Pinche’s Picks: UFC 174

This Saturday in Vancouver, Demetrious Johnson will defend his Flyweight Championship against Ali Bagautinov at UFC 174. I took a look at the main card, swallowed all the numbers, and this is what came out the other end; my picks for UFC 174.

205 – #13 Ovince St. Preux (15-5) vs Ryan “Big Deal” Jimmo (19-3): Ovince St. Preux is 3-0 in the UFC since coming over from Strikeforce, and has amassed a 9-1 record in his last 10 fights. St. Preux is coming off a rare shoulder choke submission victory over Nikita Krylov back in March of 2014. I don’t know too much about submissions but I am pretty sure Krylon had no clue what the hell was going on once he hit the mat. Not to take anything away from St. Preux, but Krylon isn’t known for his ground game. St. Preux does have good takedowns, landing 62.5% of his takedown attempts; that will be the difference in this fight. Although Jimmo was 16-1 before coming into the UFC, but has been a little inconsistent since entering the octagon. He has a 3-2 record in the UFC. St. Preux will be able to land his takedowns, and get himself a decision win.

265 – Andrei “The Pit Bull” Arlovski (21-10) vs #14 Brendan “Big Brown” Schaub (10-3): I’ll just be flat out honest on this one, I’m not the biggest fan of Schaub. He embarrassed himself and disrespected the BJJ community with his performance at Metamoris II, and he just has one of those faces that I don’t like. Although he seems very confident in his BJJ game, I don’t think it will matter against Arlovski. This is his first fight with the UFC since 2008, but I think he will put Schaub to sleep. Arlovski has never been submitted, and is the only fighter to KO Roy Nelson. Although, neither Arlovski nor Scahub have strong jaws, I think “The Pit Bull” will touch Schaub’s first. Arlovski by KO in the first.

205 – #9 Ryan “Darth” Bader (16-4) vs #12 Rafael “FeijaoCalvacante (12-4): Ryan Bader in my opinion, has been as exciting in the octagon as mall walking is in the mall, and I don’t expect anything else in this fight. Calvacante is hard hitting Brazilian that has never been the distance in 16 fights, and I don’t see this one getting to the third round either. The former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champ will end this fight in the 2nd round by TKO. Bader will have trouble taking Calvacante down with his solid takedown defense. Bader will not have an answer for him and take some punches to the face before the ref steps in.

170 – #2 Rory “Ares” MacDonald (16-2) vs #3 Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley (13-2): Although Rory Mac has been kind of slow and hesitant lately, I see him stepping up for this fight. Woodley will be faster than MacDonald, but I think Rory Mac will have a very smart and safe game plan to counter it. Woodley will have some exciting moments in the fight, but will tire down by the second round. MacDonald wins by decision.

125 Title – Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson (19-2-1) vs #4 Ali “Puncher” Bagautinov (13-2): I see this fight looking like one of those old school pin ball machines. These two little guys will be bouncing all over the octagon in the Fight of the Night. While Johnson is coming off a brutal KO over Joe Benavidez, Bagautinov is 3-0 since coming to the UFC. He dominated the Russian MMA scene and has been putting it on the Americans too. I think his streak ends here though. Johnson will out wrestle and out strike Bagautinov, and win this one by points. It will be an exciting action packed 5 round fight, full of high action moves and little man syndrome jokes. Trust me you won’t want to miss this one, unless you have something against little people.

If you are unable to watch the fights, follow me on Twitter @MarkilloTX. I will be live tweeting the fights, and my tweets are the bomb.com.

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