9 Predictions For UFC 178

The UFC's biggest card to date in 2014 took a huge blow when the planned title fight rematch between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson fell apart after an injury to the Swedish challenger. It took an even bigger blow when the replacement fight, Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, fell apart as well after an injury to Jones. Cormier will now fight Jones in early 2015, Gustafsson is the odd many out, and Demitrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso, the ninth ranked flyweight in the UFC when the bout was announced, was moved from the co-main event slot of UFC 177 to the headlining spot on UFC 178. That's a pretty big gamble. The last card headlined by Johnson, UFC 174, was the UFC's worst showing in years, barely breaking the 100,000 buy mark. That card had the return of Andrei Arlovski, and Ryan Bader. UFC 178 has a slightly stronger undercard, with appearances by newly signed Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez, taking on Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone in the co-main event of the evening, a fight that has title eliminator written all over it, and Irish megastar Conor McGregor, who has been getting the Hollywood treatment since landing in Las Vegas earlier this month (really, he's been getting the Hollywood treatment since landing in the UFC). There's also a key bout between Cat Zingano and Amanda Nunes that may reveal who champion Ronda Rousey fights next, and an intriguing fight between ranked middleweights Yoel Romero and Tim Kennedy. This card is so stacked that the return of former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, years in the making, has been relegated to the undercard - but that fight finishes off four solid undercard fights as well! So for this edition of our fight previews, we're going to look at both the main card and the televised preliminary fights, as we break down each bout and bring you nine predictions for UFC 178!