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Posted 05/24/2008 at 06:16 PM
UFC 84: Ill Will is an incredible card with three marquee fights. There are actually six fights I really want to see, starting with the first fight of the evening. I usually get there by the second or third prelim fight, but I'll be in my press-row seat for the opening fight of the night between Christian 'The Hungarian Nightmare' Wellisch and Shane Carwin.
The UFC heavyweight division is struggling right now, but Carwin is no joke and could make a sizeable impact on this division in the next year. Carwin is making his UFC debut, but I can see his rise through the division similar to French kickboxer Cheick Kongo. Carwin has a mixed martial arts record of 8-0, winning by a vicious ground and pound.
The light heavyweight matchup between Rameau Sokoudjou and Kazuhiro Nakamura is another fight I'm interested in watching. Sokoudjou has been a favorite of mine since his Pride outings, but struggled in a loss to Lyoto Machida in his UFC debut. Sokoudjou and Nakamura are both judo guys, so it will be an interesting fight style-wise. 'The African Assassin' has too much power standing up, and I see him prevailing by second-round knockout.
Another fight that isn't getting very much hype outside of the three main matchups is the Ivan Salaverry vs. Rousimar Palhares contest. Salaverry is a 37-year-old fighter that has only fought once the past year, and is probably making his last appearance inside the octagon. Palhares is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, who will want to take this fight to the ground. I would like to see an early submission, but am expecting the younger Brazilian to win by unanimous decision over a veteran that will provide a hard-fought challenge.
Here are all my selections that I didn't offer in my UFC pick pack.
Shane Carwin -180 First-round knockout by ground and pound.
Rameau Sokoudjou -265 Second-round knockout.
Rousimar Palhares +140 by unanimous decision.
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