5 Main Card Predictions For UFC 174

3. Ryan Bader vs. Rafael Cavalcante

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUnWMJcAkhY Weight Class: Light Heavyweight Once upon a time, Ryan "Darth" Bader was the next big thing in the UFC Light Heavyweight division. He was expected to one day fight for the title, and had wins over the likes of Vinny Magalhães, Keith Jardine, and Little Nog. Then he met Jon Jones, at the time another rising prospect, and the wheels fell off. Bader was actually favoured by many to win the Jones match, though looking back, those favouring Bader might have been swayed by the fact that Jones was coming off a win over Vladimir Matyushenko - a solid name, but Bader had just defeated a Nogueira. Jones won the match, and after the fight, Joe Rogan announced in the octagon that due to an injury to Jones' then training partner Rashad Evans, Jones would get the next title shot, against Shogun Rua. Jones would go on to be the most dominant champ in UFC light heavyweight history, and Bader would drop his next fight to Tito Ortiz. He would win two straight after that, then trade wins and losses for a 4-fight spell leading into UFC 174, losing to Lyoto Machida and Glover Teixeira, but defeating Vladimir Matyushenko and Anthony Perosh. Rafael Cavalcante, meanwhile, is best known as a former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ, who would lose the belt to Dan Henderson after taking it from King Mo (possibly his most notable win to date). After failing a drug test in his final Strikeforce bout, his debut in the UFC saw him pick up a TKO win over Igor Pokrajac. Expect Bader to come out strong in this one, using his dominant wrestling and sheer strength. Bader takes this via TKO in the second.