UFC 73 Predictions

Here are ultimate-fighter.net's official predictions for UFC 73 "Stacked"

Chris Lytle vs Drew Fickett
Lytle looked fairly impressive in the Ultimate Fighter Finale loosing a close decision to current UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra. Meanwhile, Drew Fickett holds wins over mega contender Josh Koscheck and Josh Neer. Fickett has also fought and lost to Josh Burkman, but has beated Kenny Florian. This is a tough one to pick, but given Lytle's fights with Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, I'm going to give the edge to Chris Lytle.

UFC 73 Prediction : Chris Lytle

Big Nog vs Heath Herring
Minotauro Nogueira vs Heath Herring is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's UFC debut fight, but it should be Heath Herring who is nervous. Big Nog already holds a win over Herring as well as wins over Mirko Cro Cop, Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez. His match against the monsterous Bobb Sapp is legendary. Minotauro's only weakness is his takedown defense, but that's rarely been a problem since his BJJ is unmatched in the heavyweight ranks. Clearly I'm picking Minotauro to win this fight.

UFC 73 Prediction : Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Anderson Silva vs Nate Marquardt
Anderson Silva stormed onto the UFC scene with a big KO win over Chris Leben. He followed that up by crushing Rich Franklin and winning the UFC middleweight title. He's sort of defended the title once (sort of because Travis Lutter didn't make weight) and won a submission victory over Lutter, but not before Lutter showed some holes in Silva's game, mainly his take down defense. Now, in Silva's defence, he was injured at the time and Travis Lutter is a real world class BJJ specialist.

Nathan Marquardt holds victories over some pretty impressive fighters, including Dean Lister, Crafton Wallace, Joe Doerksen and Ivan Salaverry. The real question is "can he beat Anderson Silva?" All of Nate's top wins have come by submission or decision, which matches up nicely with Anderson Silva who's losses have only come by submission or decision. Now, most of Anderson Silva's wins are by TKO, while Nathan has never been TKO'd. All of this leads me to believe that this will be a great fight. Although many "experts" have been picking Marquardt to win this fight, I have to go with the champ.

UFC 73 Prediction : Anderson Silva

Tito Ortiz vs Rashad Evans
Tito has more experience and better ground and pound than Rashad. The rest I put even.

UFC 73 Prediction : Tito Ortiz

Sean Sherk vs Hermes Franca
My head says that Sean Sherk is too strong and too good a wrestler, but my heart says that Hermes Franca will find a way to win this fight.

UFC 73 Prediction : Hermes Franca