Jon Jones, UFC 140: Bold Predictions for Jones vs. Machida and More

While it is the holiday season, it will not be cheer they will be dishing out on Saturday night at UFC 140. It will be pain.

In what could be the most anticipated fight cards of the year, defending Light-Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will defend his belt against the versatile Lyoto Machida.

Their battle could be one for the ages, but it’s not the only fight worthy of a stellar billing. From top to bottom, this is one of the best cards UFC has put on in the last few months.

The following slideshow is of the top five fights I’m looking forward to the most and a bold prediction to go along with it. Enjoy the show folks!

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Jon Jones(c) vs. Lyoto Machida

Jon Jones is the exact kind of champion that could dominate for years to come, but he faces the biggest test of his young career against one of the toughest fighters to describe in Lyoto Machida.

Machida is a karate expert with talents in every fashion of mixed martial arts and this will be the biggest test of his career as well. Since being knocked out by Shogun Rua last year, Machida has climbed back into contention for a title shot.

BOLD Prediction: As good as Machida has been over his career, the recent losing trends will continue as Jones uses a spinning elbow to knock Machida to the ground and Jones finishes it via punches in the first round.

Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung

After one of the best five-round title fights of the last five years between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick ended in a loss, everyone has waited to see who the next opponent would be for Hominick, the technical wonder.

Chan Sung Jung was touted as one of the better fighters to come out of Japan in a long time, but has been knocked out already in his short time in North America. He will be the next test for Hominick.

BOLD Prediction: Jung is very aggressive, so Hominick is going to wait him out and catch him making a mistake. Look for Hominick to use Jung’s aggressiveness against him and knock him out with knees in the second round.

Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

While at first glance this fight seems like two has-beens that are just on the card for name recognition, don’t be fooled, this fight could steal the show.

Frank Mir has reinvented himself into a legitimate threat to possibly fight for the Heavyweight title at some point in the future, while there is never a time when Big Nog isn’t a serious contender to steal an event.

BOLD Prediction: If Frank Mir wants a chance at a No. 1 contender fight, he is going to have to knock the MMA legend out. While Big Nog is as tough as they come, Mir will KO him in the second round.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Igor Pokrajac

This fight is the undercard fight that you can’t miss. I still believe it should have been on the main card, but these two fighters will make Dana White regret passing them over by putting on the best show of the night.

With both fighters being in amazing shape, this will be a long fight. Soszynski will look to knock Pokrajac out, but Igor’s striking is just as impressive and will keep Krzysztof at bay.

BOLD Prediction: As good as Soszynski has been over the last few months, I feel Pokrajac has the much better ground game. If and when the fight is brought to the ground, Pokrajac will end it early via submission in the fourth round.

Tito Ortiz vs. Antônio Rogério Nogueira

While Tito Ortiz is fighting this weekend, he should already be home on the coach retired. Little Nog will be ready to punish the used-to-be-bad boy with a far more impressive arsenal of attacks.

While there was a point where Tito Ortiz was the end-all-be-all in MMA, that time passed long ago. Little Nog will refresh his memory on why he was going to retire with a vicious beating.

BOLD Prediction: Little Nog is a submission specialist and he will catch Ortiz sleeping early in the first round. Ortiz will also never fight in UFC again after this embarrassing loss.