Ultimate UFC on Fuel 8 Preview

This is an epic match-up between Mark Hunt, one of the oldest and shortest UFC heavyweights and Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve, one of the youngest and tallest. Struve stands 6’11″ and Hunt is just 5’10″, but Hunt will likely weigh more than Struve by about 25-30 pounds.

Struve was knocked out by Roy Nelson, who is similar to Hunt in that they both have tremendous power…and girth. Both fighters are on winning streaks and it’s rare that either of their fights go the distance. So this will be a fun one to watch. Here’s hoping Hunt breaks out the ol’ "Atomic Butt Drop."

The main event on the card is a five round battle between living legend Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva and Brian “The All American” Stann. Stann earned his nickname by spending over 1,000 days deployed in Iraq as a Captain with the US Marine Corps. Silva got his nickname because he looks insane. Also, because he is as fierce and aggressive as any fighter in MMA history.

Stann recently told ‘The MMA Hour‘ that fans should expect an all-out war. “If it goes five rounds, we’re both going to need plastic surgery. I suspect it will go no more than three and somebody’s going to be unconscious at the end of this fight,” Stann said. This fight will be the UFC version of ‘Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots’.

Diego Sanchez may often change weight classes, hairstyles and nicknames — from “The Nightmare” to “The Dream” — but he is incapable of putting on a boring fight. He’ll take on MMA pioneer Takanori “The Fireball Kid” Gomi on Saturday night. Expect fireworks.

Sanchez will likely start leaking blood at some point, but not before he gets in plenty of his own shots, hopefully including some power slams. This will be Sanchez’s first fight at lightweight in over three years and he’ll look to assert himself early and often in the bout.

There’s nothing like a nice pre-fight war of words to create some excitement. We have one here with Dong Hyun Kim, aka “Stun Gun” and Siyar “The Great” Bahadurzada. Kim was quoted as saying he hoped to fight someone with a bigger name and that a lot of people think he will win this quite easily. Bahadurzada took exception to those statements and took to Twitter to unleash an all-caps response: DONG HYUN KIM IS SCARED, BLAMES VALUE OF MY NAME... I'LL COME TO TAKE YOUR SOUL HOMIE, YOU'LL NEVER BE THE SAME...

Bahadurzada thrilled fans in his UFC debut, knocking out Paulo Thiago just :42 into the first round. Kim is 7-2 in the UFC, with the two losses being memorable. He lost to Demian Maia when he had to quit fighting due to a muscle spasm, and this happened to him against Carlos Condit back in 2011.

Sure, Thunder and Lightning could be the name of the newest cop show on TV, but it’s actually a match-up between Yushin “Thunder” Okami and Hector “Lightning” Lombard. I guarantee you this will be much more exciting than any cop show, except for ‘Justified’, which is the best-written show currently on the air. But I digress.

Lombard has made a living by knocking people out in dramatic fashion. After a lackluster UFC debut against Tim Boetsch, Lombard absolutely wrecked Rousimar Palhares back in Decemeber. Okami is solid if unspectacular, but his most recent two losses have both come by way of knockout. I expect nothing less in this fight, and I guarantee you will cringe at your TV when Lombard starts connecting with Okami’s face.

Main Card

Stann over Silva
Struve over Hunt
Sanchez over Gomi  
Lombard over Okami
Yahya over Hirota
Bahadurzada over Kim

Prelims

Fukuda over Tavares
Caraway over Mizugaki  
Marcello over Tokudome
Caceres over Kang
Lim over Guimaraes