Heavyweight - Stefan Struve vs. Jared Rosholt
A real test for both men. Struve may have beaten the legendary 'Big Nog’ Nogueira into retirement back in August, but he still has a long way to go to regain his place in the division. Rosholt is a tough, if rather one-dimensional wrestler who has been knocking on the door of a top 15 ranking for a while now. Struve will need to rediscover his ability to use his massive range, an issue he experienced in his last outing. If he can’t, and he probably won’t at this point, Rosholt should be able to easily take the fight to the ground and grind out the biggest win of his career so far.
Prediction: Jared Rosholt via unanimous decision
Middleweight - Uriah Hall vs. Robert Whittaker
Originally scheduled to face Michael Bisping, Robert Whittaker has the misfortune of facing the promotion’s most unpredictable competitor. At his best Uriah Hall is a terrifying destroyer of men, whose range of debilitating kicks require practically zero wind up. At his worst however he’s a tentative, gun-shy reminder of what too much hype can do to a man. The Aussie-native Whittaker is far more rounded than Hall, and generally just a little more dependable come fight night. We all hope the right Hall shows up in Melbourne on Saturday night, but Whittaker is definitely the safer bet here.
Prediction: Robert Whittaker via unanimous decision
Heavyweight - Mark Hunt vs. Antônio Silva
Meeting just two years after their incredible five round war, heavyweight veterans Hunt and ‘Bigfoot’ Silva meet again with both hoping for a more definitive result this time. Both men have definitely seen better days with Hunt still fresh off the worst beating of his fighting career. Silva on the other hand has experienced a mini-resurgence as of late with a TKO victory in his last Octagon appearance. This probably won’t mean much here however. While he’s definitely in the twilight of his career, Hunt remains the more agile of the two, is far more durable, and likely still possesses the necessary fire-power to crumble Silva’s already wrecked chin. Unlike the first epic, don’t count on this one going the distance.
Prediction: Mark Hunt via KO in round 1
Women's Strawweight Championship
Joanna Jędrzejczyk © vs. Valérie Létourneau
The good news for Valérie Létourneau? She’s managed to emerge from relative obscurity to challenge for the title at the UFC’s biggest show of all time. The bad news? She’ll be facing Joanna Jędrzejczyk, the most dangerous woman in the UFC not named Ronda Rousey. The American Top Team-based Létourneau has the size advantage, is well rounded and experienced against decent competition, but she just isn’t a patch on the ruthless current strawweight champion. The undefeated Jędrzejczyk is a terrifying prospect for any potential challenger and provided further proof of that when she mauled Jessica Penne inside three rounds earlier this year. Like Penne, Létourneau’s first order of business will need to be to take the champion down to neutralise her devastating strikes, but as countless opponents have found out before, this is no easy thing to achive.
Jędrzejczyk will do what she usually does: charge Létourneau down and batter her with a relentless barrage of kicks, punches and elbows until the referee stops it, or her dangerously outmatched opponent decides she’s had enough and quits. In any case this probably won’t go the distance. The challenger is the UFC’s biggest betting underdog for a reason, and come Saturday it’ll be painfully apparent why.
Prediction: Joanna Jędrzejczyk via TKO in round 2
Women's Bantamweight Championship
Ronda Rousey © vs. Holly Holm
At this point it’s almost impossible to envision Ronda Rousey losing to anyone. Ever. An intense, marauding judo master with ever-improving striking and a ‘not paid by the hour’ mentality, Rousey has ripped all comers to shreds, usually inside seconds of the opening round. Her latest challenger, Holly Holm entered the UFC with a lot of hype stemming from her days as a virtually unbeatable professional boxer, and has thus been labelled rather unsurprisingly as the champion’s toughest test to date.
The problem with that however is that we’ve already heard the same phrase. Six times to be exact.
Holm is undeniably a world class pugilist, but she’s hopelessly outmatched on the ground, an area which unfortunately for her, just happens to be Rousey’s world. Holm’s best hope beyond landing a picture-perfect punch or kick will be that the champion decides to keep the fight standing in an attempt to test her striking against a new level of competition. Rousey isn’t stupid however so it’s almost a given that she’ll look to clinch with the challenger in order to drag the fight to the ground where she’ll quickly finish with her patented armbar making a return.
The UFC have built this fight beautifully, and while it may last a little longer than most of her previous bouts, don’t expect anything other than another swift Rousey submission triumph to boost her already staggering star power.
Prediction: Ronda Rousey via submission in round 1
UFC Fight Picks 2015 Record: 71-39
What do you think will happen at UFC 193? Leave your predictions below!
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