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theMMAdigest.com will be featuring predictions from members of the MMA community leading up to UFC 91.

“Much as it pains me to say, I think Lesnar will win. Couture is legend and a pioneer and has proven that he can beat bigger men. But at 45, with 15 months of cage rust, this is likely one puzzle even Captain America can’t solve. Lesnar is a freak. He’ll enter that cage at 275 lbs. and move like a lightweight. Power and speed unseen in a man his size. He may not be a ground expert, but don’t think he hasn’t been training submission defence since the loss to Frank Mir.  I predict a second round KO for Lesnar. Too bad, because Randy truly is one of the nicest and most knowledgable men in the sport.”

-Jose Rodriguez of the Toronto Sun

Brock Lesnar has the ability to plant Randy Couture on his back and if that happens it will be very interesting to see how Couutre deals with that. In the past this was precisely the reason he left heavyweight–having bigger guys getting on top of him not not being able to deal with it. Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett were the prime culprits. This time around Couture has a much more colossal fighter who can get on top of him in Brock Lesnar. He`ll likely walk into the cage about 275 pounds and that is a hefty weight to have on top of you raining down fists.

Couture however feels he has progressed since the days where he was outmatched from the bottom against Rodriguez and Barnett. Indeed his experience working BJJ over the years and dealing with problematic positions from his back will serve him well against Lesnar. In training for Gabriel Gonzaga, Couture worked on these bad situations but they were not tested in the Octagon as Gonzaga never had a chance to work top position in the fight.

This time around Couture will not likely elude the stick situation of being on the bottom. With such a great wrestler as Lesnar standing across the cage for potentially 5 rounds, you expect we will see Couture fight off his back. It is sort of like when Couture fought Kevin `The Monster`Randleman and had to fight off his back–trying submission attempts and scrambling to get back up. This time around though the monster he is fighting is progressively larger and more frightening. Nevertheless Couture wouldn`t have it any other way. This will be a chance for him to show how far he has progressed in the MMA realm and that he can handle whatever comes his way in the cage.

“It’s a huge fight, the biggest fight of the year, period…But all I am thinking about is November 15 and ramming my size XXXXL gloves into his mouth.”

–Brock Lesnar talking about Randy Couture in the Sun 

Oct. 31, 2008

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP^®

CONFIRMS FINAL BOUTS ON THE MAIN CARD FOR UFC 91: COUTURE vs. LESNAR

JOE STEVENSON VS. KENNY FLORIAN

NICK CATONE VS. AMIR SADOLLAH

JOSH HENDRICKS VS. GABRIEL GONZAGA

DEMIAN MAIA VS. NATE QUARRY

SATURDAY, NOV. 15, 2008

LIVE FROM MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – What will happen when two explosive lightweight title contenders meet in the Octagon™ on Saturday, November 15? The Ultimate Fighter® Season 2 welterweight winner Joe “Daddy” Stevenson and Kenny “KenFlo” Florian will answer that question when they clash to see which fighter will continue their ascension up the lightweight ladder when the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) presents UFC 91: COUTURE vs. LESNAR, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas .

UFC 91: COUTURE vs. LESNAR will be available live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.95 for standard definition or high-definition broadcasts (where available).

Tickets for UFC 91: COUTURE vs. LESNAR are on sale now and are priced at $1000, $750, $500, $300, $150 and $75. Tickets are available at the MGM Grand Garden Arena box office, all Ticketmaster locations, and by telephone at 800-929-1111 or 702-891-7777 and all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Macy’s West at the Fashion Show Mall and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (702) 474-4000.  Tickets also are available for purchase at www.ufc.com, www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

A Westwood, Mass. native, Kenny Florian (12-3) 5’10”/155 lbs. is on a five-match win streak with two wins coming by submission and two by TKO. Coming off a unanimous decision victory against Roger Huerta in August, “KenFlo” is preparing for one of his toughest matches to date.

“Joe always comes to fight,” Florian said. “He’s very well rounded. I expect the fight to be a war. I think a win over Joe Stevenson will make me the No. 1 contender for the lightweight belt.”

Joe Stevenson (5’7”/155 lbs.) has the experience and the drive to ruin Florian’s plans. At only 26, The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 welterweight winner has already amassed a 34-8-1 record. The Torrance , Calif. fighter has won five out of his last six fights, with his only loss coming against UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn. A win over Florian could put him back in contention for the lightweight championship.

“Fighting a person like Kenny can get you back in the title picture,” Stevenson said. “I consider very few people in the lightweight division a threat on the ground. Standing, I don’t see him with knockout power. People are putting him as the favorite and I don’t know why.”

Last season’s The Ultimate Fighter winner Amir Sadollah (2-0) 5’11”/185 lbs. will have his first true UFC test when he faces undefeated New Jersey native and former NCAA Division I wrestler Nick Catone (6-0) 5’9”/185 lbs. Sadollah, a Brooklyn, NY native who now fights out of Las Vegas, has shown an impressive ground game with two straight submissions against CB Dollaway, the last coming in The Ultimate Fighter 7 finale. The middleweight is going to need all of his skills if he plans on trading with Catone, who has taken out his last four opponents in the first round.

Brazil ’s Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga (9-3) 6’1”/242 lbs. has devastated opponents with his striking and world-class grappling in his time with the UFC. The Ludlow , Mass. trained fighter owns a highlight-reel head kick KO over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and most recently an impressive submission victory over Justin McCully. Now the decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt will need those ground skills against former two-time All-American wrestler and Mansfield, Ohio product Josh Hendricks (15-4) 6’2”/246 lbs., who is undefeated in his last 10 fights.

When power-puncher Nate “Rock” Quarry (16-2) 6’0/185 lbs. locks horns with Brazilian submission machine Demian Maia (9-0) 6’0”/185 lbs., the question remains: Where will this fight end up? Winner of his last two fights, Arcata , California ’s Quarry is a mixed martial arts veteran that has lost only one match in the UFC, a KO defeat to former middleweight champion Rich Franklin. Ryan Jensen, Ed Herman and Jason MacDonald all can talk extensively about Maia’s submission prowess. The BJJ black belt has submitted all three fighters in the UFC and now looks to sink the “Rock.”

Randy Couture hasn’t fought in over a year (8/25/2007), while Brock Lesnar has fought twice within that time frame (8/9/2008), (2/2/2008).