MMA Universe Preview: UFC 68

Date submitted: 28 February 2007

Submitted by: GJ Poole

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UFC 68 hits the Nationwide Arena in Ohio on March 3rd with two former champions making their highly anticipated return to the octagon after losing their titles (in quite a fashion too!) against worthy opponents in TUF 4 finalist Chris ‘Lights Out’ Lytle for Matt Hughes and the latest sensation in the middleweight divisionJason "The Athlete" MacDonald taking on his toughest test yet in former Middleweight Champion Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin.

It’s going to be interesting to see if the former champs have improved any areas in their game especially areas that were exposed so easily by ‘Rush’ St Pierre and ‘the Spider’ Silva in their championship bouts last year.

The main event sees a return to the division of Hall of Famer Randy "The Natural" Couture taking on Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia for the Heavy weight title. The champ needs to up his game for this one if he wants to retain the title in one of the growing divisions which looks to be getting stronger with Arlovski, Cro-Cop, Herring, O’Brien, Kongo, Werdum- ranked #7 (debut at UFC 70 v Arlovski) & Gonzaga looking to dethrone the champ and after the performance against Jeff "The Snowman" Monson at UFC 65 if he should lose it could be a long way back for the Maine-iac in a more re-vitalised Heavyweight division.

Here is a run through of the Televised Card for UFC 68.

Jason "The Punisher" Lambert vs Renato "Babalu" Sobral

This is a good looking bout for the LHW division with to strong guys both coming off losses to Rashad Evans and current champ Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, although they both lost their last octagon bouts both put on good displays.

Lambert posses good strength in the clinch and nasty G&P game at times with Sobral looking to use his stand-up and possibly go for a text book arm-bar as he loves so much. For me is ‘Babalu has to be patient and not get involved with the strength of ‘The Punisher’ I feel he will gas and get opportunities to use his BJJ background to finish the fight.

Prediction- Sobral by Submission Round 2
...and setting up a bout with Ortiz.

Rich "Ace" Franklin vs Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald

‘Ace’ returns with a stiff opponent in ‘The Athlete’ who has smashed onto the Middleweight scene with the decimation of Team Quest members Ed "Short Fuse" Herman &Chris "The Crippler" Leben to his record.

I think ‘Ace’ will return to winning ways mainly due to ‘The Athletes’ stand-up display against Leben which was a bit dismal and if he wants a shot at ‘The Spider’ he better work extremely hard as he would be torn apart by the current champ in that department.

MacDonald is a good fighter but has bitten off more than he can chew with e former champ. Franklin will look to pick at his opponent with his jab and as Franklin is a good all rounder I can’t see ‘The Athlete’ finishing the former champ on his way to being the champ.

Prediction- Franklin by TKO Round 1
Next for ‘ACE’ the winner of Silva v Marquardt and a Swick v MacDonald match.

Andrew McFedries vs Martin "The Hitman" Kampmann

McFedries a fighter from the Miletich camp returns to octagon with his 5-1 record (only loss to TUF Nate Quarry in 2001) after his impressive debut against Alessio Sakara to take on the precise striker & Muay Thai expert Martin ‘The Hitman’ Kampmann also coming off a solid display against highly touted Thales Leites with a Unanimous decision win.

This on paper is the stand-up slugfest on the card as both will be swinging for the fences, but I feel McFedries chin will be a bigger factor as it showed with some of the shots he took in his debut against Sakara and still prevailed but ‘The Hitman’ is a different calibre of striker and has great accuracy.

Prediction- McFedries by KO Round 2
For the winner Dean "The Boogeyman" Lister or Ed "Short Fuse" Herman.

Chris "Lights Out" Lytle vs Matt Hughes

Lytle has never got that win that shoots him into title shot contention with losses to Riggs, Diaz, Parisian and Lawler on his record but ever there was an opportunity to do so then who better than former champ Matt Hughes and with weaknesses in his stand up shown against St Pierre and the Ko power ‘Light Out’ has ,it could be that fight which changes his career.

Matt Hughes will look to brush Lytle aside and meet St Pierre for the 3rd in their series of fights and a rematch for the title (St Pierre beats Serra at UFC 69 as well).

Look for Lytle to rock the former champ for the worst as Hughes will wake up and finish the TUF finalist with a submission, I’d say rear naked choke.

Prediction- Hughes by Submission Round 2
Hughes v St Pierre 3 at UFC 73

Main Event
UFC Heavyweight Championship
(Champion) Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia v Randy "The Natural" Couture

For me the Sylvia/Monson was one of the worst I’ve seen as a MMA fan although Sylvia did showcase a good sprawl defence I felt with his reach he could of finished the fight at any stage with an over the top right which was very bizarre to say the least. Now he takes on a stern test in ‘The Natural’ who looks to regain the title.

One of the reasons for the return to the octagon by Randy was the Sylvia/Monson fight and I think nearly every one can agree with the Hall of Famer’s decision to return to at that stage a weak division where he could reign supreme once more as champion, but how a few months changes everything.

This could go the whole 5 rounds and leave it in the judges. Randy will probably entice the champ in and try to take the big man down, Sylvia on the other hand will use his jab which he has spent a lot of time on and looks good, he’ll also try to catch Couture coming in for the clinch, but I’d look for Sylvia just to defend the takedown and use his reach.

Prediction- NEW CHAMPION, Couture by Split Decision
An encounter with the Anti-Terrorist Commander & World #2 Mirko Cro-Cop.

This should be a solid PPV with expected victories for the former champs and a possible new champion to the Heavyweight division.

Next stop TEXAS for {UFC 69: Shootout St Pierre v Serra & Sanchez v Koscheck!

By GJ Poole for MMA Universe