Heavy MMA Sr. Editor Matt Brown

Bold: Brock Lesnar KO's Cain Velasquez

I know.  After his last outing, how could I ever say he's going to knockout someone as talented as Cain Velasquez?  Well, Brock is a super competitive individual.  He's not in MMA for the money.  He was already a millionaire several times over from his WWF days.  He's in MMA because he needs the fight.  He needs the competition to keep him sane.  He's watched the tapes.  He's not satisfied with his performance in the Carwin fight.  And I have a feeling he will work tirelessly to improve his standup before the Velasquez fight and continue to improve his evolving ground game.  I think all this equals the most amazing heavyweight we've ever seen in the sport...and equals a tough night for Cain Velasquez.

Bolder:  The WEC will prove to be the promotion of the year

The UFC puts on great shows, no doubt (UFC 116 might be my favorite card ever).  Strikeforce puts on very entertaining cards with some fun fights.  But no promotion has blown the doors off of the joint each and every event like the WEC.  The little guys flat out scrap and their noticeably higher gas tanks make for barnburners of epic proportions.  Critics blasted the WEC 49 card for lacking big-time fights and major star power.  And in typical WEC fashion, the event was near magical and is easily one of the top three cards of the year.  Their first pay per view card was worth every penny and their card on August 18 is totally stacked, even with Urijah Faber's debut at 135 getting pushed back.  2010 will be the year of World Extreme Cagefighting.

Boldest: Jake Shields will start to lose in the UFC

I'm not going to argue that Jake Shields is overrated.  He's not.  He's every bit the bad ass that everyone says he is.  However, there are tons of guys who are total studs that can't quite compete at the highest of high levels of the sport.  Do I think Jake Shields is a top five welterweight?  Yes.  Do I think he'd get beaten by Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, and Thiago Alves? Yes.  While his wrestling is superb and his jiu jitsu is fantastic, the same can be said for most of the other top tier guys in the division.  Where he lacks in the stand up game will prove to be his downfall against the cream of the crop.  Dana White and Joe Silva don't give anyone a break, so when everything is made official, I suspect Shields will be in with another top 5 guy by his second fight and staring at his first loss since 2004.