We are merely days away from UFC 98 and that can mean only one thing: I’ve been wasting money making predictions about winners and losers online. Here ladies and gents, is my guide to you for UFC 98!

Lets get the where’s and whens out of the way right now:

• UFC 98 Date and Start Time: May 23, 2009 at 7:00 pm PT / 10:00 pm ET
• UFC 98 Viewing: PPV
• UFC 98 Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
• UFC 98 Tickets: Buy & Sell UFC 98 Tickets at StubHub
• UFC Gear: Click Here to Get Up to 65% off at the UFC Store!
• UFC Gear: UFC Store Best Sellers – Click here to check it out!

I have been doing my research on this event for the last month and I am still not sure how these lines came to be, so consider this me going head to head against the odds makers. Also interesting about this event: the number of times the line up has changed. There have been six big named fighters preciously scheduled to fight here and each one has gotten injured causing a scramble to fill in spots. As a result I am only making two predictions.

(If you don’t understand how to read betting lines, go here and read an overly long explanation I wrote a long time ago involving Mike Tyson’s Punch Out)

UFC 98 Preview: Evans v Machida Odds and Prediction

“Sugar” Rashad Evans (+160) Vs. Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida (-200)

These are two undefeated fighters, neither of then gets hit very much when they fight, and both have been criticized for their stand up game in the past. Also, both come off of amazing KO victories. Lyoto knocked Thiago SIlva into another dimension back at UFC 94, and Evans won the Light-Heavy title by dribbling Forrest Griffin’s head on the mat like a basketball back at UFC 92.

Lyoto’s strength is his karate. This means he works angles and counter strikes. He isn’t going to chase after Evans nor is he going to be very keen to go to the ground with him. I can see Lyoto trying to keep this standing and continuously moving away from Rashad like he has swine flu. Lyoto’s best chance at winning this fight is for it to go to decision like 4 of his 6 UFC fights have.

Evans’ strengths lay in his wrestling and his much improved stand up. He will start the fight tentative and try not to move into Lyoto’s counters. I see Rashad eventually getting frustrated and shooting in for take downs. I also see him succeeding in getting the fight to the ground. Rashad will probably try to ground and pound if that happens; scratch that, when that happens.

MY PICK: Rashad Evans TKO Round 4

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UFC 98 Preview: Hughes v Serra Odds and Prediction

Matt Hughes (-250) Vs. Matt Serra (+190)

Two old men enter, one old man leaves. That’s how I feel about this fight.

Will I watch it? Yes. Will it be fun? Maybe. But at the end of the day what does it mean?

Serra is 34 and Hughes is 35, in pro-fighter terms, that makes them both Nintendo 64′s. Sure they were fun back in their time, and yeah you can go back every now and then to play WCW Vs. NWO, but at the end of the day you would rather play the new Mario Kart.

I keep reading people picking Huges because they feel he can bully Serra around and throw him all over the ring. I see this happening a few times, but for some reason I see Hughes getting tapped out by some good old fashion Jiu-Jitsu. The last few times I have seen Hughes fight he hasn’t been the Matt of old. He has dropped 3 of his last 4 and he hasn’t fought in over a year. This is usually the place where I would mention that Serra has a win over Georges St Pierre, and look there I did it, but Hughes does also.

This fight is going to come down to which guy gets frustrated. These two hate each other. Matt Hughes is outspoken in his dislike for Serra, and Serra has made it known he is no fan of crotchety old man Hughes and his redneck ways.

MY PICK: Matt Serra Submission Round 1

Due to the aforementioned plague of injuries and the appearent curse of UFC 98 those are the only fights I have any sort of insight on. While there are a few more interesting fights, there is nothing that I find overly compelling or surprising (at least in Vegas odds). I will mention that I expect “Professor X” Xavier Foupa-Pokam to win, and I know some sites had him as a dog.