by Chris Asbrock

This weekend is a great weekend for fight fans. Coming off the incredible UFC 202 card last weekend, the UFC heads to Vancouver for a free fight card on Fox on Saturday night. Before the UFC takes center stage, Bellator heads to the Honda Center in Anaheim for a solid fight card on Friday night. Tonight’s Bellator event is headlined by former UFC and WEC veteran, Benson Henderson taking on Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Bellator once again will put on a solid show as they appear to be moving on from the freak show fights and moving towards solid fights.

That direction was hammered home when they stunned the combat sports world when they signed (not yet confirmed but possibly tonight) former UFC welterweight, Rory MacDonald. MacDonald, at only 27 years old, is one of the best welterweights in the world and will always be remembered for his legendary fight against Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 last July. That was one of the best and bloodiest fights you will see. The signing of MacDonald shows the combat sports world that Bellator means business and could be the start of a trend that could change the landscape of mixed martial arts.

Will we see an exodus of fighters leaving the UFC for organizations like Bellator? That question remains but seeing Henderson and MacDonald getting out from under the UFC and Reebok deal and moving to Bellator could be the start of something big. Granted, the UFC chose not to match the offer Bellator gave to MacDonald, but the move to Bellator will help MacDonald make as much money as he can, without the limitations of the Reebok deal with the UFC. This signing is certainly a win for both Bellator and MacDonald.

The UFC is loaded with the top fighters and the welterweight division is deep so they may not miss him like expected. Bellator just added to their welterweight division and Bellator President, Scott Coker should be expected to toss MacDonald into the fire. This momentum Bellator could gain from this signing should coincide with the momentum that could be gained from tonight. Let us take a look at the two big fight cards taking place this weekend.

Bellator 160 (Spike TV, Friday Night, 10 p.m. EST)

A.J. McKee (4-0) vs Cody Walker (7-2)

Pick: Walker

Bubba Jenkins (11-2) vs Georgi Karakhanyan (24-6-1)

Pick: Karakhanyan

Derek Anderson (13-2) vs Saad Awad (19-7)

Pick: Anderson

Benson Henderson (23-6) vs Patricio Freire (25-3)

Pick: Henderson


Preliminary Card (winners in parenthesis)

Jacob Rosales vs Mike Segura
Chinzo Machida vs Mario Navarro
Stephen Martinez vs Jake Roberts
Joey Davis vs Keith Cutrone
Johnny Cisneros vs Andy Murad
Gabriel Green vs Alex Trinidad
Ron Henderson vs Steve Ramirez
David Duran vs Kyle Estrada 

UFC on Fox 21 (Fox, Saturday night, prelims begin 6 p.m. EST)

Joe Lauzon (25-11) vs Jim Miller (25-8)

Pick: Lauzon

Bec Rawlings (6-4) vs Paige VanZant (6-2)

Pick: VanZant

Charles Oliveira (21-5) vs Anthony Pettis (18-5)

Pick: Pettis

Carlos Condit (30-9) vs Demian Maia (23-6)

Pick: Maia

Preliminary Card (winners in parenthesis)

Sam Alvey (26-8) vs Kevin Casey (9-4-1)
Enrique Barzola (11-2-1) vs Kyle Bochniak (1-0)
Alessio Di Chirico (9-1) vs Garreth McLellan (13-4)
Shane Campbell (12-5) vs Felipe Silva (1-0)
Thibault Gouti (11-2) vs Chad Laprise (10-2)
Adam Hunter (3-1) vs Ryan Janes (5-1)
Jeremy Kennedy (2-0) vs Alessandro Ricci (0-0

The UFC will be taking the combat sports by storm these next few months as they run a card for the next eight weekends. After this weekend, the storm continues next weekend with UFC Fight Night 93: Arlovski vs Barnett. Bellator takes the next few weeks off and returns September 16 with Bellator 161: Kongo vs Johnson. If you are a fight fan, this is exactly what you have been waiting for. So sit back and enjoy the fight cards.

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