‘UFC On Fuel TV 6’ gets underway tomorrow morning in Macaou, China, and we’ve got our predictions for the all the fights for you below.
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Main Card:
Cung Le vs. Rich Franklin
All credit to Le for having the kind of signature moves that please the eye, yet aren’t just for show and can genuinely finish fights. That’s something Franklin will have to be very wary of, but that aside I believe he will have the advantage in this fight.
Franklin has good movement which will definitely be an asset here and I believe he has better hands than Le and will land with more frequency throughout the fight. If they happen to go to the mat (unlikely) then he also has the better skill-set. On top of that Le’s cardio is poor, and that just happens to be more of Franklin’s strongest suits. I see Franklin smartly weathering the early storm and then taking advantage of him when he begins to tire to claim a late stoppage victory.
Rich Franklin to win by TKO in Rd3.
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Thiago Silva vs. Stanislov Nedkov
Silva is in real need of a win here after a long losing streak, though to be fair he did beat Brandon Vera before having the result changed to a no-contest after testing positive for steroids, and that aside he’s been consistently fighting top level opposition.
Nedkov comes in with an impressive 12-0 record, but he hasn’t fought anyone of Silva’s caliber yet. Nedkov is tough and has good power, but he lacks reach and is not as skilled as his Brazilian counterpart standing or on the mat in my opinion. I think it’s possible Silva gets the finish, but given that he’s not been in top form lately I’ll be a little cautious and say he settles for getting the nod on the judges scorecards.
Thiago Silva to win by decision.
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Dong Hyun Kim vs. Paulo Thiago
Thiago has had his moments in the UFC, but I have to admit I’ve never been totally convinced by him. He certainly has legit ground skills, but I’ve never been sold on his striking despite his tendency to get into fist-fights in the Octagon and he’s a bit inconsistent with his performances.
On the other hand Kim is Mr Consistency and knows to play to his strength which is his grappling. He’s got better wrestling than Thiago and if he applies the same stifling top control that he’s known for here then I think he should be able to nullify Thiago’s submission threat and grind out a decision win.
Dong Hyun Kim to win by decision.
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Takanori Gomi vs. Mac Danzig
Gomi carries a lot of goodwill from his past endeavors in the sport, but it’s only very rarely that we see glimpses of what ‘The Fireball Kid’ is really about these days. While he still possesses serious power he’s very one dimensional and predictable in the way he goes about his business.
Danzig isn’t a great striker so Gomi could land one of his big overhand rights and end this one, but Danzig is all-round the better fighter and if he can get this one to the ground I think he’ll be in a good position to finish this fight.
Mac Danzig to win by submission in Rd2.
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Tiequan Zhang vs. Jon Tuck
Zhang makes it onto the main card as the token Chinese fighter, but that aside he’s barely good enough to claim a prelim spot on any other card. He has a good submission record, but doesn’t fight particularly smartly and often just resorts to continually going for the guillotine choke which Tuck will likely be well prepared for.
We didn’t get the opportunity to see a whole lot of Tuck fighting during his stay in the TUF house, he does seem to have a better all-round skill-set, well versed enough in BJJ to contend with Zhang while working from top control and also should have the advantage in the stand-up so he’s got a number of ways to get the job done, and I predict he’ll do just that.
Jon Tuck to win by TKO in Rd2.
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Prelims: (Predicted winners in bold)
Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. John Lineker
Riki Fukuda vs. Tom DeBlass
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Hougland
Alex Caceres vs. Motonobu Tezuka
