Intro
5. Rory "The Water Boy" MacDonald vs Mike "Quicksand" Pyle
4. Jorge "El Conquistador" Rivera vs Constantinos "Costa" Phillippou
Dennis "Superman" Hallman vs Brian "Bad Boy" Ebersole : ebersole by decision
Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort vs Yoshihiro "Sexyama" Akiyama
Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort vs Yoshihiro "Sexyama" Akiyama
Better Talk Game: Gotta go with Akiyama. He calls himself Sexyama and appears to fancy himself a ladies man. Look out Rick Yune, there's a new snazzy asian bad guy in town. Sexyama doesn't speak a lot of English but his press conferences are always hilarious. Vitor, on the other hand, just wants you to know about Jesus. I feel you homes, times were tough, but we'll pass on the spiritual advice 'til we catch up with the Dalai Lama.
Inside Scoop, Belfort: Ripley's believe it not, Vitor was the champion of this fight game before there were weight classes. No one wanted to fight him because he was knocking fools out in 20 seconds flat. Then he disappeared to deal with personal issues. Thanks to the Notorious G.O.D., he's back. That's right, he found Jesus. But turnabout is fair play and in his last fight, against Anderson Silva, he took a front kick to the fa-che three minutes into the fight and when he woke up he was in his dressing room. It was a real "Kobe, tell me how my ass taste" kinda moment. This is it for Belfort. If he can't win here he's headed back to Brazil and going into the coconut water business.
Inside Scoop, Akiyama: This dude came over from Japan with a lot of fanfare. It didn't last long. He picked up two victories then got submitted by Chris Leben and lost a unanimous decision to Michael Bisping. That puts him squarely in the "file under mediocre" pile. His press conference talk game is entertaining but he hasn't shown much in the octagon. If he can't beat Belfort, who appears to be past his prime, he doesn't belong in the UFC.
Prediction: Belfort has looked timid since his return. Too much church or something. What happened to the dude who at age 19, was finishing cats with strikes in sub-60-second matches? You're not gonna see that guy but we do expect Vitor to find Akiyama's chin and finish him before the end of the second round... if not sooner.