UFC 108 Preview: Junior dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel

Junior Dos Santos (9-1, 3-0 UFC) vs. Gilbert Yvel (36-13-1, 0-0 UFC)

The Story So Far: Like almost every fight on the UFC 108 fight card this bout wouldn't be happening without an injury. Originally dos Santos was slated to fight fellow Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga. but the Brazilian plague aka a staph infection knocked Gonzaga off the card.

As a result the UFC reached into their deep pockets and brought in the newly signed Gilbert Yvel. Yvel enters the UFC due to Affliction's untimely collapse. Yvel previously fought and lost to Josh Barnett at Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Yvel is a solid heavyweight stand-in who has fought in Pride and holds a victory over Cheick Kongo outside of the UFC.

Junior dos Santos is one of the top prospects in the heavyweight division and WKR has an unabashed man crush on the Brazilian who kicked Fabricio Werdum out of the UFC and almost sent Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic into retirement. A win here puts dos Santos back into the title conversation.

SBN coverage of UFC 108: Evans vs. Silva

Conventional Wisdom: Junior dos Santos smashes Yvel on his feet.

WKR Analysis: Yvel will try to test dos Santos' ground game by attempting to take him down and out wrestle him. Dos Santos has some Jiu-Jitsu skills --Junior is currently a purple belt-- but has yet to be tested on his back. For what it is worth Junior says he enjoys fighting off his back .

Fun Fact: Gilbert Yvel is widely considered to be one of, if not the "bad boy" of MMA though Yvel isn't the object of the vitriol of other sports bad boys such as Sean Avery for the NHL or Milton Bradley of MLB,. In 1998 Yvel was DQ'd for biting Karimula Barkalaev. When Gilbert fought Don Frye it appeared that Yvel was attempting to gouge Frye's eye in order to avoid takedowns and was DQ'd for holding onto the ropes. Gilbert's most infamous transgression was punching a referee and kicking him on the ground after refusing to resume the clinch position with Atte Backman.