Sports City Line

Main Card:

• Light Heavyweight bout:  Randy Couture vs.  Mark Coleman
• Middleweight bout:  Nate Marquardt vs.  Chael Sonnen
• Welterweight bout:  Mike Swick vs.  Paulo Thiago
• Middleweight bout:  Demian Maia vs.  Dan Miller
• Welterweight bout:  Matt Serra vs.  Frank Trigg^[

* Light Heavyweight bout: United States Tito Ortiz vs. United States Forrest Griffin
* Welterweight bout: United States Josh Koscheck vs. United States Anthony Johnson
* Welterweight bout: Brazil Paulo Thiago vs. United States Jacob Volkmann
* Light Heavyweight bout: Brazil Luiz Cane vs. Brazil Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
* Welterweight bout: United States Amir Sadollah vs. United States Phil Baroni

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

* Welterweight bout: United States Ben Saunders vs. United States Marcus Davis
* Middleweight bout: United States Kendall Grove vs. United States Jake Rosholt

Preliminary Card (Non-televised)

* Welterweight bout: United States Brock Larson vs. United States Brian Foster
* Lightweight bout: Japan Caol Uno vs. Brazil Fabricio Camoes
* Lightweight bout: Australia George Sotiropoulos vs. United States Jason Dent

Stay tuned for predictions and the weigh-in - at SportsCityLine.com!

• Lightweight Championship bout: United States B.J. Penn vs. United States Diego Sanchez
• Heavyweight bout: United States Frank Mir vs. France Cheick Kongo
• Welterweight bout: United States Jon Fitch vs. United States Mike Pierce
• L ightweight bout: United States Kenny Florian vs. United States Clay Guida
• Heavyweight bout: United States Paul Buentello vs. Netherlands Stefan Struve

f you are involved in real estate business, you are very much familiar with the housing adage “location, location, location.” Not surprisingly, in boxing today there is a similar tune and that is “prediction, prediction, prediction.” This is the most common topic in every boxing forum and every boxing website on the Internet: Who can accurately predict the outcome of the much anticipated, mega-welterweight showdown between the pound for pound king Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and the current WBO welterweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto of Puerto Rico? Boxing fans from all over the world and of course, boxing experts (analysts, promoters, trainers, journalists, etc.) have something to say about this incredible and exciting match-up between the two best ring gladiators of the Sweet Science. (more…)

After five weeks off, the UFC is back on Saturday night with UFC 104, featuring a light heavyweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. We’ve got a full preview and predictions below.

What: UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun

When: The undercard starts at 7 PM ET Saturday, Spike TV will show an hour of fights beginning at 9 and the pay-per-view begins at 10.

Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles

How: You can buy it for $44.95 on UFC.com or from your cable or satellite provider ($54.95 in HD), or you can just follow along with our live coverage here at FanHouse.

Predictions on the five pay-per-view fights:
Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua
I’m a longtime Shogun fan, and I’ve been a little annoyed at the way so many UFC fans I hear from are dismissing him as not even a serious challenge to Machida, as if Shogun is just some bum who has no business in the Octagon with a world champion. I don’t buy that at all. I think Shogun is a legitimate No. 1 contender and a legitimate threat, and I’m looking forward to this fight. Having said that, I’ve long believed Machida was the best light heavyweight in the world — I had him No. 1 in my light heavyweight rankings even before he was the champion — and I don’t see him losing to anyone at 205 pounds. Pick: Machida.

Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell
This heavyweight fight is a way for the UFC to give some exposure to Velasquez, whom the promotion views as a potential future heavyweight champion. I actually think Rothwell — who’s bigger, better on his feet and much more experienced — is going to give Velasquez a much tougher time than most people realize, but I do expect Velasquez to take Rothwell down and keep him there enough to come away with a close decision. Pick: Velasquez.

Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer
Both of these guys are very good on the ground, but I think Tibau will show that he’s bigger, stronger and has better Brazilian jiu jitsu and submit Neer. Pick: Tibau.

Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Johnson is a great athlete and a great striker who, at age 25, could be a future welterweight champion of the world — at least if he can stay at 170 pounds, a weight limit he has trouble making. Yoshida has better submission skills and could get Johnson into trouble on the ground, but I don’t think he’ll be able to get him there. Pick: Johnson.

Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher
Stevenson came back from a two-fight losing streak with a big win over Nate Diaz at the UFC Fight Night in June, but I like Fisher, who’s on a three-fight winning streak, to keep this fight standing and beat Stevenson on his feet. Pick: Fisher.

Main card

• Catchweight (195 lb) bout: Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort^[1]
• Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipović vs. Junior dos Santos^[1]
• Welterweight bout: Martin Kampmann vs. Paul Daley^[1]
• Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg^[1]
• Lightweight bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca^[1]

[edit] Preliminary card

• Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller^[1]
• Middleweight bout: Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal^[1]
• Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez^[1]
• Lightweight bout: Rafaello Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz^[1]
• Welterweight bout: Rick Story vs. Brian Foster^[1]
• Light Heavyweight bout: Eliot Marshall vs. Jason Brilz^[1]
• Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Igor Pokrajac^[1]
• Lightweight bout: Rob Emerson vs. Rafael dos Anjos^[1]

UFC 101 takes place this Saturday August 8th from Philadelphia. It will feature a main event between lightweight champion BJ Penn and number one contender Kenny Florian. In addition, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva will step up once again to compete at light heavyweight against former 205-pound champion, Forrest Griffin, in a three-round, non-title special attraction.

Here is the complete UFC 101 fight card:

Main event:

UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian

Main card (Televised):

205 lbs.: Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva
185 lbs.: Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks
185 lbs.: Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida
155 lbs.: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Josh Neer

Under card (May not be broadcast):

155 lbs.: Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley
170 lbs.: John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory
185 lbs.: Alessio Sakara vs. Thales Leites
170 lbs.: Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer
155 lbs.: George Sotiropoulos vs. Rob Emerson
170 lbs.: Danillo Villefort vs. Jesse Lennox

Last year’s European No 1 Robert Karlsson will miss next week’s Open Championship because of his left eye problem.

The 39-year-old Ryder Cup star, joint seventh at Royal Birkdale last summer, has not played since the European Open at the end of May.

The injury has been affecting his balance as well as his vision. It was originally thought to be an inner ear infection, but then Karlsson was discovered to have fluid behind his retina.

He has been told it could take four to six months to clear up, but having started to suffer early this year the Swede had been hopeful he might recover in time for The Open at Turnberry.

See our Golf page for details.

The UFC Makes history on Saturday July 11th with UFC 100. The fight card looks just phenomenal and it promises to be a great day of fights.

UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar (3-1) vs. Interim Champion Frank Mir (12-3)

UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre (18-2) vs. Thiago Alves (16-3)

The TUF Coaches: Dan Henderson (24-7) vs. Michael Bisping (17-1)

Jon Fitch (18-3, 1 NC) vs. Paulo Thiago (11-0)

Yoshihiro Akiyama (12-1, 2 NC) vs. Alan Belcher (14-5)

Mark Coleman (14-9) vs. Stephan Bonnar (11-5)

Mac Danzig (18-6-1) vs. Jim Miller (13-2)

Jon Jones (8-0) vs. Jake O’Brien (11-2)

Dong Hyun Kim (11-0-1, 1 NC) vs. T.J. Grant (14-2)

C.B. Dollaway (8-1) vs. Tom Lawlor (5-1, 1 NC)

Matt Grice (9-2) vs. Shannon Gugerty (11-3)

Tickets for UFC 100 are available at Stubhub. Some of them are going for up to $45,000, so you know it will be a memorable event! Stay tuned to SportsCity Line for  the weigh-in updates and our expert picks and predictions, and interviews.

Can Tiger Woods do it again? Tiger Woods is in the unique position of not only being the defending U.S. Open champion but also the last player to win this championship at Bethpage Black.
Check out our Golf page for more info.

The shadow of last year’s final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer looms large over Wimbledon 2009. The greatest match of all time they called it. How do you top that? Well, we may never know as news reports say that Nadal may not compete in this year’s event. See our Tennis page for details.