WW: #3 Carlos Condit (10-3) vs. #5 Martin Kampmann (7-4)
Pick: Carlos Condit – Condit will take advantage of Kampmann being a notorious slow starter.
LW: #10 Donald Cerrone (13-5) vs. #14 Rafael Dos Anjos (8-4)
Pick: Donald Cerrone – Cerrone will outclass Dos Anjos on the feet.
WW: #34 Brian Melancon (1-0) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (0-0, #29 UFC MW)
Pick: Kelvin Gastelum – Very interesting fight as I didn’t think highly of Melancon before he knocked out a very good fighter in Seth Baczynski. But I think Gastelum is a blue chip talent that should be good enough now to win.
WW: #27 Robert Whittaker (2-0) vs. #43 Court McGee (1-0)
Pick: Court McGee – Court was actually pretty good at middleweight only losing to contender Costa Phillipou and a controversial loss to Nick Ring. Since, McGee has cut down to welterweight and looked pretty good. Whittaker has looked good in the UFC, but I still remember him losing to Jesse Juarez on the regional scene due to being outwrestled and outgrappled. I think McGee will be able to do just as good of a job as Juarez.
BW: #13 Erik Perez (3-0) vs. #14 Takeya Mizugaki (6-5)
Pick: Erik Perez – I’m not sure Perez is the next big thing at bantamweight, but he should be good enough to beat a fading Mizugaki.
MW: #19 Brad Tavares (5-1) vs. #39 Bubba McDaniel (1-0)
Pick: Brad Tavares – McDaniel’s undoing has always been the mental game. Because of this he won’t last in the UFC and Tavares should look good here to finally get some deserved 6-1 UFC record attention.
WW: #67 Papy Abedi (1-2) vs. Dylan Andrews (0-0, #35 UFC MW)
Pick: Dylan Andrews – Andrews is a pretty good talent that should get better. He’s certainly good enough to beat a one dimensional fighter in Abedi.
WW: #40 Justin Edwards (2-2) vs. Brandon Thatch (0-0, #4 WW Prospect)
Pick: Bradon Thatch – Mark my words. Thatch is the next big thing at welterweight. Maybe not as good of a prospect as Rory MacDonald coming in, but pretty close. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t finish Edwards.
FW: #11 Hatsu Hioki (11-5) vs. #13 Darren Elkins (5-1)
Pick – Darren Elkins – Elkins is for real people. Get used to it. He’s not going anywhere.
WW: #22 James Head (2-1) vs. #55 Jason High (3-3)
Pick: James Head – I’d love to pick High, but just like McDaniel, he folds under pressure.
WW: #59 Ben Alloway (1-1) vs. Zak Cummings (0-0, #24 MW Prospect)
Pick: Zak Cummings – First time Cummings is cutting down to welterweight. I think he’ll outclass Alloway.
LW: #41 Abel Trujillo (1-1) vs. #61 Roger Bowling (0-1)
Pick: Abel Trujillo – Trujillo still needs to work on rounding out his game, but he’ll out strike Bowling.