You can't help but cheer for him. I think if you look up heart in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of his face. The more and more people tell me that Quinton Jackson is going to walk through Forrest Griffin, the more and more I laugh.

Yes, I know Jackson is the Ultimate Fighting Championship World Light Heavyweight Champion. He's beaten Chuck Liddell... TWICE.

And Jackson, who is known as Rampage, has won six straight MMA bouts and sports a pretty solid 28-6 record.

So yeah, Griffin is the underdog this Saturday at UFC 86 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. He's the guy that's "only" in the UFC because he won Spike TV's reality show "The Ultimate Fighter."

Griffin shouldn't be much of a threat, right?

Again, I'm laughing.

Griffin is 6-2 in the UFC and is 15-4 overall. He was fed to Mauricio Rua, who at the time was widely recognized as the best light heavyweight in the world, and beat him -- not just beat him, but dominated and forced the 16-3 Brazilian to submit.

It might take a round for Griffin to get going, but he is a wild man and once he hits that switch I think he can really give Jackson some serious problems.

Just wait and see, whatever the outcome, Griffin will put on a better performance than most think.

Also fighting on the card is Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida, Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau, Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle, Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio, Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Justin McCully, Jorge Gurgell vs. Cole Miller, Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver and Corey Hills vs. Justin Buchholz.

My picks go something like this:

I'll take Cote over Almeida. He's won four straight, including one over one of my favorite UFC fighters, Kendall Grove, who is also a TUF veteran.

Stevenson over Tibau and only because Stevenson is a Cali wrestler.

Koscheck over Lytle. Kos is on his way to a title shot in the welterweight division. He's as tough as they come in this weight class.

I'll take Tyson Griffin over Aurelio. Griffin is another one of those stud wrestlers and has a great ground-and-pound game. He's one of my favorites to watch.

Gonzaga will be too much for McCully. I'd like to see another head kick from Gonzaga.

Miller over Gurgel and that's just a guess. I know both guys are pretty tough and this should be a good fight.

Guillard over Siver and that's because I like Guillard's nickname, "The Young Assassin." No, but really, Guillard is explosive and is on a comeback after stumbling against Rich Clementi and Stevenson.

And last but not least, Buchholz over Hill, because Buchholz trains with one of my favorite fighters, Urijah Faber, who now trains one of my favorite up-and-coming fighters: Hanford's very own Chad Mendes, who will make his MMA debut in September at the Palace in Lemoore.

Speaking of the Palace, you can purchase your Palace Fighting Championship 9 tickets at The Sentinel office on Sixth Street. General admission tickets are $40.

Among those scheduled to compete on Friday, July 18 is your local "Writer to fighter," as I face off with Bakersfield lightweight Juan Lopez.

(July 1, 2008)