MMA caps off its version ‘Senior Week’ on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV where 46-year-old Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture will headline the main event against 45-year-old Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman at UFC 109: Relentless. Earlier in the week fans were treated to a 47-year-old Herschel Walker making his mixed martial arts debut at Strikeforce: Miami and it seems that 50 is the new 30 when it comes to cage fighting these days. However, Coleman vs Couture should definitely pack more of a punch than the Walker affair given that both these fighters are true veterans and also former champions.

Further down the card top middleweight contender Nate ‘The Great’ Marquardt takes on Chael Sonnen in a battle for the next title shot against Anderson Silva, and long-time rivals Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra faces off against fellow veteran Frank ‘Twinkle Toes’ Trigg to determine the true ‘King of New York’ at 170lbs.

In the subsequent sections we break down each bout on the main card, offering our analysis and predictions for all the top fights this weekend:

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MAIN CARD: Serra vs Trigg

Its Upstate vs Long Island in this regional battle between two native New Yorkers who each have something to prove in the late stages of their respective careers.

Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra (9-6-0)
It was a little over eight months ago that Serra was last seen inside the octagon where he took home ‘Fight of the Night’ honors for his epic battle with rival welterweight Matt Hughes. Though Serra lost that contest via unanimous decision, he displayed spectacular ground defense and tremendous punching power that should bode very well against Trigg’s wrestling style. Being a jiu-jitsu black belt and former champion expectations are high for Serra, but as he only takes about one fight per year ‘ring rust’ may be the biggest factor in determining the outcome Saturday night.

Frank ‘Twinkle Toes’ Trigg (19-7-0)
Frank Trigg returned to the UFC back in September after a four year hiatus where he worked as a journeyman for various promotions including Strikeforce and Sengoku. Unfortunately for Trigg his return to the octagon did not end in celebration as top striker Josh Koscheck shut Trigg’s lights out in less than 90 seconds, leaving much to be desired for fans of the long-time veteran. Trigg’s strengths lie in his wresting and ground striking, but its tough to determine what level those skills are at based on his most recent performance.

Our prediction: Serra greases Trigg with some big hands early, then finishes the job via rear naked choke in the 2nd round.

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MAIN CARD: Maia vs Miller

Both Maia and Miller are reeling from recent losses in this middleweight match-up that will determine who is ‘in the hole’ for a title shot following the winner of Marquardt/Sonnen also taking place Saturday night.

Demian Maia (11-1-0)
Demian Maia finishes fights, period. Over eleven contests Maia has won ten times, nine of those wins coming via submission/KO/TKO which according to the calculator equates to a 90% finish rate. Said another way, Maia enters the octagon to hurt people, and does so successfully almost every singe time he steps foot inside the cage. His only failure came at the hands of top middleweight contender Nate ‘The Great’ Marquardt who knocked Maia out in 21 seconds back at UFC 102 in August 2009. It was a stunning loss for Maia who had previously steamrolled the competition in his meteoric rise toward a title shot, and we expect to see a fighter anxious to avenge the embarrassment he suffered last summer.

Dan Miller (11-2-0)
Miller’s resume and career story are quite comparable to that of his opponent as Miller also went undefeated in his four UFC appearances prior to facing Chael Sonnen at UFC 98 where he lost a disappointing unanimous decision. Despite the setback, Dan has reportedly returned to AMA Fight Club in New Jersey to continue improving his Jiu-Jitsu & Muay Thai and it will be interesting to see how his style stacks up against the Jiu-Jitsu/Judo combination of Maia who trains with Wand Fight Team in Brazil.

Our Prediction: Maia is a beast training under the legendary Wanderlai Silva and we expect to see him finish Miller quickly via knees & punches late in the first round.

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MAIN CARD: Swick vs Thiago

Two top welterweights with similar styles try to separate themselves from the glut of talent at 170lbs in the hope of inching closer to a title shot against the indomitable Georges ‘Rush’ St. Pierre.

