UFC 128 Overview and Predictions
[ad#Betus-250]UFC 128
Ultimate Fighting Championship will take place on Saturday March 19th, 2011 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Kersey. The UFC is a mixed martial arts event that features several of the best fighters in the world. This is taking the place of the event that was supposed to take place in Abu Dhabi, but no specific location was suitable for the fights. There has been numerous fights that have been scraped from the original event, but the card still sees some big time bouts.
The main card of UFC 128 features five fights, while there are seven on the preliminary cards. There is a regular preliminary card, along with one featured on Spike TV, and one via Facebook. In many of the preliminary card fights, Brazilian fighters square off with fighters from the United States. Luiz Cane vs. Eliot Marshall, Ricardo Almeida vs. Mike Pyle, Erik Koch vs. Raphael Assuncao are the highlights of the preliminary card.
The top fight of the event is the light heavyweight championship that pits Mauricio Rua against Jon Jones. Rua is a 29 year old fighter with the nickname of Shogun. The 6’1, 205 fighter holds a 19-4 record in professional bouts. His most recent bout was at UFC 113 where he beat fellow Brazilian Lyoto Machida. Jones is a 23 year old figher from Rochester, New York. Nicknamed Bones, he uses wrestling, grappling, muay thai and Gaidojutsu.
In the Bantamweight bout, Urijah Faber will take on Eddie Wineland. Both of these fighters are American born fighters. Faber was born in Isla Vista California. His peers have nicknamed him California kid. He stands at just 5’6, and weighs 135lbs. He holds a 24-4 record and coming off a win over Takeya Mizugaki via technical submission. Eddie Wineland is 26 years old, and was raised in Texas. At 5’8, 135lbs, he uses his wrestling and boxing styles to down opponents. He holds an 18-6 overall record in mixed martial arts events. He has won four straight fights; including over Ken Stone via knock-out back in December.
The third bout features Jim Miller against Kamal Shalorus. Miller will turn 28 years old in August. From Sparta New Jersey, he stands 5’8, and weighs 155lbs. He uses Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Wrestling as his many fighting styles. He holds a 19-2 record, with his losses coming to Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. He has won his last six fights; with the previous two coming to Brazilian fighters Gleison Tibau and Charles Oliveria. Sharlous is an Iranian-British that uses freestyle wrestling, boxing, catch wresting and grappling. He is pretty new to the mixed martial arts world; in fact this is his first UFC bout. He has won 7 fights, as part of the WEC.
Nate Marquardt and Dan Miller will get together in the Middleweight bout. The two Americans both have seen their ups and downs in the world of mixed martial arts. Marquardt is 31 years old and from Wyoming. He stands 6’0 and weighs 186lbs. He uses a great variety of styles to down his opponents. He currently fights out of Denver Colorado and holds the nickname of “The Great”. Dan Miller will be 30 years old in June. He is the brother of Jim Miller. He holds a 13-4 record, and has won his last two fights. His most recent fight was over Joe Doerksen at UFC 124 in Montreal.
The fifth fight on the main card features Mirko Filipovic against Brendan Schaub. Filipovic is a Croatian fighter that uses the nickname Cro Crop. He is 36 years old, and holds a 20-8 record in mixed martial arts fights. Before he joined the MMA force, he was a kickboxer, where he went 16-7. His opponent, Brendan Schaub is known as The Hybrid. Schaub is 6’4, and weighs 234lbs. He uses boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as his top fighting methods. He holds a 7-1 record, and has won three straight bouts. His most recent was over Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 121 in Anaheim.
Let’s take a look at the odds for UFC 128, and give some brief predictions. All of these odds are courtesy of BetUs.com:
Jon Jones – 200
Mauricio Rua + 160
Our pick: Jones -200
Dan Miller +220
Nate Marquardt -300
Our pick: Marquardt -300
Eddie Wineland +325
Urijah Faber -450
Our pick: Wineland +325
Kamal Shalorus +200
Jim Miller -260
Our pick: Miller -260
Brendan Schaub -280
Mirko Filipovic +210
Our pick: Filipovic +210
