UFC 133: Picks And Predictions

• By Mikal
• 289 days ago

UFC 133: EVANS VS. ORTIZ kicks off on August 6th in Philadelphia headlined by a light-heavyweight rematch between former champions, Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz, a co-main event featuring heavy-handed Vitor Belfort taking on Yoshihiro Akiyama in a struggle to stay relevant in the middleweight division, in addition to a welterweight fight between Dennis Hallman and Brian Ebersole, a middleweight battle between Jorge Rivera and Constantinos Philippou as well as another welterweight matchup between Rory MacDonald and Mike Pyle.

I don’t have a lot of strong predictions for this card, in fact I feel many of these fights are quite evenly matched, but this will be my best attempt to select them anyways. Strikeforce: Fedor Vs. Henderson scored me only three of five, but I was a much more respectable five of six on UFC 132.

Comments are encouraged. Let me know who you pick. For those in a hurry quick picks are provided at the bottom of this page.

RASHAD EVANS VS. TITO ORTIZ

This fight for me doesn’t need much of a write-up. We saw these guys go toe to toe in 2007. It ended in a draw in which Tito after winning two of the three rounds, had been penalized a point for holding the fence.  Both fighters are the same fighters they were then; both have aged (albeit arguably Tito more than Evans), but I see this one going quite similarly as the first time; a close stale-mate matchup with one fighter winning a split or one round difference unanimous decision. I’ll take Tito.

Light-heavyweight Bout: Tito Ortiz def. Rashad Evans by UD.

VITOR BELFORT VS. YOSHIHIRO AKIYAMA

Vitor Belfort is a hard-hitting knockout artist. Before his recent loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 126, Belfort had won six of his last seven, five of them by KO/TKO, four in the first round. After being embarrassed by Silva, Belfort will be hungry for a win, to get back on track and to score himself another title shot and avenge his most recent loss.

Yoshihiro Akiyama after owning a respectable thirteen wins and one loss has now lost two consecutive to Chris Leben and Michael Bisping. This is critical because of the unofficial rule of three strikes in the UFC. To his credit, Akiyama has earned fight-of-the-night honors in each of his last three.

Akiyama may find himself on the outside of the UFC looking in after this one. I see Akiyama going to sleep in this one as Belfort scores an early TKO.

Middleweight Bout: Vitor Belfort def. Yoshihiro Akiyama by TKO.

DENNIS HALLMAN VS. BRIAN EBERSOLE

Both Dennis Hallman and Brian Ebersole are MMA veterans bringing tons of experience into this fight. Together, the two have nearly 130 career fights with both winning about 75% of those fights. Both fighters have phenomenal finishing records combing for 58 submission victories and 18 KO/TKO. This is a crap shoot for me.

Welterweight Bout: Dennis Hallman def. Brian Ebersole by SD.

RORY MACDONALD VS. MIKE PYLE

This fight is very intriguing for me. The winner of this fight will soon find themselves in the discussion of the upper echelon of the welterweight division. With Georges St. Pierre putting his belt on the line against Nick Diaz at UFC 137 and Carlos Condit battling B.J. Penn likely as the next top contender also at UFC 137, the winner of Rory MacDonald and Mike Pyle may be only a fight or two away from earning the following shot.

Rory MacDonald was well on his way to welterweight gold with a career record of ten wins with no losses until he ran into former WEC champion, Carlos Condit. In his match again Condit, MacDonald claimed the first two rounds fairly easily and controlled the fight even through the beginning of round three. As the decision victory seemed inevitable, Condit was able to take advantage when he brought the fight to the mat, smashing down with elbows, breaking MacDonald’s orbital and ending in a very late TKO with only seven seconds remaining. Had MacDonald lasted those few seconds, at worst, he’d have walked away with a draw and would probably be in a similar position as Condit finds himself in currently.

Mike Pyle has won three straight with impressive performances, delivering John Hathaway’s single career loss, and sending Ricardo Almeida into retirement.

MacDonald followed up his Condit loss with a win over Nate Diaz at UFC 129 to get back on track. Though it won’t be easy, MacDonald should have what it takes to pull out a unanimous decision victory in this one. It will make for an interesting rematch for the title, when Condit smashes Penn, and claims the title from St. Pierre (sneak peak to future predictions).

Welterweight Bout: Rory MacDonald def. Mike Pyle by UD.

MAIN CARD PREDICTIONS (Pay-Per-View)

Light Heavyweight bout: Tito Ortiz def. Rashad Evans by UD.

Middleweight bout: Vitor Belfort def. Yoshihiro Akiyama by TKO.

Welterweight bout: Dennis Hallman def. Brian Ebersole by SD.

Middleweight bout: Jorge Rivera def. Costantinos Philippou TKO.

Welterweight bout: Rory MacDonald def. Mike Pyle by UD.

PRELIMINARY CARD PREDICTIONS (Spike TV televised)

Light Heavyweight bout: Alexander Gustafsson def. Matt Hamill by TKO.

Featherweight bout: Chad Mendes def. Rani Yahya by UD.

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

Bantamweight bout: Ivan Menjivar vs. Nick Pace

Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Mike Pierce

Featherweight bout: Mike Brown vs. Nam Phan

Middleweight bout: Rafael Natal vs. Paul Bradley

For more event info click UFC 133: EVANS VS. ORITZ. Check back for weigh-ins, live results and play-by-play and additional UFC 133 coverage coming soon.