Mike ‘Quick’ Swick (14-3-0)
Quick only defines one part of Mike Swick’s game who has been fighting under the UFC banner since 2005 amassing wins against such stars as Joe ‘Diesel’ Riggs, Marcus Davis, and Ben Saunders before losing his most recent contest against Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy at UFC 105 back in November. Swick took the fight on short notice and also felt that the British Hardy had somewhat of an advantage with the bout hosted in Manchester, England, but he made no excuses for the loss that put his title hopes on hold. Since then, Swick has returned to San Jose, CA to continue training with the renowned American Kickboxing Academy where he trains alongside the likes of top heavyweight contender Cain Velaszquez and continues working to improve his signature guillotine choke.

Paulo Thiago (12-1-0)
Thiago has quietly been putting together a very impressive resume, winning 12/13 contests that include a huge knockout victory over Josh Koschek at UFC 95 as well a memorable effort against Jacob Volkmann at UFC 106 just a few months ago. Thiago has never been finished, with his only loss coming via unanimous decision to Jon Fitch at UFC 100 this past summer. The Brazilian welterweight holds a black belt in both Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, and his submission skills are at the top of the pack among 170lb fighters.

Our Prediction: Swick has proven to be very dangerous, and we believe he will become the first fighter to finish Thiago via KO/TKO early in the third round.

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MAIN CARD: Marquardt vs Sonnen

There is consensus among most top ranking systems that Marquardt and Sonnen are two of the best middleweight fighters on the planet with the victor expected to earn a title shot against Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva.

Nate ‘The Great’ Marquardt (32-8-2)
Marquardt has been making a lot of noise lately regarding what he deems ‘disrespect’ from the UFC in not being award a rematch with current middleweight champion Anderson Silva having knocked out the likes of Demian Maia, Wilson Gouveia, and Martin Kampmann, all in impressive fashion. Since losing his first shot at Silva back in 2007, the former ‘King of Pancrase’ has been on a mission to prove himself worthy of being called ‘The Great’. Marquardt holds a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu and trains with Jackson’s Submission Fighting, a New Mexico-based camp that has turned out some of the best mixed martial artists in the world including Georges St. Pierre, Joe Stevenson, and Clay Guida to name just a few.

Chael Sonnen (25-10-1)
Sonnen is a pure Greco-Roman wrestler whose style closely matches that of a Randy Couture or Rashad Evans, which unfortunately for fans can result in a very boring bout. The majority of Sonnen’s wins have come via decision as he seeks to control and frustrate his opponents by pinning them against the cage, sapping their will while at the same time scoring points on the judge’s card. Though this has been a recipe for success against most fighters, Marquardt’s Jiu-Jitsu may prove too elusive for Sonnen to nail down.

Our Prediction: Marquardt appears unstoppable these days, and we see him forcing Sonnen to tap out late in the first round via armbar submission.

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MAIN EVENT: Couture vs Coleman

Dubbed MMA’s own ‘Senior Bowl’ Coleman & Couture are looking to turn skeptics into believers that these two can still hang with the best at 205lbs.

Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture (17-10-0)
Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture remains a fan favorite even at his advanced age and despite recent lackluster performances against Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera and Anotonio ‘Minotauro’ Noguiera where he split the decisions making him 1-1 on his curr ent six-fight UFC contract. Prior to those bouts Couture challenged Brock Lesnar for the UFC heavyweight championship where he displayed aggressive striking, a strong chin, and was wholly impressive despite succumbing to Lesnar’s power late in the 2nd round. That is the Randy Couture we hope to see in Saturday night’s main event, not the tired wrestler we have seen of late.

Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman (16-9-0)
Mark Coleman is best known as the original UFC heavyweight champion, being the first one ever crowned back at UFC 12 in 1997. He then went on to win multiple PRIDE titles, before falling to the great Fedor Emeliankenko in 2006 which many people believed was the end of his storied career as a mixed martial artist. Three years later Coleman re-emerged having shed 40 pounds to compete as a light heavyweight, and has looked better than expected in his recent bouts against Stephan Bonnar and Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. At 205lbs. Coleman’s cardio has definitely improved but we have yet to see him work his signature ground-and-pound which may be key in defeating the wily Couture. .

Our Prediction: We’re going against the odds here and predicting that Coleman will score a huge takedown that allows him to pound Couture out sometime in the second round.

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