UFC on VS (Jones vs. Matyushenko) Predictions:

This is going to be UFC’s second and last card of the year on Versus and it seems like the promotion decided (at least for this year) for this to be the springboard of their most promising prospect in Jon Jones.  I’m sure the UFC brass would like nothing more than for “Bones” to steamroll “The Janitor” the same way he did Brandon Vera. And while it looks good on paper, we don’t know how things will pan out until they lock horns on Saturday.

On that note, let’s take a look at all fights they have on the card.

Tyson Griffin vs. Takanori Gomi (Lightweights)

Unbeknownst to a lot of fans, this is a fight that was supposed to happen a few years ago in Pride when Gomi was essentially the king of the lightweight division. While Gomi would understandably be the heavy favorite if the fight took place then, Tyson would have just as good a chance to win as he has today which essentially means I don’t think Gomi is as good as he was perceived to be.

Tyson has excellent takedowns that will negate Gomi’s primary strength which is his hands. Griffin also has enough strength and stamina to wear Gomi down throughout the course of the fight.

Prediction: Tyson Griffin by UD

John Howard vs. Jake Ellenberger (Welterweights)

John Howard might be coming in with an impressive winning streak but it’s what I saw in Ellenberger’s loss to Carlos Condit that makes me like Jake in this fight. I think Howard has a huge upside but Ellenberger will have too much for Howard at this time.

Prediction: Jake Ellenberger by KO in round 2

Yushin Okami vs. Mark Munoz (Middleweights)

This will be a battle of two high level wrestling guys. Okami is as steady as they come, his style might not be too aesthetically pleasing but he always gets the job done.  He’s been on near the top of the division for the longest time but his road to the title was derailed by current no.1 contender Chael Sonnen. Mark Munoz has shown significant improvement since moving down to 185. At the same time, he hasn’t faced anyone of Okami’s caliber and this is a serious step up in competition.

Word is out that no one trains as hard as Munoz and he has an elite camp with guys like Anderson Silva and the Noguiera brother as his sparring partners who will speed up his development even more, it just seems like he still has too many holes in his game that he still hasn’t ironed out yet. If Munoz wins, I won’t be surprised at all because I think he’ll be something special. I just don’t think his time is now.

Prediction: Okami by SD

Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (Light Heavyweights)

I like Matyushenko. His wrestling is great and is a hard worker who’s always looking for ways for his fight game to evolve with the sport what with him being one of the sport’s pioneers. The thing is, Jones is a pretty good wrestler too and he may have a lot more tools in his box than Matyushenko can handle. He has awesome takedowns, ridiculous reach, blinding speed and unorthodox striking that includes lightning quick punches, elbows, knees and kicks.

Again, I like Matyushenko. I just don’t think he can win this one.

Prediction: Jon Jones by TKO (Round 1)

“I like my weight division that I fight in, and I’m prepared to stay in my weight division,” Silva said through his manager Ed Soares.

Silva insisted he’s not bored fighting at middleweight, where he’s had six successful title defenses and scored a record 11-straight UFC wins.

There were hopes that Silva would face welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre or light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but Silva said that they’ll need to meet him at 185-pounds if they want a fight.

Newcomer Todd Brown (11-1) will make his UFC debut and replace an injured Thiago Silva against Tim Boetsch (11-3) on the preliminary card of UFC 117.

– After an injury recently forced him out of a UFC 117 matchup with Rodney Wallace, undefeated newcomer Stanislav Nedkov (11-0) will likely make his UFC debut against light heavyweight Steve Cantwell at UFC 120

“Off the top of my head, I think of the Superbowl card in February, but this is something that could change depending on his recovery schedule and the UFC’s business schedule,” Rua’s manager, Eduardo Alonso, recently told Sherdog. “But the way things are going right now, I can tell you that he’ll be ready sooner than expected.”

“Hopefully we’ll have something put together in the next two to three weeks and we can make a big announcement when the next Fedor fight will occur,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said. “If it were up to me and it were a Strikeforce event, we’d have Fedor fighting before the end of the year. When you have a co-promotion, there are a lot of different needs to fill so to speak.”

Strikeforce was looking for Fedor to meet heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem later this year before Fedor suffered a 69-second submission loss to Fabricio Werdum last month. Coker recently said Emelianenko wouldn’t immediately rematch Werdum and could instead face Overeem in a non-title bout or meet Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva or Sergei Kharitonov next.

Fedor has just one fight left on his Strikeforce contract, but both sides are looking to renew the deal.