UFC 144 PREDICTIONS AND DISCUSSION

Tonight the UFC returns to Japan for the first time since April of 2000! UFC 144 is coming to you live tonight from Saitama, Japan, home of many epic Pride FC events over the years.

Things are scheduled to kick off at AROUND 7:30 eastern time for 1 prelim fights on Facebook.com/UFC.  Then at 8:00 eastern time you can catch 4 fights for free on FX . Finally at 10:00pm eastern time, plunk down your hard earned dollars to watch the Pay Per View main card.

Your prediction results and leaderboard ranking will automatically show up in any posts made here. If you want to embed your full listing of picks you can do that also.   Your picks, as well as a link to embed the image, and the top of the site-wide leaderboard will all be available in the right column on this thread.

Enjoy the fights and good luck in your predictions!  

REMINDER: No requesting of or posting links to illegal streams of the Pay Per View broadcast.

* Edited at 02.25.2012, 3:11 PM ET *

Edgar gets a REMATCH.  it is pretty cut and dry, Frankie has some leverage in the fact that he had to rematch both BJ and Grey, due to a questionable decision and a draw.  Just because frankie likes to fight at his walking weight doesn't mean he is fighting out of his weight class.  As much as i hate to admit it, he is the one guy that dethroned BJ when BJ was walking thru the LW division.  People saying he needs to cut to 145 are having a knee jerk reaction, Frankie is fine fighting at LW and has earned an immediate rematch.  

Pettis beating Lauzon does not qualify as a title eliminator in my eyes.  if Frankie wins Pettis isn't even mentioned for a shot yet, he needs to either beat Guida or face Maynard before he goes for a title shot.  Miller-Diaz winner should face henderson regardless of previous Miller-Henderson outcomes.  Fight landscapes change, that was the original title eliminator so why change.

LW should look like this:

Edgar-Henderson II
Diaz-Miller title elim A
Pettis-Maynard/Guida title elim B 

I agree with @krazy Pettis/Henderson was a veeery close fight.  But it's no secret that Lauzon is extremely dangerous in the 1st round

A few match ups perhaps

Bendo vs Pettis II (Obviously)
Frankie vs Guida
Boetsch vs Herman
Bader vs Bonnar
Page vs Franklin
Okami vs Bisping
Hioki vs Aldo (Don't want it to happen but probably will)

@krazyhops, re read what I said. I said in round 1, he is top 5 pound for pound. Obviously I was exaggerating, I was trying to make (an accurate) point, that while Lauzon is fresh, he is one of the best fighters in the world. He knocked down Melvin Guillard, not many people can do that. Every single loss in Lauzon's UFC career came after a dominant first round of his, including Kenny Florian during Florian's peak. Saying a fighter is top p4p in the first round is OBVIOUSLY not 100% serious, I am actually a little baffled that you took it the way you did. 

And yes, the Pettis win over Ben Henderson was certainly clear cut. This is coming from a person who is a huge Ben Henderson fan and someone who lost money on that fight. There was absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind who was going to win the decision after the fifth. Was it a close fight? Hell yes. Was it clear cut? Also, yes. Do you know what clear cut means?

Great Picks ****estar. Always great to have an OG win a UFC event.

It seems like a given that I get suspended on fight night's haha. I get emotional.

did you get suspended tonight buddy, lol

@Swick Me too but that only shows that you're a loyal fan!

To be honest, I avoid most post fight threads on fight nights because of the rage people have (though Swicks can be freakin funny as ****). Though there are some awesome threads like the "Mark "I dont't give a ****" Hunt" thread on Sherdog that turned into a Honey Badger circle jerk. That was seriously my favorite thread in a LONG time because i was laughing at the majority of the posts.

On a side note, why is there so much negativity in MMA forums. I agree with Rogan in that Sherdog is insane in their opinions. It's either you agree or "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MMA YOU STUPID **** MMA NOOB..." That's why I love the tapology forums, almost everyone is nice to each other and listens to each other opinions and (usually) politely disagrees and gives their reason or agrees or funny **** is posted, which are all good in my book.

* Edited at 02.26.2012, 4:36 AM ET *

FOTY for now. Really good fight. Edgar still has chances in a rematch but the size in here mattered A LOT. 

As for the whole Event I got slaughtered. This weekend has been bad for me. Some good events but so far I'm only 52% :/

I'm skeptical that these results are accurate. And I know from experience that you must be wary of Japan.

i'm just stoked i did this good. lucky all 6 of my win were perfect! which did help out alot!