UFC 112 Preview & Fearless Predictions

The headlining matches for UFC 112.

I know the UFC wants to expand their MMA empire well beyond the States and Brazil, but Abu Dhabi? Wow, that may be a stretch, but oh well….The oil rich United Arab Emirates will be the host of UFC 112: Invincible and will be lucky enough to see two title bouts on the card: Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia for the Middleweight crown and B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar for the Lightweight crown. Also, UFC old timer Matt Hughes fights a member of the first family of MMA as he takes on Renzo Gracie in a non-title bout.

Odds are since Abu Dhabi is on a 9 hour time difference than the east coast, you will probably know the results prior to the matches shown on pay per view. But the pay per view will start at 10pm EST, if you decide you don’t want to look at the internet for results on that day.
So, until Saturday, here are my fearless predictions for UFC 112:

Middleweight Title Bout: Anderson Silva (25-4) vs. Demian Maia (12-1): After the more suitable Vitor Belfort had to bow out of the title match due to an injury; highly ranked contender Maia had to step in and be the next in line for a bout with the ever seeming unstoppable Silva. “The Spider” is on a 10 fight winning streak (which in the UFC is pretty much an unheard of feat) and completely demolished Forrest Griffin back in November when Silva moved up to fight a light heavyweight. So, does that give Maia any bit of confidence for this fight? Maia won his last match, but let’s face it- unless Maia gets a lucky punch in, don’t expect Silva to wait to attack for long. Expect Silva to jump on Maia like he did with Griffin and for this one to be over within two rounds.
PICK: Silva wins by knockout in 2^nd Round.

Lightweight Title Bout: B.J. Penn (15-5-1) vs. Frankie Edgar (11-1):
In the past 4 months, UFC Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn took down one of his fiercest rivals in Diego Sanchez and if you believed the doom and gloom media, almost had his house swept away by the Great Tsunami Hype of 2010 following the earthquake in Chile (don’t worry, all we really learned from it is that Penn has a swanky Oceanside place on the Big Island of Hawaii and has a webcam at www.bjpenn.com ). So now that that is all over with, Penn takes on a guy in a similar spot to Sanchez in Frankie Edgar. Edgar has won his last three fights and quite possibly could give Penn a bit of run for his money. Don’t expect a short fight here, except Penn and Edgar to battle this out- much like the Sanchez fight, Penn should come out of this on top.
PICK: Penn wins via unanimous decision.

Check out UFC.com for a full fight card and places where to watch it.