The UFC will have their final FUEL TV card of 2012 tomorrow in Macao, China and the card will feature the return of Rich Franklin to the middleweight division as he takes on former Strikeforce champion Cung Le.
The fight card will begin at 7:40 a.m. ET tomorrow morning with three fights on the preliminary card on the UFC Facebook page and the main card will begin at 9 a.m. ET on FUEL TV with six fights.
If you are unable to watch the fight card live tomorrow morning, FUEL TV will replay the fight card at 7 p.m ET.
Rich Franklin (29-6, 1NC) vs. Cung Le (8-2)
This will mark the first time that Franklin has competed as a middleweight since 2008. The only fighter to defeat Franklin as a middleweight is current UFC champion Anderson Silva. He is 7-2 as a middleweight in the UFC, which included wins over Nate Quarry, Evan Tanner and Yushin Okami.
Le is the former Strikeforce middleweight champion and has gone 1-1 since coming to the UFC. He scored his first UFC victory earlier this year when he defeated Patrick Cote by decision at UFC 148 and that was the first time he had gone to a decision.
This is a fight that was originally scheduled to take place at UFC 148, but Franklin was moved to the UFC 147 card to face Wanderlei Silva in the main event. Le enters this fight with a foot that is not 100 percent. He injured it in his fight with Cote and this could be a factor in the fight. With this being a five round fight, Franklin may look to test the cardio of Le in this fight.
Prediction: Rich Franklin by TKO in Round 3
Thiago Silva (14-3, 1NC) vs. Stanislav Nedkov (12-0)
Silva will be looking for his first win since 2009 and recently left American Top Team for the Blackzilians, which he has said is a move he should have made sooner. He is 1-3, 1NC in his last five and his last win came in 2009 against Keith Jardine. After serving a year suspension for a positive drug test, he returned earlier this year at UFC on FUEL TV 2 and was defeated by Alexander Gustafsson.
Nedkov made his UFC debut last year after winning his first eleven professional fights. His debut came at UFC 134 against Luiz Cane and he won by TKO in the first round. He was scheduled to return at UFC 142 at the beginning of the year, but was pulled from the bout for apparent visa issues.
Silva has faced the tougher competition and is in need of a win in this fight. UFC fans know that Silva likes a stand up fight, so Nedkov would need to use his wrestling and stay away from brawling with the UFC veteran.
Prediction: Thiago Silva by TKO in Round 1
Dong Hyun Kim (15-2-1) vs. Paulo Thiago (14-4)
After starting his UFC career 5-0, 1NC, Kim has gone 1-2 in his last three fights. He is coming off a lost to Demian Maia UFC 148, where he lost by TKO after he suffered a rib injury during the first round of the fight. Five of his six UFC wins are by decision, but he does have six career wins by knockout.
Just like Kim, Thiago got off to a hot start in the UFC with wins in three of his first four fights and won a fight night bonus in two of those fights. Since then, he has gone 1-3 with his only win in this time period against David Mitchell at UFC 134.
Kim prefers to stand and strike with his opponent and Thiago likes to take the fight to the ground so he can begin to use his jiu-jitsu game. If Thiago is able to get the fight to the ground, he should be able to get the submission. However, if he can not get the fight to the ground, he may be in trouble.
Prediction: Dong Hyun Kim by decision
Takanori Gomi (33-8-1) vs. Mac Danzig (21-9-1)
Both of these fighters will be looking to put together back to back wins and Gomi will be looking for his first back to back wins in the UFC. Since entering the company, he has gone 2-3, with the losses against Kenny Florian, Nate Diaz and Clay Guida. Both of his wins in the UFC have come by knockout and has struggled when the fight goes to the ground.
Danzig is a former Ultimate Fighter winner and has not won back to back fights in the UFC since his first two official fights in the organization. He is 3-5 since starting 2-0 in the UFC and is coming off a win at UFC 145 against Efrain Escudero.
The longer this fight goes, the better it will be for Danzig. Gomi will have to keep the fight standing and stop the takedown attempts of Danzig. If he is unable to stop the takedown attempts, it will be a long fight for him.
Prediction: Mac Danzig by decision