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Editor’s Note: This is the second of three parts of our epic preview of this weekend’s UFC. We covered the undercard yesterday, the televised card today, and the main event on Friday.

Your round-tablers today:
Lee Casebolt (LC)
Dave Walsh (DW)
Alan Conceicao (AC)
Chris Henderson (CH)

-Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle

LC: Koscheck’s kickboxing is vastly improved, to the point where he looks quite capable on his feet. He might want to forget that, though, against Lytle. Koscheck can put Lytle on his back at will, and Lytle’s nothing special from that position. He’s a handful standing up, though. On the other hand, if Koscheck decides he wants to test his kickboxing against “Lights Out”, we’ll have a much better idea of just how good he really is.

DW: I am really looking forward to this. Lytle really doesn’t have a great chance of winning this, but he can put up a great fight. This fight is more or less for us to see just what Koscheck is going to pull off. Koscheck has looked really good in the past few years, and has been showing clear signs of evolution as a fighter.

CH: It’s really all in Koscheck’s hands. Which gameplan will he show up with? The aggressive standup that did in submission ace Dustin Hazelett or the powerful wrestling that has been his bread and butter since his UFC debut? Opting for the former may prove a foolish decision given the quality of Lytle’s hands, but after last weekend’s Strikeforce event, would you bet on an AKA fighter choosing the wrong gameplan? Me neither. Lytle struggled to do much of anything against the wrestling and takedowns of Matt Hughes, and I have trouble seeing how he’ll cope with Koscheck.

AC: Why are people giving Lytle any credit? I don’t care much for his standup (he’s horribly overrated as a boxer, just like everyone with an inflated record from the midwest) and his vaunted submissions have resulted in very few wins at the highest levels of the sport. Kos, on the other hand, is an elite athlete with superb wrestling and increasingly good striking. Lambs to the slaughter.

-Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau

CH: I’m not exactly jumping for joy over this fight. I just find Tibau unforgivably bland, and he’s in the frustrating category of being good enough to warrant a look in the UFC, but not good enough that he’ll ever amount to anything more than a mid-level gatekeeper. Stevenson needs a win to erase the memory of him being beaten to a bloody pulp by BJ Penn from everyone’s mind. He’ll get it, but I’m thinking anyone expecting Joe Daddy to roll right over Tibau in dominating fashion may be in for a letdown.

DW: Joe Stevenson in many, many ways just reminds me of Diego Sanchez, except for the fact that I think that Sanchez is a bit more well-rounded. I can see him taking Tibau with some ground and pound or boring us with a decision win.

AC: Tibau likes top control. The problem is that Stevenson is as superlative a wrestler as you’re gonna find without a D1 past. Stevenson was for many years a sort of “Little Severn”, but as the years went on, he added some basic boxing to his repertoire. Tibau’s striking is, at best, embryonic in nature, a fact established in bouts with Etim and Griffin. I expect this to go much like Tibau’s loss to Griffin.

LC: If Penn is serious about moving up to fight GSP (and if Zuffa’s dumb enough to let him), there’s a good chance the winner of Tibau/Stevenson (by which I mean Stevenson) could be fighting the winner of Florian/Huerta (by which I mean Florian) for the title by the end of the year.

-Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio

LC: Griffin has said he plans to stand up with Aurelio, which is probably a good idea. Maximus’ standup is awful, and his brilliant but inconsistent BJJ is his way to win this fight. Even on the ground, Griffin’s more than competent and considerably more active than the often-lethargic Aurelio, and his wrestling gives him control of where the fight takes place.

CH: This fight seems to be a trendy pick for an upset, but I’m having trouble seeing Aurelio overcoming Griffin. Despite having won his last two fights in the UFC in impressive fashion, Aurelio’s folded like a card table when faced with quality opposition over the past few years (Ishida, the Gomi rematch, Guida). Griffin will have the advantage on his feet and has the wrestling to control the ground game against Aurelio. Aurelio’s best chance is if Griffin gets sloppy on the ground and leaves him self open for a submission, but I’d put the odds on that happening as very low indeed. I expect Griffin to set a murderous pace that Aurelio will have real problems trying to cope with en route to a lopsided 30-27 or 30-26 decision.

AC: This should be a decent fight. I expect that Griffin has watched Aurelio’s bout with Clay Guida and noted that Aurelio is horrible standing. To say he is tentative is a great understatement. I expect a replay of that bout if Griffin is at all intelligent or has bright coaches. If not, he will take down Aurelio and then get submitted in embarrassing fashion.

DW: If this stays standing, Aurelio has next to nothing to offer and Griffin will dissect him. If this goes to the ground, while Griffin is good enough, Aurelio will school him. I can see Aurelio taking this in a decision and me not wanting to see either guy again for a while.

-Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida

LC: Cote/Almeida should be a brief, one-sided affair along the lines of the Lutter/Cote TUF 4 final. Assuming Big Dog is on his game, Cote’s only chance is the lucky punch. Otherwise, it’s Guillotine of Doom.

AC: You want to hear something amazing? I think I saw Cote at +140 and Almeida at -110. If you don’t bet on sports, this is a good time to start. Almeida is gonna take down Cote and rape him. This is one of those Gatti/Baldomir lines the serious gambler dreams of.

CH: This one is just mind-numbingly simple to me. Patrick Cote was humiliated by Travis Lutter on the ground. Ricardo Almeida has better jiu-jitsu than Travis Lutter. Ricardo Almeida will humiliate Patrick Cote on the ground.

DW: I think Almeida has a very good chance of taking this and taking it easily. Cote is alright and all, but is sort of just there. Almeida had that time off and sort of just magically re-emerged in UFC, that being said, Cote won’t give him much in the way of trouble.