Taylor vs. Baroni | UFC 190 Edition‏

UFC 190 goes down this Saturday live from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The pay-per-view event is headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight featuring current champion Ronda Rousey taking on top contender Bethe Correia.

In the evening’s co-main event slot, former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will battle Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in a rematch from their days in PRIDE FC.

BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor recently sat down with former UFC and PRIDE veteran Phil “NYBA” Baroni to discuss some of this weekend’s UFC 190 main card bouts.

Here are their predictions for four of the seven main card bouts:

Heavyweight: Soa “The Hulk” Palelei (22-4 MMA) vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (18-7-1 MMA)

Taylor: Antonio Silva has gone 0-3-1 in his past four fights, with all three of those losses coming by form of knockout. “Bigfoot” has definitely not looked the same since going off Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) in February of 2014. The former title challenger (Silva) will now battle Soa Palelei, who has gone 4-1 since returning to the UFC in August of 2013, with all four victories coming by way of knockout. Although “The Hulk” has not fought the same level of competition as “Bigfoot”, I still expect him to pull off the win in hostile territory. Soa hits really hard and has some brutal ground and pound, which I expect him to use to put Silva away.

Prediction: Soa Palelei wins via first-round KO

Baroni: The giant “Bigfoot” Silva just isn’t the same giant without TRT. He has faced some stiff competition lately but his chin just doesn’t seem to be there anymore. With that said, Soa “The Hulk” sleeps the giant “Bigfoot” in round one. The first combo Soa lands will floor the big Brazilian and “The Hulk” will quickly put him away with ground and pound. I see a KO of the night bonus in “The Hulk’s” future..

Prediction: Soa Palelei wins via first-round KO

Heavyweight: Stefan Struve (25-7 MMA) vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (34-9-1 MMA)

Taylor: At 39-years old, the end appears to be near for Brazilian legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. “Minotauro” has gone 1-3 in his past four fights, suffering losses to Roy Nelson, Fabricio Werdum and Frank Mir in that time. Nogueira’s lone win since 2011 came against journeymen Dave Herman who he submitted in round two of their fight at UFC 153. Nogueira now faces “The Skyscraper” Stefan Struve, who has also struggled to find success recently. Struve is coming off back-to-back knockout losses, which he suffered to respective sluggers Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt. Prior to the setbacks, Struve had put together an impressive 4-fight win streak. If “The Skyscraper” can keep this fight standing, then I think he should be able to outpoint “Big Nog”. “Minotauro” has home field advantage in this one, but I believe that Struve has enough weapons in his arsenal to get the job done, even in hostile territory.

Prediction: Stefan Struve wins via unanimous decision

Baroni: “Big Nog” gets the win he’s been dying to get this Saturday. I think Nogueira exchanges with Struve and finds himself in trouble early in round one. But, in typical “Big Nog” fashion, he secures a guillotine choke half-way through round three and wins the fight after dropping the first two rounds. The crowd will go crazy and Nogueira will leave his gloves in the ring as he retires and walks out of the cage one final time.

Prediction: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira wins via third-round submission

Light Heavyweight: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (22-10 MMA) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (21-6 MMA)

Taylor: Let me start off by saying that Mauricio Rua is one of my favorite fighters of all-time. Unfortunately, “Shogun” has gone 1-4 in his past five fights with his lone win in that time coming over James Te Huna. The pairs first encounter 10 years ago in PRIDE was a classic, so hopefully we get treated to a similar brawl on Saturday. Rogerio Nogueira has not fought since his knockout loss to Anthony Johnson just over a year ago. Prior to that, “Lil Nog” had scored back-to-back wins over former champions Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz. With Nogueira’s inactivity and Shogun’s recent woes, it really is hard to pick a winner. My guess would be that Nogueira emergers victorious on the judges score cards after a hard-fought three rounds.

Prediction: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira wins via split-decision

Baroni: Shogun and Little Nog. Two of the all-time greats. Well, one of the all-time greats and a guy who has been in his brothers shadow for the last century. They had an amazing fight back in PRIDE and I would expect both men would be happy to engage in another war on Saturday. Rua won the first fight but it was a close battle. I think “Lil Nog” gets the decision win this time around. A moment of glory for the often forgotten twin of former UFC and PRIDE champion “Big Nog”.

Prediction: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira wins via judges decision

Women’s Bantamweight Title Fight: Ronda Rousey (11-0 MMA) vs. Bethe Correia (9-0 MMA)

Taylor: “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey vs. fellow undefeated women’s fighter Bethe Correia. Here is what I believe… Unlike some other women who Rousey has squared off with in the past, Bethe Correia actually believes she can win this fight. I believe that Correia has some good stand-up and decent punching power. I believe that Bethe has been training her butt off and will be as prepared as possible. But.. With all that said… I DO NOT believe that Bethe Correia can win this fight. I think Rousey gets her in the clinch, tosses her to the floor, beats on her for a bit and then mercifully takes an arm.

Prediction: Ronda Rousey wins via first-round submission

Baroni: The question here is how focused is Ronda. I know this Bethe girl talked some serious smack, but Ronda is out doing movies, has an entourage and is praised by the UFC, she has a lot going on in her life. Her opponent is a throwback to what a fighter is supposed to be all about. She is a fighter, she grits her teeth and works hard. You can tell Bethe is determined and that this fight means everything to her. It is a true Rocky story. She is the underdog and nobody is giving her a shot. Correia has upset written all over her face. She believes it is her time and she is going to be able to shock the world. You can almost smell the upset… But then you realize Rocky was just a movie. Rousey by first-round arm bar.

Prediction: Ronda Rousey wins via first-round submission

What do you think of the UFC 190 main card picks made by “The New York Bad Ass” Phil Baroni and our staff writer Chris Taylor? Share your picks in the comment section below Penn Nation!

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