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UFC Live is a mixed martial arts event by the UFC that will be held on March 21, 2010 in Broomfield, Colorado at the 1st Bank Center. This event will be the UFC's debut on Versus and will also be shown on Sportsnet in Canada.

I will preview and handicap the main event fights and give a brief online betting predictions for the undercard fights.

Brandon “The Truth” Vera (+225) vs.  Jon “Bones” Jones (-280)

Everyone is talking about Jon “Bones” Jones. Everyone sees his power, his speed and his striking. Yes Jones has all those things but he has them against weaker opponents. Anyone can look good against lower level fighters.


Jones may be a top prospect one day, butI feel he still has to prove himself. He is going up a level to fight a better level of fighter in Brandon “The Truth” Vera who has fought top level guys.


Vera has loses to Keith Jardine at UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben, Fabricio Werdum at UFC 85: Bedlam, and Tim Sylvia at UFC 77: Hostile Territory who all have been ranked in the top ten at one point. His last fight with Randy Couture at UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera I feel he should have won the fight. He punished Couture with brutal leg kicks to the mid section. Couture looked beaten but he got a favorable decision by the judges.

The knock on Vera is that he has the skills but does not train hard. He is a world class Muay Thai fighter and he will be able to match strikes with Jones in this fight. Jones has pure talent and is a natural athlete. He was a 2005 state wrestling champion while a senior at Union-Endicott High School and a national Junior College Champion at Iowa Central Community College. Everyone thinks he is a dominate striker due to his speed but he is not a technically good striker. He is fast and powerful. Against Vera who is a technical striker, Jones will be exposed for his lack of technique.

The key to a Vera victory is the kicks and his striking technique. Vera also a wrestling base and earned a four-year athletic scholarship to Old Dominion University and even and trained at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He is a brown belt under Lloyd Irvin has has solid grappling skills.

All Vera need to do to train hard. I believe he has been and it showed with his fight against Couture. He will dominate Jones with a better skill set on the ground and especially in the stand up. This sportsbook and betting hype is on Jones but I would bet on Vera who comes in as a +225 UFC betting under dog. Lay a lot on a Vera victory.

Junior dos Santos (-245) vs.  Gabriel “Napao “ Gonzaga (+205)

Gabriel “Napao “Gonzaga need a victory badly. If he loses to Junior dos Santos he might be out of the UFC. Junior dos Santos is the dominate striker and looks to make a good run for the UFC heavyweight title.

Gonzaga is the better grappler but rarely uses his dominate Jiu-Jitsu skills in his fights. In 11 UFC fights he only has 2 wins by submission. His failure to fight his game has been his detriment. The problem with Gonzaga is that when he fights a dominate striker he can not compete. If this was pure grappling match he would be almost everyone heavyweight in the UFC. But this is mixed martial arts.

Even though Gonzaga is the better grapple Dos Santos trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and currently holds a brown belt under Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Demian Maia. SO he can avoid any submission attempts by Gonzaga. He is a Brazilian heavyweight kickboxing champion with a kick-boxing record of 18–0.

The difference is the striking. Gonzaga will not be able to keep up and will get hurt nad knocked out. I don’t really agree with the online UFC betting lines as I feel thy should be closer. The -245 betting lines for Junior dos Santos is kind of steep but worth a small play.

Cheick Kongo (-395) vs.  Paul "The Headhunter" Buentello (+305)

This fight will have no grappling whatsoever. Both fights are white belts at best. Someone will get knocked out in this fight and Kongo is just the younger faster and more powerful striker. Buentello is now 36 and getting too old to fight. He has power in his hands and can take a beating.

If this fight was 2 years ago he would have beaten Kongo. I think Kongo is just younger, faster and stronger to win this fight. But it will take a lot out of him to put Buentello away. This is a perfect fight for Kongo; he does not have to worry about Buentello taking him down. In his fight with Frank Mir at UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez, he was more concerned about Mir’s grappling threat which lead to him getting hit. In this fight all he has to worry about is the striking.

The UFC betting lines for this fight are pretty steep. -395 is a large betting line. Though I think Kongo will win I am making a small play on Buentello.

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 Preliminary Card

Alessio Sakara vs. James Irvin

Both fighters really should not be in the UFC. James Irvin has heavier hands and should be able to KO Alessio Sakara whose stand up stance is straight. Because of this when he gets hit it will hurt more. He does not tuck in his chin and it will get hit by Irvin. Look for a KO in the second round by Irvin.

Clay Guida vs.  Shannon Gugerty

Shannon Gugerty is a good fighter but you can not match the aggressive fighting nature for Clay Guida. Guida will beat down Gugerty with speed and overwhelm him with pure aggression. He will pick up Gugerty and slam him down and the pressure will be something that Gugerty won’t be able to handle. The UFC betting lines will be pretty steep and not worth the bet.

Eliot Marshall vs. Vladimir Matyushenko

Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko has only lost 4 fights in his career. He has lost to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Tito Ortiz and Vernon White. Eliot Marshall is no where near any good as these fighters. Matyushenko will use his dominate wrestling base to control Eliot Marshall on the ground. Marshall might be a BJJ black belt but he will not be able to control the power and strength of Matyushenko’s ground and pound.

Jeep in mind that Matyushenko has never been submitted in his career and that is what Marshall is hoping to rely on. Bet heavily on Matyushenko for a TKO victory.

John Howard vs.  Daniel Roberts

Daniel "Ninja" Roberts had very good submission skills and has a notable victory over Anthony Macias. John Howard will be coming into this fight as big favorite as he has fought better fighters. He has wins over Dennis Hallman, Tamdan McCrory, Chris Wilson, and Charlie Brenneman and has loses to Dan Miller and Nick Catone.

But watch out for Daniel Roberts jujitsu. I think that will be the deciding factor in this fight. When the sportsbook open up the UFC betting odds for this fight Daniel Roberts will be a big underdog. Bet on Roberts to win this fight as a huge underdog.

The best wager is to make a small bet.

Brendan Schaub vs.  Chase Gormley

Brendan Schaub is a big fighter with lots of potential while Chase Gormley is strong and has a good wrestling base. But Schaub is a big fighter and will use his size, power and NFL abilty to overpower Gormley.

Schaub now trains with Greg Jackson at Jackson’s Fighting Submission and he will be well coached. He is suppose to be a purple belt in BJJ but I don’t that. Gormley does not have the grappling skills to beat Schaub and Jackson will have taught his enough sprawl skills to avoid Gormley’s takedown attempts.

Schaub will use his power punches to KO Gormley. Bet a lot on this fight depending on the sportsbook odds. If the lines are too large in favor of Schaub than it might not be worth it. But if they open up at in the -180  to -210 range it is worth to wager a lot.

Eric Schafer vs.  Jason Brilz

Eric Schafer is a really good submission fighter. He does have problems with strong fighter and that showed with loses to Ryan Bader at UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun, Stephan Bonnar at UFC 77: Hostile Territory and Michael Bisping at UFC 66: Liddell vs Ortiz II.

Jason Brilz is a strong fighter that has a wrestling and grappler. Jason Brilz will open up as a pretty big underdog bit he can fight. Jason Brilz is a stronger fighter but he is not as mobile.

Eric Schafer is just a quicker and more mobile grappler and that mobility will get him a submission victory.

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