being that it's a fox card, per usual i'm not too familiar with a lot of those names.. however, i would go simply because of the main and co-main.
Common, are you kidding me?!?!
demetrious johnshon vs
john dodson for the flyweight crown
donald cerrone vs
anthony pettis
rampage jackson vs
glover texiera
clay guida vs Hatsu Hioki
Mike Russow vs Shawn Jordan
ricardo lamas vs
erik koch
Mike Stumpf vs. Pascal Krauss
tj grant vs matt wiman
rafael "sapo" natal vs Magnus Cedenblad
In bold are the ones I know YOU know of. We've even talked about most of those people. This card is fucking -stacked-.
and FYI, Penn did retire - he got dragged out by Dana and Lorenzo because they basically begged him to fight Rory because Rory was calling him out, so it makes good press. Besides that, Rory needs to fight a veteran UFC fighter to have a fair run at the title - which he already deserves. Is Penn a good choice? No, Rory will stomp him, no doubt in my mind. It would be a very large upset if it goes any other way, but on the same token, it would inspire Penn to fight again and train hard. This isn't a bad thing, but really, the last fight that we saw Penn shine in was vs. Diego Sanchez, which, looking back, was a long while ago.
The main card and co-main, plus all the amazing sub-card fights, promises a very entertaining fight night. This is a free card everyone should (who are into MMA) will be looking forward to, for a lot of reasons. Many of these fights determine who is up for a title shot and who is next in line to fight a Vet/gatekeeper.
The rampage fight is a joke - rampage has basically stated he could give a fuck, but losing to Tex would show just how far he has fallen.
I'll take Clay over Hioki, but Hioki has been unproven in the UFC so Clay is serving the same point he has for nearly 3 years - gatekeeper.
TJ grant over Wiman because I've loved watching Grant develop over the years.
Cerrone v Pettis is interesting, because you never know what Pettis is bringing to the table. That kick heard round the world really shows he was deserving of the WEC finale belt. Cerrone on the other hand is a very capable fighter and has the record to prove it. Both of these guys need the win, and this is the -perfect- match up to see which will fall into obscurity and who will move on as a fighter. For both of them, this is an important fight in the UFC.
As for the flyweight title, I personally think that's a toss up, though I'll give Demet the edge.