UFC Fighter Luke Barnatt out for revenge in Kingdom MMA's picks challenge
At UFC 159 we published the inaugural Kingdom MMA fighter vs writer challenge. For this first event Ben Heather from Kingdom MMA defeated UFC fighter Luke Barnatt.
The pair had to predict the fight outcomes from the UFC 159 which was headlined by Chael Sonnen challenging Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight championship. On that night our own Ben Heather defeated Luke Barnatt by a points margin of 7-1. Not long after this Luke tweeted Ben to say he wanted a rematch at UFC 160 and to make it a best out of three series. If needed the decider will be UFC 161.
The stakes have also been upped as a wager has now been placed on the challenge as if Luke loses he will give Ben a signed t shirt, however if Ben loses in the next two events he has to send a signed t shirt to Luke. As you can see from the picture below of the two of them I am not too sure what Luke could do with one of Ben's t shirts but that's the wager.
The Scoring
The scoring will be the same as last time, if you predict the correct winner of the fight you will get one point. If you predict the correct method of victory you will get a second point and if the fight ends in a stoppage and you predict the round as well you could earn a third bonus point. If the fight goes the distance you can only earn a maximum of two points.
The predictions:
Main Event: Cain Velasquez (c) vs. Antonio Silva
Luke: Cain will murder Big Foot.... with classic high pace cardio warfare, the pace will be to high and Cain will take the win in rounds 2 or 3 via Ground and Pound.
Prediction: Valasquez TKO Rounds 2/3
Ben: I also think that Cain will give Bigfoot another beating on Saturday night, he destroyed him in the first fight, then destroyed JDS at no point do I see this even being competitive.
Prediction: Valasquez by TKO Round 2
Co Main Event: Junior Dos Santos vs Mark Hunt
Luke: This fight has definitely got to be a fan favourite on the card... giving Mark Hunt the chance to be taken extremely seriously, because although the man has been break jaws and knocking people out left right and centre, people still don't see him as a genuine threat, but the truth is you stand in front of Hunt... you'll be getting helped up off the canvas and thinking... what happened? But JDS is a huge test for the man and I can't really see him landing that monster KO punch, so I have to give this one to JDS via 2nd round Finish.. although my heart wants Hunt to win... my head says JDS.
Prediction: Dos Santos by TKO Round 2
Ben: I agree with Luke, I would love more than anything from this event to see Mark Hunt land one more monster punch and KO JDS to hopefully line up a title shot with the winner of the main event but I can't see it happening. Only one main has given JDS a beating and he is now the champ and before that fight nobody predicted it to go the way it did.
JDS is a beast with some of the best boxing in all of MMA and I see him using this to his advantage and keeping Hunt on the outside before finishing the fight late on.
Prediction: Dos Santos by TKO Round 3
Glover Teixeira vs. James Te-Huna
Luke: Last I saw of Te-Huna he was making an unbelievable come back against a flexible bald man... so I can't doubt the man! Prediction: James Te-Huna by Kiwi Beatdown!
Ben: Firstly I would like to thank Te Huna for giving all the UK fans possibly the best entrance to the cage I have ever seen and definitely that I have ever seen live!! He showed great heart in the fight with Jimmo as I spoke to Jimmo after the fight and he was convinced he knocked him out three times in the first round before Te Huna came back to win the fight in the last two rounds.
However I think Glover is a harder puncher than Jimmo and if Te Huna does the same again he will be put to sleep and wake up looking at the lights above the octagon. I can't bet against Teixeira in this and I also think he will finish Te Huna.
Prediction: Teixeira by TKO Round 3
Gray Maynard vs. TJ Grant
Luke: I don't have a huge opinion on this one... I'm just going for Maynard via Decision! Prediction: Maynard by Decision
Ben: I also agree with Luke that Maynard will win this fight, the only person to trouble Maynard has been Edgar and I don't think TJ Grant is on that level. I think Maynard wins and then goes on to fight Benson Henderson for the lightweight title.
Prediction: Maynard by Decision
Donald Cerrone vs. KJ Noons
Luke: The Cowboy has a lot to prove after being dismantled by Tony in infatic fashion... so I can imagine the man will come out fast and hard. KJ survives the first and gets TKO'ed in the 2nd...
Prediction: Cerrone by TKO Round 2
Ben: I also think Cerrone will want to remind the world just how good he is and in his last fight he certainly didn't do that. I rate Cerrone very highly and think with a couple of wins he can be right back up at the top of the division and maybe we could see him fight for the title at some point in the next 12 months.
Prediction: Cerrone by Submission Round 2
So that's our predictions for this fights, we will be live tweeting on Saturday night as always and we will keep you all informed as to how the challenge is going with latest scores throughout the main card.
Thanks again to Luke for providing us with his picks for this weekends fights and it just leaves me to say.... May the best man win.... again!!
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