(Couture vs. Coleman hype video by Genghis Con. Respect your elders, son.)

ATTENTION, POTATO NATION: It’s Friday afternoon, which means there’s still time to join MMA FightPicker and submit your predictions for tomorrow night’s UFC 109 card. For the thousands of players who have already signed up, we thank you, and we want you to know that we’ll be battling alongside you. In fact, BF and BG have both joined "Palooka Pool 30 #173" in an effort to determine a house champion. (Ed. note: The loser of this challenge will have to get a tattoo on his ass that says "Ben owns this. Not me, the other Ben.") So please join a FightPicker pool if you haven’t already, then take a look at how we’re answering the questions this week…

1. Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman at UFC 109: Who will win?
BF: Randy Couture. If Couture can only beat one type of fighter on the UFC roster, it’s the type that Coleman happens to be: old, a little bit slow, and too dependent on his wrestling ability.
BG: Randy Couture. Couture is the master of the gameplan. Coleman drives around Vegas for two days with his low-fuel light on because he’s always late to practice, and runs out of gas on the 215 even though he "put that little extra in there" to begin with. Difference in mental preparation, is what I’m saying.

2. Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman: Who will score the first takedown?
BF: Randy Couture. This is a little tougher to call, because sometimes the first takedown is determined in part by who’s gunning for takedowns right out of the gate, which should be Coleman. I still think Couture can stifle him until he’s ready to work for something out of the clinch, maybe early in the second round.
BG: Randy Couture. Ditto to all that. You might see these two guys try to prove a point by slugging for a couple rounds, but the Natural will eventually put Coleman on his back from the clinch.

3. Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen: Who will win?
BF: Nate Marquardt. Chael Sonnen says he doesn’t know what tools he has to beat Marquardt with. It might be the most sensible thing he’s said in weeks.
BG: Nate Marquardt. Okay, agreeing with you is starting to get very boring. I’d better start making some ridiculous picks to liven things up around here…


4. Will Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen make it to round three?
BF: No. Marquardt doesn’t need to play it too conservative when he’s much better on the feet and a good enough wrestler to stay off the mat when he wants to. Second-round TKO.
BG: Yes. Sure, an early stoppage by Marquardt is the logical choice, but if you had told me that Chael Sonnen would legitimately be ranked one of the top ten middleweights in the world one day, I would have set you on fire. Sonnen is not a scrub, he hasn’t lost by TKO in over five years, and he’ll do all he can to slow the pace of this fight to a crawl.

5. Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago: Who will win?
BF: Mike Swick. Swick has the reach and technical expertise to keep Thiago on the end of his combos all night long. Just don’t get careless and wind up like Koscheck.
BG: Mike Swick. Swick is anything but careless. Unless Thiago gets some of his BOPE homeboys to rappel into the cage, he’ll be outmatched here.

6. Will Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago end in a KO/TKO?
BF: Yes. Thiago doesn’t strike me as the type to stand around and get picked apart on points without rushing in with ill-advised rage some time late in the fight. That’s when he gets put away.
BG: No. Swick could just as easily put Thiago away by submission, and I also wouldn’t be shocked if the fight makes it to the last bell.

7. Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller: Who will win?
BF: Demian Maia. Hard to pick against Maia in a fight against a guy who loves the ground game.
BG: Demian Maia. Hard to pick against Maia in general. His KO loss to Marquardt last year was a learning experience; I don’t expect any more stupid mistakes out of him.

8. Will Submission of the Night be awarded to the Maia/Miller fight?
BF: Yes. If Maia wins at all, it’s pretty much always going to be thanks to a fantastic submission.
BG: Yes. Rolles Gracie poses a threat, but Maia will always be the favorite for this award, no matter who he fights, and no matter who else is on the card.

9. Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg: Who will win?
BF: Matt Serra. Angry midget over tramp stamp every day of the week.
BG: Frank Trigg. Headblade over colorful Long Island barbershop. It’s just been too long since Serra has done anything impressive.

10. Mac Danzig vs. Justin Buchholz: Who will win?
BF: Mac Danzig. Until he proves otherwise, we have to assume that Buchholz can’t really hang at this level.
BG: Mac Danzig. It’s do-or-die time for Mac. I’m going with "do."

11. Melvin Guillard vs. Ronnys Torres: Who will win?
BF: Ronnys Torres. Melvin will smack him around some, but that guy is a magnet for submissions.
BG: Melvin Guillard. Obviously Guillard is vulnerable to subs, but Torres is a UFC first-timer coming off a full year of injuries, and outside of Luiz Azeredo, he’s beaten absolutely nobody you’ve heard of.

12. UFC 109 main card: More stoppages or decisions?
BF: Stoppages. Contrary to Chael Sonnen’s wishes, he’s not going to be on TV for the full fifteen minutes.
BG: Stoppages. I’m assuming that Serra/Trigg and Couture/Coleman will go 15 minutes, while Maia/Miller and Marquardt/Sonnen will be stoppages. It kind of rests on Swick/Thiago. I’m tempted to go with "no selection" on this one. Damn it. At least this way if we lose, we lose together.

13. UFC 109 complete lineup: More KOs/TKOs or submissions?
BF: KOs/TKOs. Sure, you’ve got Maia, Rolles Gracie, and Ronnys Torres. But that still leaves plenty of other fights that will end on Queer Street.
BG: KOs/TKOs. Yep. There’s an awful lot of bangers on the undercard. And please, Ben, it’s Homosexual-American Street.

Thus, our personal face-off will be decided by just four questions that we’ve disagreed on. Tune in Monday to see how it all shakes out! And please join MMA FightPicker if you haven’t already!