by Chris Asbrock

The UFC kicked off 2016 with a solid fight card and will build off the momentum from an incredible last few months. This is the second card of 2016 and we feature a card with a title fight featuring a fighter who is the champion and an opponent who never lost his title. Both Dominick Cruz and T.J. Dillashaw have shown in their interactions, that they will not be hanging out anytime soon or sending each other Christmas cards.

The UFC has done a great job in setting up great fight cards within the last few months. This year kicked off with one of the best fights you’ll see, which included a round of the year candidate. With this being a free card, you can expect another great event. This year is expected to be a big year within the UFC and with the first card being as great as it was, one can only expect the same from this one. As in the past, I make my picks for what should be a memorable fight night.

Ross Pearson (18-9) vs Francisco Trinaldo (18-4)

Chris’ Pick: Pearson

Travis Browne (17-3-1) vs Matt Mitrione (9-4)

Chris’ Pick: Mitrione

Anthony Pettis (18-3) vs Eddie Alvarez (26-4)

Chris’ Pick: Pettis

T.J. Dillashaw (12-2) vs Dominick Cruz (20-1)

Chris’ Pick: Cruz

Preliminary fights:

Francimar Barroso (17-4) vs Elvis Mutapcic (15-3)
Rob Font (11-1) vs Joey Gomez (6-0)
Ilir Latifi (10-4) vs Sean O’Connell (17-6)
Charles Rosa (10-2) vs Augusto Mendes
Tim Boetsch (18-9) vs Ed Herman (22-11)
Paul Felder (10-2) vs Daron Cruickshank (16-7)
Luke Sanders (10-0) vs Maximo Blanco (12-6-1)
Chris Wade (10-1) vs Mehdi Baghdad (11-3)
Ben Saunders (19-6-2) vs Patrick Cote (22-9)

Chris Asbrock is a staff writer and analyst for FTI Sports and can be followed on Twitter  and