Picking & Grinning: UFC Fight Night ‘Mousasi vs. Hall 2’

Gegard Mousasi has waited more than a year for this.

The former Dream, Strikeforce and Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder will rematch Uriah Hall in the UFC Fight Night 99 main event on Saturday at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Hall upset “The Dreamcatcher” in their first meeting, as he short-circuited the Dutchman with a spinning back kick to the face, a flying knee and follow-up punches in September 2015. Mousasi has rattled off three consecutive victories since, besting Thales Leites, Thiago Santos and Vitor Belfort in succession. Meanwhile, Hall has suffered back-to-back losses to Robert Whittaker and Derek Brunson.

Ahead of UFC Fight Night ‘Mousasi vs. Hall 2,’ members of the Sherdog.com staff swallowed their pride and put their reputations on the line with bold predictions:

STANDINGS

Tristen Critchfield (107-62-4)
Jordan Breen (105-64-4)
Mike Fridley (103-66-4)
Brian Knapp (100-69-4)
Mike Sloan (97-72-4)

THE LINEUP

185: Gegard Mousasi (40-6-2) vs. Uriah Hall (12-7)
155: Ross Pearson (19-12) vs. Stevie Ray (19-6)
265: Timothy Johnson (10-2) vs. Alexander Volkov (26-6)
145: Artem Lobov (12-12-1) vs. Teruto Ishihara (9-2-2)
185: Magnus Cedenblad (14-4) vs. Jack Marshman (20-5)
125: Kyoji Horiguchi (17-2) vs. Ali Bagautinov (14-4)
155: Kevin Lee (13-2) vs. Magomed Mustafaev (13-1)
115: Anna Elmose (3-1) vs. Amanda Bobby Cooper (1-2)
265: Justin Ledet (7-0) vs. Mark Godbeer (11-2)
170: Zak Cummings (19-5) vs. Alexander Yakovlev (23-7-1)
135: Marion Reneau (6-3) vs. Milana Dudieva (11-4)
135: Brett Johns (12-0) vs. Kwan Ho Kwak (9-0)
170: Charlie Ward (2-1) vs. Abdul Razak Al-Hassan (6-0)

THE PICKS

Tristen Critchfield: Mousasi, Ray, Johnson, Ishihara, Cedenblad, Horiguchi, Lee, Cooper, Ledet, Cummings, Reneau, Johns, Al-Hassan

Jordan Breen: Mousasi, Pearson, Volkov, Ishihara, Cedenblad, Horiguchi, Mustafaev, Elmose, Ledet, Cummings, Reneau, Johns, Al-Hassan

Mike Fridley: Mousasi, Pearson, Volkov, Ishihara, Marshman, Horiguchi, Lee, Elmose, Godbeer, Yakolev, Reneau, Johns, Al-Hassan

Brian Knapp: Mousasi, Pearson, Volkov, Ishihara, Cedenblad, Horiguchi, Mustafaev, Elmose, Ledet, Cummings, Reneau, Johns, Al-Hassan

Mike Sloan: Mousasi, Ray, Volkov, Ishihara, Cedenblad, Horiguchi, Mustafaev, Elmose, Ledet, Cummings, Dudieva, Johns, Al-Hassan