UFC 105 – Couture vs. Verra
4 out of 4 correct on the last picks! The Record is staying strong.
Easy picks this time.... I think.
Randy “The Natural” Couture vs. Brandon “The Truth” Vera
This one is an easy pick for a couple of reasons and only has one dark side that may make the difference. I’m picking Randy, and here’s why.
Randy has always excelled against strikers and his only trouble has been against very large opponents, which is why he’s moved back down to light heavyweight in the past. We’ve seen Randy drop down before, except it was to fight and win against better fighters in the 205 division. Vera does have ground game and started his journey competing for Grapplers Quest on the East Coast before finding a home to hone his skills and excel in Muay Thai.
Brandon Vera has never been as good as everyone thinks he is or was. He’s never fought anyone on Randy’s calibre. Vera’s claim to fame is that he beat Frank Mir. If you go back and look at how good Frank Mir looked in his fights that time, he was a very weak and lazy fighter. This was all after Mir suffered a horrible motorcycle accident. 
The dark side of this fight is that it involves an guy that’s 46 years old! Randy keeps pushing it back, but you never know when time is going to catch up with him and kill his reflexes, power and motivation. From the training footage I’ve seen, Randy looks stronger than ever so Randy is a safe pick and he’ll probably grind out a decision. 
HERE's a Randy Couture Highlight:
Michael “The Count” Bisping vs. Dennis Kang
When I heard this fight announced I thought, ‘first round knockout’ right away. I don’t know if it’s going to end that way but Dennis Kang should take the win here.
There was a time that Dennis Kang was a very hyped free agent. The UFC didn’t see the value, which I agreed with at the time, so he went back to Japan. When Kang shines he blinds opponents with his skills. Kang looked really sharp in his last fight and Bisping is coming off a HUGE Knockout at the hands of Dan Henderson. That’s the first time Bisping has been knocked out like that and that messes with a fighter. Some times they’re never the same after a knockout like that. There’s a long list of fighters that have been among the best or THE best in the world that haven’t come back from big KO’s like that; Wanderlei Silva, Cro-Cop, and (one of my favourite fighters from back in the day), Igor Vovchanchyn.
With Bisping’s crazy KO loss aside, Kang has the skills, speed and a tighter stand up game to count Bisping out of this matchup.
Mike “Quick” Swick vs. Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy
This is a Welterweight matchup and the winner is set to have a title shot with Georges St. Pierre. .... What the hell has happened to the welterweight division?
I don’t feel too strong either way on these guys but Swick ... is quick. It’s not just a stupid nickname, Swick is fast and has a ton of motivation for this fight. Coming off some injury’s and with the opportunity to fight GSP ahead Swick’s been training really hard, has a great training camp and I think he’ll win and this could be a fight of the night. 
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