Nearly 8 weeks have passed since the UFC's last pay-per-view offering, and UFC 145's title fight between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans is worth the wait. The main event is a grudge match that has been simmering for over a year. Originally these two rivals were on tap to fight in August 2011 at UFC 133, until the champ Jon Jones said he was having elective surgery on his hand. So Rashad Evans was booked in the main event of UFC 133 against a different opponent, then magically Jon Jones decided he did not want to have the surgery after all, and Jones defended his title in September by submitting Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Evans won his fight in August by knockout, but he broke his hand during the fight, and thus he was not available to fight Jon Jones in December at UFC 140. Fast forward four months, and here we are days away from the UFC's first mega-fight of 2012.
UFC 145 kicks off Saturday evening with televised fights on the FX network at 8 PM Eastern. Expect to see four to five fights in the two hour broadcast that leads into the main card.
Note: there may be a fight or two on Facebook before the fights on FX, so check by www.Facebook.com/UFC starting around 5:30 PM Eastern.
Like every sport, watching the action is even more enjoyable with some fantasy stakes on the line. Do your pre-fight homework by reading all of the SB Nation UFC 145 coverage, and then head on over to the following sites to get your UFC fantasy picks in:
Sherdog MMA Pick Em Game (new season for March & April!)
MMA Playground
MMA Weekly's Head-to-head Fantasy League: MMAF 181
MMA Junkie's Head-to-head Fantasy Leagues: UJC 63 and JFC 90
MMA Fantasy Fever
Enjoy the fights on Saturday. Sample UFC 145 fight picks for a head-to-head league are listed below:
11- Jon Jones -Sub-5
12-Rory MacDonald -KO-1
1- Ben Rothwell -KO-1
4- Miguel Torres -Dec-3
9- Mark Hominick -Sub-3
10- Mark Bocek -Sub-3
8- Travis Browne -KO-3
7- Stephen Thompson -Dec-3
6- Anthony Njokuani -Dec-3
5- Mac Danzig -Dec-3
3- Keith Wisniewski -Sub-3
2- Maximo Blanco -KO-2