UFC 130 Picks and Predictions

• By Mikal
• 363 days ago

The UFC is heading to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill on May 28. Predictions are as follows. Quick Picks for the entire card are posted at the bottom.

UFC 130 headliner will feature a light-heavyweight fight between former champion, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Matt Hamill. Jackson – who previously turned down a title opportunity against Mauricio Rua due to short notice – will likely be in the mix for another upcoming opportunity with a win over Hamill.

Hamill, however, feels he will move himself up into the top five of the weight class with a victory over 'Rampage'. Hamill, winner of five straight, and ten of his twelve career fights will look to drag this fight to the ground and control Jackson on the floor.

Although Jackson denies accusations of of his lack of interest in the sport, his recent comments keep proving otherwise. Jackson looked unmotivated and discouraged in both of his last fights against Evans and Machida. I see no reason to believe this won't be the case in his match with Hamill. Hamill by  decision.

UFC 130 co-headliner is a bout between former heavyweight champion, Frank Mir, and UFC: TUF season 10 winner, Roy Nelson, where both heavyweights look to get back on track with a much needed win to stay relevant among the heavyweight elite.

Don't be fooled by his size, Nelson is a cardio-machine. Nelson is also a hard-hitting slugger winning eight of his fifteen career wins by TKO/KO. In addition, Mir has lost five times in his career, all of them by TKO/KO.

Mir, however, is an extremely talented and well-rounded fighter. His only struggles in recent history have been against much bigger men losing first to Brock Lesnar and then to Shane Carwin. Nelson walking in at 6'0" may be the heavier of the two, but Mir will easily be the larger. If Mir can avoid the bombs, he should have a clear path to a decision victory.

Another fight on the card is the one between Stefan Struve and Travis Browne. Struve will look to keep a distance as he uses his reach to pick apart Browne. I ultimately see this fight hitting the floor as Browne tries to evade the Struve's damage. Struve should then be able to to lock in a submission giving Browne his first career loss.

Middleweights Brian Stann and Jorge Santiago should be in the running for fight-of-the-night.  These two combined have finished all but four of their thirty-three combined victories. This fight shouldn't see the third round. It wouldn't surprise me either way which fighter takes the victory, but I'm thinking Stann by TKO.

UFC 130 ENTIRE FIGHT CARD PREDICTIONS:

Matt Hamill def. ‘Rampage’ Jackson by decision

Frank Mir def. Roy Nelson by decision

Stefan Struve def. Travis Browne by submission

Brian Stann def. Jorge Santiago by TKO

Rick Story def. Thiago Alves by decision

Miguel Torres def. Demetrious Johnson by decision

Tim Boetsch def. Kendall Grove by knockout

Michael McDonald def. Chris Cariaso by TKO

Renan Barao def. Cole Escovedo by submission