"Countdown Show" for UFC 134: Aug 25th on Spike TV

In anticipation of the show, Spike TV debuts “Countdown to UFC 134 Tonight Aug. 25 at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami takes place Aug. 27 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. The pay-per-view headliner sees pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva defend his UFC middleweight title against his long rivaled opponent Yushin Okami.

Replays of the countdown show are currently scheduled to air on Spike TV on Aug. 26 (3 p.m. ET/PT) and Aug. 27 (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT). Versus and HDNet are also expected to air replays throughout the week, but specific plans have yet to be announced.

In addition to the headliner, the “Countdown” show is expected to focus on other high-profile matchups on the card, including the rematch between Forrest Griffin and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, as well as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub.

Things are heating up in Rio for this huge event as it is lined up to be one of the best cards of the year so far.

UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami - Full Fight Card & Predictions

UFC 134: August 27th in Rio de Jeneiro

 So the time has come once again! The UFC is finally back in beautiful Brazil after a whopping 11 year absence from the country that created some of the most well known and skillful mixed martial arts athletes.

The last event to be in Brazil was back in 1998, titled UFC: 17.5 Ultimate Brazil. The event was host to an evening full of great bouts including the middleweight champion at the time, Frank Shamrock vs John Lober and Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva.

 

But enough about the past, we wanna know about the here and now! So here's the card, I'll highlight who I think the victors will be:

MAIN CARD (PPV) 

Anderson Silva (c) vs. Yushin Okami: UFC Middleweight Championship 

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Forrest Griffin

Brendan Schaub vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Edson Barboza vs. Ross Pearson 

Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV) 

Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher 

Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller

PRELIMINARY CARD 

Paulo Thiago vs. David Mitchell 

Raphael Assuncao vs. Johnny Eduardo 

Yuri Alcantara vs. Felipe Arantes 

Yves Jabouin vs. Ian Loveland 

Luis Ramos vs. Erick Silva

These are my fighter picks, some of these I want to win, others I don't.

I've got a feeling that Silva is really going to push the fight this time, and if he pushes hard enough I'm sure he'll earn an early stoppage.

I'd really like to see Forrest come back into the picture and finish Rua with an early and impressive KO/TKO but I don't think it will happen.

Schaub vs. Nogueira is an interesting one. Schaub has already stated that he wants a KO victory over the Brazilian and if he rushes the fight I think he'll pay for it, however I do believe Nogueira will be stopped in the second round as long as Schaub keeps it standing up.

Being from the UK myself I will always back a fellow Brit. I think Pearson vs. Barboza will be a true war, its gonna be bloody and its gonna be violent. It will be close for the first two rounds but I see Perason dominating in the third and taking the decision victory.

Stay tuned this weekend for my coverage on the fights.