The UFC returned to television Saturday night with UFC Fight Night 116, featuring a main event of former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold taking on ex-WSOF two-division champion David Branch.
Branch was successful in his UFC debut earlier this year, while Rockhold was getting back in the octagon for the first time since losing his title to Michael Bisping at UFC 199. The long layoff was in part due to knee surgery, and the question of ring rust loomed large for Rockhold at UFC Pittsburgh.
Cageside Press has our staff picks ready for Saturday’s card — check them out below!
| Justin Ledet vs. Zu Anyanwu | Kumaru Usman vs. Sergio Moraes | Gregor Gillespie vs. Jason Gonzalez | Hector Lombard vs. Anthony Smith | Mike Perry vs. Alex Reyes | Luke Rockhold vs. David Branch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heath Harshman (51-30) |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Jason Payne (30-18) | | | |  | |  |
| Paarth Pande (44-31) | | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (46-35) | | | | | | |
| Harry Davies (45-36) |  | | | | | |
| Mike McClory (36-31) | | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (42-39) | | | | | | |
| Eddie Law (39-42) | | | | | | |
In a rare occurrence, five of our writers came to a consensus on their picks. Breaking it down, in the main event, all but two of our staff members sided with former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. Rockhold was entering the bout off a long layoff, but David Branch was facing a stiff step up in competition against the ex-Strikeforce and UFC title holder.
The co-main event of Mike Perry vs. late replacement Alex Reyes saw every single staff member side with Perry. However, this could mark the one sleeper pick of the card, as Reyes enters the fight on a twelve fight win streak with twelve finishes, including four straight submissions.
Two other unanimous picks were selected by Cageside press staff. Ultimate Fighter winner Kumaru Usman was given the nod to defeat Sergio Moraes, despite Moraes having not lost in five years. And Gregor Gillespie was also a unanimous pick by our staff in his fight against Jason Gonzalez.
UFC Pittsburgh takes place September 16 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. Check our UFC events page for full coverage of the fight!
