This card has a lot of match-ups where both fighters are so evenly matched that they may sort of stalemate each other, or fights where one fighter has the ability to end the fight but his opponent is so well aware of this that he will spend the majority of the fight avoiding those situations which will lead to some what boring decisions.  Hulk is expecting there to be a few surprise finishes here and there but just on paper this is how Hulk sees the fights playing out.

Hulk is going with...

Main Card:

Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans - Chuck via decision.  Rashad is a small wrestler for the division and doesn't have the size or strength necessary to take Chuck down.  He struggled with taking Bisping down and he would have lost the Tito fight if not for the weak point deduction.  Rashad will probably be very evasive and rangey trying to utilize leg kicks in the same way Jardine did.  Only it's not going to work this time.  Chuck will chase him around the ring for 3 rounds and land the more damaging shots through out the fight.  Aggressiveness and shots landed will earn him the win in what will probably be an uneventful fight that won't earn Rashad any fans.  If Rashad does fight aggressively then he is likely getting knocked out.  Rashad is tailor made for Chuck, but at the same time Rashad is the kind of fighter who will fight not to lose instead of fighting to win which can lead to lackluster fights.

Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares - Hendo via decision. Dan will dictate the pace of this fight with his superior wrestling, keeping it on the feet.  We may see Palhares pull guard a few times and go for leglocks but Hulk thinks Hendo is too crafty to get caught with anything like that.  We could see Hendo knock him out if Palhares tries to trade, but Hulk doesn't think that will happen.

Martin Kampmann vs. Nate Marquardt - Kampmann via decision.  Probably the two most evenly matched guys on the card.  Kampmann is very well rounded and has flown under the radar for a lot of people.  Hulk has a feeling that this will be his jump onto the big stage with a some what surprising possibly split decision win over the more well known Marquardt.

Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill - Rich via TKO.  This is the bout that Hulk is most unsure about.  It's all dependent on Rich's takedown defense as well as how far along Matt has come with his striking.  Hulk is leaning either towards Hamill holding Rich down for 3 rounds and grinding out a decision.  Or Hamill trying to stand a little too much with Franklin using that sloppy brawling brute style of his, only to get rocked with Rich jumping in to land a rapid succession of shots to get a stoppage.  Hamill's stand-up is perfect for what Rich likes to do on the feet.  Rich has decent technical boxing but he is a brawler at heart and would love nothing more than to exchange with Matt.  Hulk is back and forth on this pick but is going to go with a Franklin win.  Rich should be able to utilize angles well against Matt and eventually land a one-two that will daze him and setup a finish.

Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida - Karo via decision.  Hulk thinks this will be similar to the Chonan fight.  Karo most likely won't be able to utilize much of his judo and it wil come down to who has the better stand-up which Hulk thinks Karo will edge him out on.  Yoshida likely has slightly better jits but Hulk doesn't think it will come down to that.

Pre-Lims:

Thiago Tavares vs. Kurt Pellegrino - Thiago via submission.  Should be a great fight.  Hulk likes both guys but just thinks Thiago is a bit more polished.  Pellegrino is a solid wrestler but doesn't have much else going for him.

Jason Lambert vs. Jason MacDonald - MacDonald via submission.  Hulk has never been a fan of Lambert and looks at his win over Babalu as just one of those flukey things that happens some times.  He should be pretty good at 185 but MacDonald is just better.

Mike Patt vs. Tim Boetsch - Boetsch via KO.  Hulk has seen Patt fight a couple of times but he really wasn't all that impressive and had no one attribute that really stood out.  Boetsch on the other hand has shown some KO power and has experience in the big show so Hulk is picking him to earn himself knockout of the night.

Roan Carneiro and Ryo Chonan - Chonan via decision.  This should be a decent fight that Hulk sees Chonan possibly getting a sub in but likely just controlling from top position in route to a decision victory.

Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim - Dong via KO.  Dong Hyun Kim has serious talent and is a solid contender coming out of Korea.  We will see him begin to make a name for himself in his next few fights.  He should dispose of Matt Brown in impressive fashion.  It will probably end up being one of the quick fights that's aired if they have time.

Karo Parisyan out with a back injury in the day before the weigh-ins.  There goes the one of the better matches in the card.

As far as the rest of the card

Chuck via KO second round.   I think Rashad has a chance but from all the fights i have seen him in he gets gun shy, something you can't do with Liddell, cause you end up like Tito.

