My Picks for UFC 114

Ok, here is the Card for Saturday's fights with my picks in brackets.  Most of these are just Wild Ass Guesses so we'll see how far my hunches go this time around.  For the record, if you're a betting man, you'd probably win lots of money if you picked the opposite of what I jotted down as my track record is terrible as far as fight predictions go.

Main card

Light Heavyweight bout:  Quinton Jackson vs.  Rashad Evans (Rashad Evans by TKO in the 2nd round)

Middleweight bout:  Michael Bisping vs.  Dan Miller (Bisping over Miller split decision)

Heavyweight bout:  Todd Duffee vs.  Mike Russow (Duffe over Russow by KO - 1st round)

Light Heavyweight bout:  Antônio Rogério Nogueira vs.  Jason Brilz (Little Nog over Brilz unanimous decision)

Welterweight bout:  Diego Sanchez vs.  John Hathaway (Sanchez over Hathaway via submission in 2nd round)

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

Welterweight bout:  Amir Sadollah vs.  Dong Hyun Kim (Sadollah over Kim via decision)

Lightweight bout:  Efrain Escudero vs.  Dan Lauzon (Lauzon over Escudero via decision)

Preliminary card

Lightweight bout:  Melvin Guillard vs.  Waylon Lowe (Guillard over Lowe - KO in 2nd round)

Light Heavyweight bout:  Luiz Cane vs.  Cyrille Diabaté (Cane over Diabate - TKO 1st round)

Lightweight bout:  Aaron Riley vs.  Joe Brammer (Riley over Brammer via decision)

Middleweight bout:  Ryan Jensen vs.  Jesse Forbes (Forbes over Jensen via split decision)

When it comes to the Main Bout with Quinton Jackson vs Rashad Evans, I picked Evans mainly because he still has a fighter mentality.  He might have been knocked out once but I think MMA is his first choice as a career.  His mind is still in the game and I think he really has something to prove.  As far as his skill goes, I think he matches up pretty evenly with Rampage.  Unfortunately for Rampage, he's had a taste of the movie business.  Why not earn your living doing something significantly less self destructive than to keep pushing a fight career.  For this reason I don't think his head will be in the fight to win it.  He'll have jumped into the ring to shut up the nay sayers that trash him for dodging a fight with Rashad, but I think he knows his fight days are numbered.  Win or loose he's probably going to try for another gig in the film industry.  His biggest motivation to beat Rashad is purely the trash talking and mutual disrespect they share for each other.  There's nothing really on the line for him but his pride and considering how evenly they are matched I don't think that will even be questioned if he looses.  Rashad on the other hand, only has fighting to rely on for his grocery money.  Beating Rampage gives him a shot at the title and a chance at redemption.  He'll be the hungrier of the two fighters and in my opinion the clear winner.  I pick Rashad by TKO in the 2nd round.