not for a loss to Scott Jorgensen, he would likely be knocking on the door of title contention.

Chris Leben and Mark Munoz Will Go 5 Full Rounds at UFC 138

This weekend's UFC 138 card will be the first in history to feature a five-round non-title main event, but most observers have shrugged it off due to the main-event participants' ability to finish.

While it’s true that both Chris Leben and Mark Munoz are finishers, they are both incredibly resilient and it is hard to make either of them go to sleep.

This one is going the distance and it will be a much more exciting fight than most people are expecting.

Kid Yamamoto Will Record His First UFC Win

After dropping his UFC debut to Demetrious Johnson at UFC 126, many fans wrote off Kid Yamamoto as yet another Japanese fighter who couldn’t cut it in the UFC.

But that will change later this month, when Yamamoto shows us that he is far from being finished and actually earns a finish for himself when he takes out Darren Uyenoyama in the first round.

Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos Will Go to a Decision

The best case scenario for the UFC’s debut on FOX in a couple of weeks?

Velasquez and Dos Santos go to war for five full rounds, putting on one of the best fights of the year and whoever wins does it without it feeling like the judges messed up the decision.

Call me crazy, but I think it might actually happen and the event will be an even bigger success than most people think.

Junior dos Santos Will Defeat Cain Velasquez

This isn’t the boldest prediction on the list, but I thought it was important to throw on here anyway.

Cain Velasquez is unquestionably a fantastic fighter, but he has yet to defend his title and has never fought someone with the boxing ability that Dos Santos has.

I think Cain is tough enough to stay awake throughout the bout, and he’ll probably steal a few rounds using his wrestling, but Dos Santos will win the fight by unanimous decision.

Clay Guida Will Submit Ben Henderson; Earn a UFC Title Shot

This is a potential Fight of the Year candidate and it is almost guaranteed to be a long, drawn out dog fight.

The key word in that last sentence is ALMOST.

Guida has showed some much improved submission skills in his last few fights, and Bendo’s submission defense is do good that I doubt he’ll be expecting Guida to go for an early sub.

Look for Guida to jump on Henderson’s neck during a takedown attempt and pull off the shocking upset, earning him a shot at Frankie Edgar in early 2012.

Rashad Evans Will Sign to Fight Phil Davis in Early 2012

How many times will Rashad Evans miss a title fight opportunity?

It’s already happened three times, once against Shogun Rua and twice against Jon Jones, but Evans doesn’t have the option of remaining inactive anymore as he went almost 14 months between his last two fights.

As Phil Davis is one of just a few top guys at light heavyweight without a fight scheduled and they were already set to fight once at UFC 133, expect Rashad to sign on to fight Davis in early 2012, possibly as the co-main event on Super Bowl weekend.

Brian Bowles Will Defeat Urijah Faber

Urijah Faber is the biggest star in the UFC’s bantamweight division, and the majority of fans want him to win this fight to get his rubber match against Dominick Cruz, but it isn’t going to happen.

Faber has struggled to get takedowns since dropping to 135 lbs. and it seems like Bowles is a little better than ”The California Kid” on the feet.

I won’t say Faber is getting finished, since he’s as tough as they come, but I think he loses this fight and goes back to featherweight where he has a more comfortable weight cut.

Dan Henderson Will Finish Shogun Rua in the First Round

When you have a fight between two proven finishers like Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua, you basically have to just go with your gut and hope you choose correctly when predicting the fight.

Henderson has looked better than ever lately and he is notoriously hard to knockout, making him the favorite in my eyes.

Besides, we haven’t seen Shogun put together back-to-back impressive performances in quite some time.

Cung Le Will Retire Wanderlei Silva

Show me this fight even two years ago and I would have laughed and said to bring an ambulance for Le to ride out of the arena in.

But the Wanderlei Silva of old is completely gone and with his once legendary chin now acting as nothing more than an off button, I don’t think it will be long before Le knocks out “The Axe Murderer.”

Once that happens, Dana White will likely cut Silva from the UFC and it doesn’t make sense for Wanderlei to fight anywhere else, effectively ending his career.