Bold Predictions for 2012
I will make a series of BOLD and NOT SO BOLD predictions for each weightclass and its most its top fighters among other things. Starting from the top…..
Heavyweight…
· Overeem beats brock on Friday, then gets a fight w/ JDS and 6 weeks before the fight has to pull out due to injury which sets up Velasquez vs Dos Santos 2 (Velasquez will have beaten Frank Mir Prior) this time Velasquez wins.
· Overeem gets his shot against Cain and wins.
· Mir vs Lesnar 3 happens.
· Cormeir beats Barnett (Barnett doesn’t make it back to UFC)
· Barnett vs Fedor happens
· No one successfully defends the title in 2012
Light Heavyweight…
· “Bones” Cleans out the division (pretty much) Going thru Rashad, Hendo, and a rematch w/ Shogun in that order
· Shogun wins the Rubbermatch over Machida then fights Davis for #1 contender
· Davis loses to Evans then beats Rampage (via Grapplefuck) and finally losses to Shogun
· Thaigo Silva makes a splash in his return
· Strikeforce has a NEW Light Heavyweight Champ (and its not Gegard or King Mo)
· Rumors at the end of 2012 are that “Bones” will take a test fight at Heavyweight ala “Anderson Silva vs James Irvin”
Middleweight
· Silva vs Sonnen 2 happens, Silva wins again this time in a very dominating fashion 2nd rd TKO, Silva Then Destroys Bisping and once again says he has no interest in a fight with “Bones”
· The winner of Belfort vs Rumble goes on a win streak and gets an early 2013 title shot (I’ll give you a hint it’s not a rematch)
· Wanderlei Retires after losing to Belfort and avenging his loss to Leben (when leben returns from suspension late next year)
· TUF Brazil is a huge Hit and the talent is the likes of TUF 1
· Weidman Continues his streak against Jake Shields (in his Middleweight return) and Demian Maia
· Brian Stann Beats Mark Munoz and Belfort to earn a rematch w/ Sonnen in 2013
Welterweight
· Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit Fight eachother twice in 2012 (That’s all I got)
· Diego Sanchez gets a Title Shot
· We somehow get GSP vs Fitch 2=Same Result
· GSP DOESN’T get his Title Unification bout till 2013
· Rory Macdonald is next in line after GSP (says he will fight GSP only for the title)
· Talk of GSP vs Silva almost don’t even exist anymore
Lightweight
· All 3 of the main WEC Lightweights get Title Shots, Henderson, Pettis, and Cerrone in that order (One of them win)
· Pettis vs Henderson 2 Happens
· Guida vs Melendez 2 happens (in Strikeforce again)
· Kenny Florian returns going 1-1 against Lauzon and Nate Diaz respectively
· BJ Penn Returns and Loses to Nate Diaz
· Nate Diaz Gets first title shot of 2013
Featherweight
· Jose Aldo defends his belt 3 times successfully
· Frankie Edgar Drops to Featherweight
· Chan Sung Jung gets a title shot after a win over Hatsu Hioki
· Diego Nunes goes on a win streak against Gamburyan, Roop and Hominick
· Kawajiri will make his way to the UFC
· TUF 14 Featherweight winner Diego Brandao will beat Garcia and Phan
Bantamweight
· TUF 15 will do great numbers on FX Urijah Faber’s Team will Dominate and Faber will go on to beat Cruz in a 4 round Classic
· Renan Barao will Fight Faber and win
· Cruz vs Bowles 2 will happen
· There will be talk of Cruz vs Faber 4 but it wont happen
· Cruz will Fight Barao mid 2013
· Michael McDonald will keep his win streak together and mature greatly
· Many will drop to Flyweight
Flyweight
· Ian McCall will upset Demetrious Johnson and Joe Benavidez to become the first ever UFC Flyweight Champ
· Mamoru “The Fro” Yamaguchi will come out of Retirement and sign with the UFC to mediocre results but ultimate fan fare
· Benavidez will Beat Johnson after coming up short against McCall
· TUF Phillipines Happens next to Expand the Roster of Little guys and the Global reach of the UFC
Final Thoughts
· Chan Sung Jung will win KO of the Year (making it 10’ FOTY, 11’ SOTY and 12’ KOTY 3 years 3 different awards (Agreed by mostly all MMA news outlets and fans)
· Fight of the Year is a Bantamweight or Flyweight fight
· Sub of the Year will be something we have never seen in the octagon (Omoplata?? Gogoplata???)
· Jon Jones will win Fighter of the year again
· Jose Aldo and Jon Jones will become proven PPV draws
· Brazil will hold 3 events(1 in a Stadium that will break most if not all Combat sports attendance and gate records, Canada will have 2, Japan will have 1 along with Australia, Sweden, and Ireland
· UFC will finally have an event in NYC at MSG, also for the first time it will hold an event in Hawaii and the Phillipines
· Wanderlei Silva, BJ Penn, Matt Huhges, Rich Franklin, Tito Ortiz and Kenny Florian will all retire
OTHER SHIT…
· Mayweather vs Pacquaio wont happen but near the end of the year the Bout agreements will be signed and the fight will be booked for 2013
· Packers vs Patriots for the SuperBowl Pats win 37-34
· Indianapolis Colts will draft Andrew Luck
· The Miami Heat will win the NBA championship
· The Lakers will get Dwight Howard before the trade deadline