Hendo via decision.  First big fight for Rousimar in the UFC and he goes up a much bigger fighter.  I think Hendo will avoid the takedowns with his wrestling and keep the fight on its feet.

Nat via sub  Second round.   I think Nat is going to come out on a mission he will want to show that the last fight was wrongly taken from him.  I think Kampmann has the better stand up (very small advantage)  and Marquardt has the better ground game (med adavantage)

Rich via TKO  Second round. Truth is Rich can knock out Matt on the feet and Sub him on the ground,   Matt's stand up has gotten better but he is nowhere near as good as Rich.  got 3 words for you,  Sprawl and Brawl.

Kim via Tko  First round (within the first 2mins) Kims stand up will overwelm Matt

Pre-lims

Thiago Tavares vs. Kurt Pellegrino  tough one to call.  If Thiago doesn't get KOed he will win via Sub in the the second (hmm second round finish seems to be a theme with me in this card)

Jason lambert via TKO in the 3rd, he will show the Hulk he isn't a fluke he is a flounder =P

Haven't seen much of Roan Carneiro(only his UFC fights) nor Ryo Chonan (besides Ryo sick as all hell Flying Scissor Heel Hook on Anderson Silva, if you haven't seen that Youtube it, its awesome) I will go with Ryo by Tko in the 3rd

this card looks like there will either a lot of TKO/KOs or some long 3 round wars

*SPOILERS Results of the fights*







-Rashad Evans def. Chuck Liddell by KO (Punch) at 1:51, R2
-Rich Franklin def. Matt Hamill by TKO (Kick to Ribs) at 0:39, R3
-Dan Henderson def. Rousimar Palhares by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28), R3
-Nate Marquardt def. Martin Kampmann by TKO (Strikes) at 1:22, R1
-Dong Hyun Kim def. Matt Brown by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28), R3
-Kurt Pellegrino def. Thiago Tavares by Unanimous Decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
-Tim Boetsch def. Michael Patt by TKO (Strikes) at 2:03, R1
-Jason MacDonald def. Jason Lambert by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:20, R2
-Ryo Chonan def. Roan Carneiro by Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)


Hulk did pretty well on picks aside from two surprise knockouts (which is always the case with MMA) from Rashad and Marquardt.   Only other surprise was that Dong didn't look a little better against Matt Brown.  Hulk felt Thiago would edge out Pellegrino but it was one of those fights that can easily go the other way.  Hulk hasn't seen it yet but Hulk heard it's pretty bloody.

Chuck will never learn to keep his hands up.  Hulk primarily trains boxing so it upsets Hulk a great deal to see Chuck make mistakes like that all the time.  Chuck will just never learn to keep his hands up.  He is not RJJ, he doesn't have the hand speed and head movement to get away with those kinds of things.  Had Chuck kept his left hand up to protect while he threw that uppercut the fight would probably still be going on right now, or would have just ended probably with him as the winner.








*END SPOILERS*

ahhh ok didn't see that coming LOL  Chuck face first to the mat. wow

Rich when hit that massive body kick, I thought Matts lunch was going to come up.

Matt Brown put up a much better fight then i thought he would.

Well I took a gamble on the Lambert fight i knew Jason MacDonald JJ was way better but took the chance,  Lambert would have won if he had more time on the clock in the second round with that choke.

got 3 wrong i forgot the Mike Patt vs. Tim Boetsch match but it went the way i thought it would have.

Good calls Hulk.  I went out on a limb to much on this card, maybe next time i will take it ez

I think its more then Chuck not keeping his hands up. Although that has been something you could expect Liddell to do.

Liddell in his prime would never drop a fight to Evans.  Rashad is the type of fighter that Chuck used to thrive on beating. Father time has caught up to Liddell. It's time for Chuck to think about retirement. Not taking anything away from Evans, but this fight shows Chuck is not the fighter he used to be.

So.... does this set up Rashad vs. Forrest for the next title fight? If so, I'll bet the whole fucking farm on Forrest that fight.

He if you haven't seen it the  Thiago Tavares vs. Kurt Pellegrino is up on UFC.com  Its a really good fight.  It was almost over in the first  but Thiago hung in there.  In the second Thiago almost tapped (one could say he did but the ref didn't stop it so he didn't) to a armbar.  Over all I think Pellegrino made the right move to get help from Kenflow's camp.  Sityodtong camp is really strong, I there is a few fighters that should make the move there.