Tomorrow night at UFC 166, UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez and former Heavyweight Champion and No. 1 contender Junior dos Santos will further cement the legacy of their exciting and entertaining rivalry with a third and hopefully not final fight for the main event of UFC 166 in Houston. The two first met in a title fight at UFC on Fox in 2011, as dos Santos upset Velasquez with a first round knockout that remains the champ’s only loss. Velasquez would eventually win his title back at UFC 155 last December with a unanimous decision in an otherwise incredible main event.
So here we are, on the eve of what everyone expects to be another classic fight between two great heavyweights, as they headline a card filled with plenty of potential for an evening of great fights. Most importantly, I’m hoping that the other heavyweight fights will come through for us, because once the main event is over, the winner will likely face another stiff before we’re left with Velasquez-dos Santos IV. I’m not saying that would be a bad thing, but repetition gets boring, damn it.
In the meantime, you can check out my never-wrong predictions now or wait to read along with the fights, as we’ll be meeting here tomorrow at 6:15 PM ET for the Online Preliminaries, followed by the Fox Sports 1 Preliminaries at 8 PM ET and the UFC 166 PPV at 10 PM ET, for yet another of our award-winning live discussion. As always, you can check out our good friend Lobster Mobster’s UFC 166 primer right here, and we’ll see you all tomorrow night.
Prediction: Okay, I’m going to break from my previously worthless protocol and pick the guy making his debut. Kyoji Horiguchi it is.
Prediction: I’m going to take the new guy again in Andre Fili. Jeremy Larsen has lost his last two, and I’m tired of hitching my wagon to the “bounceback.”
Prediction: His name is Rioooooo and he dances on the sand… sorry, I love Duran Duran.
Prediction: Amagov for the win. I can’t ignore menacing facial hair like that.
Prediction: This is a fight for a job, as both fighters have lost their last three and there’s no spot on the UFC roster for the loser of four straight. I’m going to take Noons in this one, because Sotiropoulos has lost two of those last three by KO and TKO. It hasn’t been pretty.
Prediction: I’m a sucker for a nickname, so I’m taking Jessica “Evil” Eye here. Mostly because there are several other ways that nickname could (and probably will) go and this is my apology in advance for us being children.
Prediction: I’m going to regret this, but I’m giving myself one “bounceback” pick for UFC 166 and I’m making it Marquardt.
Prediction: CB Dollaway attended the Adult Video Awards. That has nothing to do with this PPV or anything at all really, but I’m picking him because of that.
Prediction: I love John Dodson. I’ll pick him every time, even his eventual next fight against Demetrious Johnson that he’ll probably lose.
Prediction: I want Shawn Jordan to be the new Roy Nelson, the guy who is simply fun to watch and we hope wins fight after fight to earn an unexpected but well-deserved shot at the championship. At least that’s how we wanted Nelson’s path to go.
Prediction: This is a tough one, because I thought Melendez looked great in his UFC debut against Benson Henderson, but I also really enjoy watching Diego Sanchez fight. I’m going to pick Melendez, only because I want him to become a strong challenger to Henderson’s UFC Lightweight Title.
Prediction: Roy’s my boy, but I think Cormier takes this one because it just makes sense. That way he’ll get the next title shot against the winner of Velasquez-dos Santos and the loser will get a break, fight another easy opponent and set us up perfectly for Velasquez-dos Santos IV.
Prediction: I don’t know, this is so tough. I’m just going to close my eyes and pull a piece of paper from this hat in front of me that you can’t see but have to trust exists, and the name I drew is Cain Velasquez. That’s science, folks.
