UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera predictions

By Guillaume Coufleau

The UFC is back in the UK for the 8th time since the organization scheduled UFC 70: Nations Collide in Manchester.

UFC 105 will take place on Nov. 14 at the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester with a fight card headlined by Randy Couture and Brandon Vera in a Light Heavyweight bout. The fight card also features British MMA stars Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy in contender battles against Denis Kang and Mike Swick.

UFC fans in the U.S. can watch the entire fight card for free on Spike TV via tape delay at 8 p.m. ET. UFC fans in the UK can purchase their tickets online at Ticketmaster.

Main Event:

Randy “The Natural” Couture vs. Brandon “The Truth” Vera

Both fighters used to fight in the heavyweight division. Vera’s last loss was in the UK at UFC 89 against Keith Jardine. More recently has been more successful and is now coming off a two-win streak while running a 4-1 record since he moved down to the light-heavyweight (LHW) division. Vera is a very good striker with a Muay Thai background as well as a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu with decent submission skills. He will have to improve his game against the UFC hall of famer Randy Couture, though.

Couture is the only fighter who won three heavyweight titles and two light-heavyweight titles in the UFC. He is coming off back-to-back losses to the monster Brock Lesnar and more recently Antonio Nogueira (fight of the night at UFC 102). He is a very talented wrestler and in spite of his age time seems to have no effect on him.

Vera has the ability to dish out vicious strikes that could cause severe damage to his opponent in a standup battle. Not that Couture cannot deal with it, but he is more likely to take the fight to the mat to take advantage of his superior ground game. Couture has fought and defeated bigger opponents when he competed in the HW division but that won’t matter much in the bout against Vera, since he has done exactly the same. Couture has defeated some of the best fighters in both HW and LHW divisions and his experience and talent should stop his two-loss streak.

Predicted winner: Randy Couture.

Main Card:

Mike “Quick” Swick vs. Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy

This fight will determine the #1 contender in the Welterweight division. Both have a background in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but they are most of all talented strikers and they like standup battles so don’t expect to see a lot of action on the mat. Their other common point is a victory over Marcus Davis. For Hardy, his unanimous decision at UFC 99 ended(?) a long grudge between the two men. Hardy will be the hometown kid in this fight with the crowd cheering him up. It’s gonna be an interesting bout in which Swick should show again he deserves a title shot.

Predicted winner: Mike Swick.

Michael “The Count” Bisping vs. Denis Kang

Bisping won the 3^rd season of the the show The Ultimate Fighter. He owns a 18 wins record only spotted by two losses against Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson. Besides he is coming of a brutal KO loss against Dan Henderson at UFC 100. Bisping is a good striker though with a background in Kickboxing and Muay Thai. A win may gives him access to the top contenders list but he first has to face a tough opponent. Denis Kang is only 2 years older but has an impressive 32-11 pro MMA record. His standup game is not weak by far and he has KO power but his big advantage on Bisping is on the ground game and his strategy should go this way. Bisping sure wants to bang in front of his audience but Kang has proved against “Professor X” Foupa Pokam at UFC 97 that he can deal with powerful strikers.

Predicted winner: Denis Kang.

James “Lightning” Wilks vs. Matt “The Immortal” Brown

Both are former contestants of The Ultimate Fighter. Brown was stopped in semi-finals by the final winner of season 7 Amir Sadollah while Wilks won TUF 9. Matt Brown has a background in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and he can win on his feet as well as on the ground. However his submission defense is weak and he often got caught and lost by this way. Wilks who is running a four-win streak has a TaeKwonDo background and can face Brown in the standup. Nevertheless he will probably focus on Brown’s weakness and quickly take the fight to ground where his submission wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will give him a real advantage.

Predicted winner: James Wilks.

Ross “The Real Deal” Pearson vs. Aaron Riley

Pearson is the recent Lightweight winner of TUF 9 this bout will be a real test match. He is a black belt in TaeKwonDo and can deal with standup exchanges. He prefers to end the fight on the ground though as he won most of his fight by way of submission.

Riley is an experienced 28 years old fighter who has fought a lot and owns a 28-11-1 MMA record. He has a decent stand up, probably better than Pearson. He also has a skilled submission game and he can manage a fight that goes the distance as his last four victories by decision demonstrate.

Predicted winner: Aaron Riley