The holidays are over and our gifts have been unwrapped, but there is one more present for fight fans: UFC 155. This Saturday in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the final UFC show of 2012 plans to knock our socks off in a big way. The FX preliminary card bouts begin at 8 p.m. (ET) and feature four great fights that could shape the bantamweight and lightweight divisions for 2013. Let’s get started. To start off the FX prelims, we have TUF 13 alum Michael Johnson (12-6) taking on TUF 15 cast member Myles Jury (10-0) in a lightweight battle. Jury has never left the first round in any of his 10 fights, winning six via submission and four by knockout. He’s very well-rounded with a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and can give and receive damage with the best of them. The fact remains, however, that Johnson has fought much better competition in his short career, dealt with adversity better and knows what it’s like to fight for longer than four minutes. Plus, he has the incredibly talent-laden gym in Florida full of the Blackzilians to get him ready for the fight. Jury is exciting and goes for the finish always, but Johnson will more than likely work his wrestling to make this fight as much of a grind as possible. Jury may need to attempt to finish off his back, and he opened as a +175 underdog (bet $100 to win $175) against the favorite Johnson at -225 (bet $225 to win $100) according to the MMA odds. Next, Byron Bloodworth (6-2) meets Erik Perez (12-4) in a bantamweight bout. This fight was originally supposed to go down at The Ultimate Fighter 15 Finale, but it was scrapped on short notice. Now, the two will meet in the Octagon in an effort to gain a foothold in the somewhat wide-open bantamweight division. Perez is a 23-year-old firecracker out of Jackson’s MMA. He’s riding a seven-fight winning streak and has the ability to impose his will on lesser fighters. He’s the type of kid that you know is a “fighter,” willing to do anything to get the finish. Meanwhile, Bloodworth has only a single UFC fight, a TKO loss to Mike Easton at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson, which was not the best effort by the 29-year-old out of Atlanta. The experience and coaching of Perez give him a definitive edge as a heavy -420 favorite against Bloodworth (+320). Then we get to see the fight we all expected to watch at the TUF 16 Finale if it weren’t for a vomiting Jame Varner (20-7-1-2), who will finally face Jackson/Winklejohn power puncher Melvin Guillard (30-11-2-1) in a bout that could possibly be one of the best and most exciting of the night. Since Varner’s return to the UFC, he has gone all out in his performances and been seemingly reborn. He knocked out Edson Barboza in stunning fashion (on short notice) at UFC 146, then took part in what was one of 2012’s best fights against Joe Lauzon. Despite losing via triangle choke in the third round to Lauzon, Varner still received a standing ovation. Guillard was on a five-fight winning streak that took him through 2010 and 2011, but the last 12 months have been rough. He has lost three of his last four fights, two of which came from rear-naked chokes, and then his teammate and friend Donald Cerrone knocked him out at UFC 150. Guillard is always dangerous though, especially in the opening minutes of the fight. This should be close matchup with Guillard opening as a slight favorite (-135) against Varner (+105). The preliminary main event of the evening is between two of the top bantamweights in the UFC who are on the outside looking in at the championship gold, England’s Brad Pickett (22-6) vs. Eddie Wineland (19-8-1). Both of these guys are killers and surprisingly never met in the WEC. Pickett has some of the best KO power in all of the bantamweight division, and Wineland was the WEC bantamweight champ before most knew what the WEC was. Both fighters are now Top 10 UFC bantamweights, and with champion Dominick Cruz out for possibly the next year or so, this fight has plenty of title implications. Each of these fighters can knock the other out, and both can get the job done on the ground as well. This one should be as close as it gets with Wineland opening as a very small -120 favorite against Pickett (-110) in essentially a Pick’em fight.
