Junior Dos Santos needs to be considered a heavyweight title contender. The Brazilian has now dispatched his first four opponents inside the Octagon in devastating fashion, with MMA veteran Gilbert Yvel his latest victim courtesy of a heavy left hand. After proving himself against the UFC’s second tier heavyweights, it’s time to put Dos Santos in the cage with the likes of Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. If he can pick off a couple of those fighters, then Dos Santos should have a title shot within the next twelve months. Is there a harder hitter in MMA?

Paul Daley is still an unknown entity. One thing we know for sure is that if Daley gets his paws on you standing up, you’re in trouble. He proved that again at UFC 108 against young BJJ wiz Dustin Hazelett. I wrote before the event that I’d be more impressed with a victory over Hazelett than I was with Daley’s debut UFC performance against Martin Kampmann. Well, I have to modify that sentiment a bit because I don’t know that the victory really taught us anything about Daley. The main problem is that we just don’t know how far his ground game has progressed since losses to Nick Thompson and Jake Shields prior to coming to the UFC. What would Daley have done if he had faced a wiser, more seasoned (and stronger) Hazelett?

Regardless, Daley took care of business and reports coming out of the UFC 108 post-fight press conference indicate UFC president Dana White would like to match the Brit against one of two AKA fighters — Josh Koscheck or Jon Fitch — next. A win against either of these guys, regardless of how he achieves it, and I’m ready to proclaim Daley the real deal. But, let’s not get too excited quite yet even as we admire his explosive punching power.

Martin Kampmann has to find a way to break through the ceiling. Since his UFC debut at 185 pounds, Kampmann has been one of the promotion’s most tantalizing prospects. He would appear to have the all-around game to make a lot of noise, especially now that he is fighting at 170 pounds. But, the one problem Kampmann has had is breaking through against the elite. After all, it was his thorough loss to Nate Marquardt that sent him down to welterweight and his recent loss to Paul Daley that has him having to work his way back up the ladder. Against Jacob Volkmann at UFC 108, Kampmann re-established himself as a fighter who is on the cusp of belonging with the game’s best. Now, he has to find a way to push through.

Rashad Evans is workmanlike in victory. Recently, the former light heavyweight champ had become enamored with his stand-up game, scoring highlight reel victories over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. But, Evans’ loss to Lyoto Machida apparently made him reconsider his approach and in the UFC 108 Countdown show, he admitted as much. So, it was no surprise that the compact, powerful Evans went back to his wrestling roots to control Thiago Silva for the better part of three rounds. Coming off a loss, the most important thing for Evans to do was score a victory over a top fighter, which he did. To do so in dominating, even if unspectacular, fashion was icing on the cake. Reports out of the post-fight press conference have Evans facing TUF 10 rival Quinton Jackson in his next fight, which is the perfect bout for both of them. The winner of that fight should face the winner of the Machida-Mauricio Rua rematch for the light heavyweight belt.

Thiago Silva is not yet great. Much like Kampmann, Silva has a tantalizing array of skills to dazzle fans and when he wins it’s usually in spectacular fashion. But, now Silva finds himself in the company of fighters who are just as athletic and just as well-rounded. But, his opponents appear to have something — potentially better game plans or better technique — that he doesn’t. Thus, in Silva’s last two bouts against championship-level fighters in Machida and Evans, he has been thoroughly outperformed. It’s not even that Silva took that much damage against Evans, it’s just that he couldn’t get off on offense until the waning moments when it was too late. Give Evans credit for being able to establish his tempo early much like Machida did to Silva in their fight. I have faith in Silva though. He has way too much talent to go quietly into the night and his ground escapes at UFC 108 showed us his much-vaunted ground game to accompany his stand-up ability. Sometimes experience is the best teacher. If that’s the case, look for Silva to come back stronger the next time he faces a top contender.

Takanori Gomi adds depth to the UFC lightweight ranks. BJ Penn has cleared out the UFC 155 pound division in recent years. And, with the likes of Shinya Aoki apparently tied to Strikeforce, the UFC needed to find outside help to continue to give Penn a worthy challenge. With the announcement at UFC 108 that the promotion has signed former Pride champ Takanori Gomi, it appears that Dana White has made sure that Penn won’t be bored for too long. Gomi has struggled in recent years but he’s an entertaining fighter (who can forget his gogoplata “loss” to Nick Diaz when Pride came to Vegas a few years ago?) who is still relatively young and has the pedigree and MMA record to make him an instant contender. Interestingly enough, Gomi and Penn fought over six years ago with Penn securing a submission victory. If rumors are true that Gomi’s first Octagon fight will be against Kenny Florian, we will find out very quickly where the Japanese stands in the lightweight division. A victory would have to put him in position to fight Penn for the belt. Now, if we could only find GSP and Anderson Silva some fresh competition as well…

No other promotion in the world could survive the hits this card has taken and still put on the compelling fights the UFC has managed to give us (either that or the Countdown hype machine has worked its magic on me.) So, with that in mind, here are my predictions for the PPV and Spike TV fights (don’t forget Spike TV is airing two preliminary fights live starting at 9 PM ET.)

