RANDY COUTURE -415 vs. MARK COLEMAN +315

For the first time in UFC history, 2 active Hall-of-Famers will be squaring off against each other. This fight was supposed to happen over 10 years ago in 1998 but a Couture injury scrapped that encounter. Now, the 2, 40+ year olds face one another in what should be an epic battle between wrestling greats. Couture is a 6-time UFC champion with a Greco-Roman grappling background, while Coleman was a member of the 1992 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Team, and the first ever UFC Heavyweight Champion. Couture, since coming out of his 1-year retirement in 2007 is 3-2 in his bouts. In his 2 most recent fights, he struggled to get his opponents to the ground and has since enlisted the aid of several noted grappling coaches to help him with this fight, in take-down offense and defense, as well as a re-focus on submissions. Coleman, known as the Hammer for his merciless ground and pound, will be hard-pressed to shoot in and look to take down the faster Couture, as Coleman doesn ' t have near the speed that the Natural has. Nor does the former NCAA Wrestling Champion from Ohio State posses the cardio conditioning his opponent has. Here Couture will look to push the pace, moving and using his range and his superior striking abilities to keep Coleman off of him. Couture is an expert in dirty boxing, a form of punching from close range and within grasps of one ' s opponent. Coleman ' s conditioning, always in question, should eventually spell his demise in this encounter. PICK-COUTURE

MIKE SWICK -240 vs. PAULO THIAGO +190

Swick took this fight last minute as his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Josh Koscheck was injured and had to pull out of this bout. Ironically, Swick was playing the part of Thiago for Koscheck in training and will now face the 6-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion himself. Possible advantages for the Quick as Swick is known, come from the insight 2 of his AKA teammates have with Thiago as Jon Fitch and Koscheck are both off fights against him. Swick is long in range and has a lot of speed and would serve himself well to keep this on his feet as Thiago certainly wants to take this to the ground. Swick however, rarely has been on the mat for much of his MMA career as he is most difficult and almost impossible to take down. He characteristically comes out throwing punches in bunches and has definite knockout power. Thiago, a member of the elite special police force in Brazil has never been stopped, losing just 1 decision in his 13 fight career. In what has potential to be fight of the night this should be a highlight bout of the evening. PICK-SWICK

MATT SERRA -140 vs. FRANK TRIGG +110

In a division that is loaded with lots of quality fighters, the loser of this bout could be in for a tough go of it down the road. Both fighters are off losses, Trigg ' s was bad as he got clobbered and knocked out. A similar fate may await him here as Serra ' s power punching style is something the 37-year old Trigg has problems with. Serra firmly believes if they stay standing up, he can and will knock him out. PICK-SERRA

Stan Lisowski now has a record of 8-1 with his MMA predictions on these pages. Please be sure and check out Stan ' s sporting selections in the picks portion of this site. Currently, Stan has won 8 straight basketball programs.