Expanding on the previous UFC 101 fight breakdowns for Penn/Florian and Silva/Griffin (here), we continue with the remainder of the main card.  With Sadollah, Almeida, and Neer being the favorites, I'm going to have to pick an upset somewhere, as I resisted temptation for both Florian and Griffin. Amir Sadollah x Johny Hendricks-  Amir was a very pleasant surprise on The Ultimate Fighter.  Having no MMA experience and being touted as an experienced Muay Thai striker, he shocked many viewers by winning 3 of his 4 fights by submission.  Thus, he's been difficult to read and assess. Johny Hendricks enters the UFC flaunting an established collegiate wrestling career, where he twice won the NCAA championships at OSU.  He spent some time training BJJ with Mark Laimon to facilitate the adaptation of his strong wrestling base into full contact fighting, and boasts a 5-0 record. Once again tempted to sway towards Hendricks for the upset, specifically because of Amir's yearlong layoff due to injury, his inexperience, the fact he came in 3.5 pounds under, and Hendrick's wrestling accolades... I will once again resist.  Amir will enjoy a rather significant height and reach advantage that I feel he will exploit on the feet, and it will also only compliment his chances of catching Johny in a sub.  With Hendrick's near-transparent gameplan of the takedown, I foresee Amir capitalizing after a well-timed knee.  Sadollah by submission Rd 3. Ricardo Almeida x Kendall Grove- Almeida, the "Big Dog", has been around the block in MMA, and features a top-notch Jiu Jitsu game.  After a 4 year layoff, he's 2-1 in the UFC, with Patrick Cote accounting for his only loss.  He has stated he will drop to 170 lbs. after this bout. Kendall Grove lost momentum after back-to-back KO/TKO losses to Cote and Jorge Rivera, and they were convincing defeats.  Conversely, immediately before this he had finished MW scrapper Alan Belcher, who has proven he can hang with the top fighters at 185, with a Brabo choke. Grove bounced back with wins over Jason Day, and the late Evan Tanner. Consistently placing significant emphasis on the height/reach factor in fights, I think Kendall (6'6") will give Almeida (6'0") fits by keeping him on the business end of his lanky punches, and will also implement his sharp Muay Thai in close range to thwart takedowns from the somewhat one-dimensional Almeida, and with BJ Penn being a training partner of Grove, I think he'll survive should it hit the ground.  As much as I love the "Big Dog", Grove represents my upset pick of the night by reinforcing Almeida's decision that he's too small for MW.  Grove by TKO Rd 2. Josh Neer x Kurt Pellegrino-  flip a coin for this one.  The fiesty Neer has re-emerged in the UFC after dropping to 155, and adds his tight stand-up and natural born toughness to a new size advantage for the new weight class. Kurt "Batman" Pellegrino is a grappling whiz out of The Armory with proficient stand-up abilities and a fearless attitude.  He displays strong wrestling to compliment his dangerous submission abilities, and he definitely has the advantage on the mat. Once again I believe height and reach will play a big role, and since Neer has excellent boxing skills and recently showed improved submission defense, I'll scratch my pick for Pellegrino by submission in exchange for:  Neer by decision.

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