Main Event: Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva

This is not the post-TUF 10 Rashad Evans bout Dana White was hoping for (clearly the Spike TV reality show was meant to build up to a contest against Quinton Jackson.) And, this is not the UFC 108 main event White had originally hoped for either.

Despite all this, Evans versus Thiago Silva is certainly a worthy main event fight that will probably propel the winner into light heavyweight title contention. Well, on second thought, that might be true if champ Lyoto Machida loses his rumored upcoming rematch against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. After all, does the UFC brass really believe fans want to see either Evans or Silva fight Machida again after both lost to him convincingly so recently?

Regardless, the fight at hand features two men who’ve only lost once each — to the same man, the aforementioned Machida. Evans did so to lose his belt earlier this year and Silva did so in Machida’s prior bout. Silva has since come back to previous form in destroying Evans campmate Keith Jardine. Evans himself was stellar as a TUF 10 coach. In other words, both men are back.

And, both like to put on a show standing up. And, both have formidable ground skills to complement their striking prowess, with Evans a D-1 collegiate wrestler and Silva a black belt practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

While I love what Evans brings to the table both as a fighter and as an ambassador for MMA, I believe Machida proved against him that an aggressive striking strategy by a fighter in his prime can handle Evans’ counter-striking and wrestling strengths. Silva is certainly aggressive on his feet and even if the fight goes to the ground, I believe he has the skills to match up well there too.

Pick: Silva by 2nd round TKO.

Paul Daley vs. Dustin Hazelett

Neither Paul Daley nor Dustin Hazelett can be considered welterweight title contenders because they are both one-dimensional. However, it just so happens that this bout presents fans with the classic style vs. style contrast — Daley throws bombs (or Semtex as his nickname would imply) while Hazelett has captured three submission of the night honors in the UFC on his way to becoming one of the more creative BJJ players in the sport.

While more casual UFC fans may see Daley’s debut UFC victory over elite fighter Martin Kampmann as a sign that the Brit is ready to make waves in the division owned by GSP, I’ll be much more impressed if Daley can overcome Hazelett tonight. That’s because Daley’s last two losses (both of which have come in the last 18 months) have come against superior BJJ players with limited stand-up skills in the form of Nick Thompson and Jake Shields.

In other words, if the fight remains standing, Hazelett’s corner should be concerned. However, if “Mcluvin” can get the fight to the ground, look for Daley to lose blood flow to his brain or have one of his appendages expertly twisted for a submission.

A win for either fighter does each a world of good. For Hazelett, it’s a high profile victory that he couldn’t capture against Josh Koscheck. For the large and solidly built Daley (who was unable to make weight for UFC 108), the victory proves that he can beat a fighter with extraordinary ground skills.

However, neither will be ready quite yet to fight the Jon Fitches or Thiago Alves — let alone GSP — of the UFC welterweight division.

Pick: Hazelett by first round submission

Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel

Since his Octagon debut KO of heralded Fabricio Werdum (who is now in line to fight Fedor Emelianenko in Strikeforce) Junior Dos Santos has been making waves in a rapidly evolving UFC heavyweight division that suddenly features a plethora of title contenders. Since the victory over Werdum, Dos Santos has defeated Stefan Struve and Mirko Cro Cop, both in convincing manner. Clearly, his forte is hurting people with his fists.

Gilbert Yvel, however, can be counted on to not be intimidated. While he’s making his UFC debut, the Dutchman has fought over 50 times in an MMA career that spans over a decade. He too prefers striking but in his last big fight, he was essentially submitted after three rounds of suffering the fists of top 5 heavyweight Josh Barnett in Affliction’s final event.

It’s always fun when the heavyweights bang and both of these equally sized big men will definitely bang at UFC 108. The victor should be considered a title contender even as the status of the UFC heavyweight belt currently remains in limbo.

Pick: Dos Santos by second round TKO

Quick Picks

Remaining scheduled PPV bouts

• Jim Miller over Duane Ludwig by second round submission
• Joe Lauzon over Sam Stout by unanimous decision

Spike TV televised bouts

• Martin Kampmann over Jacob Volkmann by unanimous decision
• Cole Miller over Dan Lauzon by third round submission