UFC 126: Silva vs Belfort Predictions

This Saturday the UFC will present its yearly Super bowl weekend PPV, a card that is typically been a big, stacked fight card. In years past such super bowl PPV cards have included Brock Lesnar making his UFC debut (UFC 81), GSP vs. Penn 2 (UFC 94) and Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture 3 (UFC 57). This year’s super bowl fight card included a title fight, a battle between two former champs and a matchup of two of the brightest light heavyweight stars, making UFC 126 no different from its predecessors. 

Middleweight champion Anderson Silva (27-4) will look to make his eighth successful title defense when he takes on the man specifically brought in to face the champ, Vitor Belfort (19-8). Many believe the speed and power of Belfort could end the long run as middleweight champion for Silva. The two will square off in the night’s main event, which should be a very entertaining bout.

The co-main event features two of the most popular UFC fighters in Rich Franklin and Forrest Griffin, looking to get back into action after lengthy layoffs due to injury. Griffin has been out of action for over a year recovering for shoulder surgery following his decision victory over Tito Ortiz back in November of 2009 at UFC 106. Franklin was last seen knocking out former UFC lightweight champion Chuck Liddel in come from behind fashion at UFC 115 in June. The victory came at a cost though because during the fight Franklin suffered a broken left forearm while blocking a Liddell high kick. Both fighters a now healed up and ready to get back into the cage and mix it up this Saturday.

 The most interesting fight on the card features two quickly rising stars in the light heavyweight division, looking to puts themselves on the brink of a title shot. Undefeated Ryan Bader (12-0) who won the 9 ninth season of the Ultimate Fighter has gone 5-0 since the show and has looked better each time he enters the octagon. Jones (11-1) technically is undefeated but his record show a loss due to an illegal elbow that forced Jones to be disqualified. Jones burst onto the scene at UFC 87 and his skills have garnered him attention as the future light heavyweight champion. Bader would dispute that claim and come Saturday he’ll have his chance to prove it.

Along with the PPV portion that starts at 7pm PT, Spike will be airing two preliminaries fights starting at 6pm PT. The UFC announced today that it will also use their Facebook fan page to air one preliminary fight that will start at 5:25 pm PT. This is another instance where the UFC has listened to the fans and given them what they wanted, to see Mighty Mouse vs.  Kid Yamamoto.

Here are our UFC 126 predictons, please leave you picks in the comment section. Also make sure to check out MMAValor on the mmamoneyline.com pro picks.

Main Event:

185 lbs.: Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort – Anderson Silva (2nd rd TKO)

Main Card (Televised):

205 lbs.: Forrest Griffin vs. Rich Franklin – Rich Franklin
170 lbs.: Jake Ellenberger vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha – Jake Ellenberger
205 lbs.: Ryan Bader vs. Jon Jones – Jon Jones
135 lbs.: Antonio Banuelos vs. Miguel Torres – Miguel Torres

Undercard (Spike TV):

155 lbs.: Paul Kelly vs. Donald Cerrone – Donald Cerrone
145 lbs.: Chad Mendes vs. Michihiro Omigawa – Chad Mendes

Undercard (Facebook):

135 lbs.: Demetrious Johnson vs. Norifumi Yamamoto – Norifumi Yamamoto

Undercard (May not be broadcast):

170 lbs.: Mike Pierce vs. Kenny Robertson – Mike Pierce
155 lbs.: Gabe Ruediger vs. Paul Taylor – Gabe Ruediger
205 lbs.: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Ricardo Romero – Ricardo Ramero

Tags: Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin, Jon Jones, MMA UFC, Predictions, Rich Franklin, Ryan Bader, UFC 126, Vitor Belfort

Category: Featured, MMA, Predictions, UFC