UFC 94 Picks

UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn 2 Picks
January 31, 2009

Under Card

170lbs.- Matt Arroyo 3-2-0 vs. Dan Cramer 0-0-0
Arroyo by submission in round 1. Armbar. Arroyo has a solid ground game and Cramer doesn’t have any professional MMA fights. Not much more to say.

205lbs.- Jake O’Brien 10-2-0 vs. Christian Wellisch 9-3-0
O’Brien by decision. Even though O’Brien will be lighter after making the cut from Heavyweight, He’ll do what he always does. He’ll use his superior wrestling, take Wellisch down and lay on him for 3 rounds.

170lbs.- Chris Wilson 13-4-1 vs. John Howard 10-4-0
Wilson by decision. Wilson is a strong wrestler who trains with Team Quest here in Portland. I have to cheer for the hometown guy.

155lbs.- Manny Gamburyan 10-4-0 vs. Thiago Tavares 17-3-0
Gamburyan by decision. I would rather see Tavares win, but I think Gamburyian will pull an O’Brien. He’ll use his strength, pull him down and grind it out.

170lbs.- John Fitch 21-3-0 vs. Akihiro Gono 28-13-7
Fitch by submission in round 3. Rear naked choke. It’s John Fitch. He’s too good to be on the undercard.

Main Card

155lbs.- Nate Diaz 10-2-0 vs. Clay Guida 24-6-0
Diaz by submission in round 3. Triangle choke. This will be the fight of the night. Guida always gets fight of the night. His cardio is excellent. Diaz is tough and has an awkward but effective style.

170lbs.- Karo Parysian 26-5-0 vs. Dong Hyun Kim 11-0-1
Kim by decision. I’d love to see Parysian win, but it’s just a matter of who has looked good lately. Both have great judo.

205lbs.- Stephan Bonner 14-4-0 vs. Jon Jones 7-0-0
Bonner by TKO round 2.

205lbs.- Lyoto Machida 13-0-0 vs. Thiago Silva 13-0-0
Machida TKO round 3.

Main Event

170lbs.- Georges St. Pierre 17-2-0 vs. BJ Penn 13-4-1
Penn TKO round 3. This is a huge fight. A very tough one to pick. I keep going back and forth in my head, and I’ll probably change my mind 3 or 4 more times before the fight takes place. I’ll take the ballsier pick and take BJ. GSP will probably win, though. My official pick is BJ.

Fight of the night goes to Diaz vs. Guida
Knock-out of the night goes to Machida
Submission of the night goes to Arroyo