By the time Antoni Hardonk and Patrick Barry touch gloves on Saturday, it will have been a month and 5 days since the last UFC event. This seems like an incredibly long time. It’s the first time since the Spring that the UFC went more than a month between events. If it wasn’t for WEC 43, I would have forgotten what angry men spooning looked like.

While Saturday’s fights are on PPV,  SpikeTV will air two of the preliminary fights live for free between 9 and 10pm. This is the second event in a row where Spike and the UFC have done this and as a fan, it’s great. I’m not sure if it has any effect whatsoever on the buy rate, but its a nice gesture to the fans. The first time they did this at UFC 103, 4 fights from the undercard ended up being shown.

On to the next one…

There are two super-duper important fights tomorrow. The first is a title bout between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Machida is undefeated and lots of people think he might be historically good. Shogun is a worthy opponent, though I don’t think his work in the UFC earned him a title shot. He basically got the fight because all the other contenders were busy. Oh, well. We’re a day away from the fight and if Shogun shows up looking like the former Pride champion he is, nobody will remember that he didn’t do anything in the UFC to warrant a title shot.

While I think its still too early to consider Machida unbeatable and a contender for “best alive” I do believe you don’t bet against a champion until they’ve been proven fraudulent. This is going to be a good fight. I don’t know if it will go the distance, but I see it entering the championship rounds. I’m going with the champ by knockout. Feel free to bet Shogun heavily now.

The second super important fight is Ben Rothwell vs. Cain Velasquez. Rothwell is making his UFC debut and Velasquez is an undefeated up-and-comer in the UFC. Both fighters are young guys with bright futures in the sport. Rothwell is 28 with 36 professional fights under his cap. Velasquez is 27 with only 6 fights. (4 in the UFC) The winner probably puts himself on the short list for heavyweight title contender. I like Rothwell by KO. Not sure why. Just a hunch. Velasquez is due for a setback, I guess. We’ll see.

Here’s the rest of the card. If you want to see the rest of my picks from the televised fights, go over to The Rumble for a round table e-mail discussion I had with my fellow MMA bloggers.

  • Josh Neer vs. Gleison Tibau
  • Spencer Fisher vs. Joe Stevenson
  • Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

  • Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer
  • Patrick Barry vs. Antoni Hardonk

PRELIMINARY CARD (Not televised)

  • Yushin Okami vs. Chael Sonnen
  • Rob Kimmons vs. Jorge Rivera
  • Razak Al-Hassan vs. Kyle Kingsbury
  • Stefan Struve vs. Chase Gormley