With less than twenty four hours to go until the PPV, we thought we’d take a look at some of the fights taking place tonight and give our predictions for what should be a great night of MMA.

Of course, our main event of the evening – which sees the Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre taking on Jon Fitch - should be a great fight. Both have been in great form and this is going to be a great fight.

Many are predicting a St. Pierre win and we certainly can’t argue with that. Technically, St. Pierre should win. However, it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if Fitch took the gold. Why you ask?

Well, for one, Fitch has a better MMA record than St. Pierre. He’s also the type of guy to raise his game for the occasion – something which St. Pierre fails to do at times. Trust me; if Matt Serra can beat St. Pierre, then Fitch has a great chance.

Fitch, essentially, has absolutely nothing to lose in this fight. The MMA gods are already praying for a St. Pierre victory which will finally line up a BJ Penn/Georges St. Pierre re-match. How Fitch would love to throw a spanner in the works of all that.

Dan Hardy exclusively revealed on this very website that he thought Jon Fitch will be Welterweight Champion one day. I agree with him. In fact, I would be very surprised if St. Pierre held the title for the next eighteen months. Is this guy really the best pound for pound fighter in the world? He is certainly up there, but trust me, if he lets his guard down once then Fitch will have him. Upset? Not tonight, but watch this space.

This certainly won’t be a classic, but it will certainly be a battle. Georges St. Pierre to win by submission in round two.

Brock Lesnar against Heath Herring is Dana White’s nightmare. I was surprised the UFC decided to throw Herring at Lesnar when Mark Coleman got injured. There was no doubt in my mind – Lesnar would’ve destroyed Coleman. Herring certainly won’t be an easy fight. Herring is a guy on form who looks almost destined to beat the UFC’s baby boy.

In his last fight, Heath Herring looked unbelievable. He took it to Cheick Kongo hard and he won a fantastic split decision. I certainly don’t expect him to take it to Lesnar like he did Kongo, but if he is as consistent, then I think Herring will win.

Lesnar, on the other hand, must win. There’s no two ways about it. The UFC boo boys are out already – despite Lesnar absolutely ploughing his way through Frank Mir. That time he lost. Several months later, he should be more experienced to deal with submission experts – something which Herring is skilled in.

The problem is, if Lesnar loses, then he has some huge pressure on his back. The thought of any fighter being negative in the biggest MMA company in the world is a disaster. Dana certainly has a problem. He has to keep throwing Brock at the top of the card to justify his huge price tag, but at the same time, he can only throw big name heavyweights at Brock because they are only worthy of a place at the top of the card. He can’t throw a lower ranked guy at Brock because it wouldn’t justify the lower ranked guys position on the card.

So, unless Brock can upset on the big name heavyweights, he is going to continue to plunge into a poor MMA record. The thought of him being 1-2, 1-3 or god forbid, 1-4 is certainly not encouraging.

I am going with a Herring win. Despite Brock’s best efforts, I can see a near repeat of the Mir fight. Brock and Herring will stand up and trade and Herring will catch him with a submission late in round one. If this fight goes the distance, I expect it to be a split decision. Also, if Brock gets in Herrings’ guard, I think Brock might win. It’ll be close but I’m going for Herring.

The Kenny Florian/Roger Huerta fight should, and probably will, be a great fight. I expect both men to go at it early and it certainly won’t surprise me if Florian tries to take Huerta down relatively quick.

That said, Roger Huerta should be too strong for his opponent and I expect ‘El Matador’ to win. Dana White has recently said that the winner to this fight might not necessarily win a chance to fight BJ Penn for the Lightweight Title, but he’d be a fool to hold off a Huerta/Penn fight. It’s certainly the fight needed to spark the division into life.

I’m not usually the type of person to go out on the limb and completely back a fighter but I would be shocked as hell if Cheick Kongo and Manny Gamburyan didn’t win tonight. Both are looking very strong at the minute. Expect Gamburyan to win by submission – his last two fights he dominated in the first round and won with an ankle lock and guillotine choke. If I was a betting man, I’d find a good price for two victories there.

In terms of other fights tonight, most are very close. Ben Saunders against Ryan Thomas could be an interesting battle and it’s relatively hard to call. I?’e gone for Saunders by decision only because I think his ground game might be better – slightly.

Andre Gusmao against Jon Jones is another fight that is almost impossible to predict. Somebody’s ‘0 has to go’ as the saying goes. Both undefeated, I’m actually going for a Jon Jones TKO in round 1. That should be an interesting fight.

I’ve also gone for Chris Wilson and Tamden McCrory to win their fights tonight. McCrory, if on his game, should have no problem beating Cummo and I have gone for round two TKO. Wilson, on the other hand, is a funny choice – the last two times I’ve predicted the welterweight to win he has lost. I’m certainly hoping it isn’t a hat trick tonight.

The last fight to mention is one that is going to be ‘fight of the night’ in my opinion. There is something that stands out – they are both submission experts. No doubt, I’ve just cursed them but I expect it to be a great physical battle on the mat.

Demian Maia against Jason MacDonald should be a good fight. It will probably last the distance and I certainly don’t see both losing by submission. I’m going for MacDonald, which means Maia will lose his seven win undefeated streak and it will be his first loss in MMA. MacDonald has only lost two of his last ten fights – one decision loss against Yushin Okami and another TKO corner stoppage to Rich Franklin. This is Maia’s first big test and I can’t help feel that his inexperience will fail him. MacDonald all the way.

MMAPreview.com will have a full report from UFC 87 as soon as it goes off the air on the front page of the site.

Hope you all have a great night and be sure to send your feedback to martin@mmapreview.com.