Lucky No. 7?

After six straight title defenses, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson will face perhaps the division’s best athlete this Saturday (Sept. 5, 2015) when he rematches John Dodson in the pay-per-view (PPV) main event of UFC 191.

MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, will also see a long-overdue fight between former Heavyweight champions Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski, plus a showdown between some of 205-pound division’s biggest hitters in Anthony Johnson and Jimi Manuwa.

We’ve still got the four FOX Sports 1 undercard “Prelims” to break down (see the Fight Pass portion here), so let’s get right to it:

155 lbs.: Ross Pearson vs. Paul Felder

After suffering a momentum-killing loss to Al Iaquinta in Nov. 2014, Ross Pearson (17-9) proved he was still, well, the “Real Deal” with a brutal starching of Sam Stout. In July, however, he suffered an upset decision loss to Evan Dunham after struggling with his foe’s potent grappling.

Pearson will give up two inches of height to the 5’10″ “Irish Dragon.”

Paul Felder (10-1) put himself on the map in his second Octagon appearance by blowing away Danny Castillo with a spinning back fist in one of the year’s best knockouts. The win earned him a fight with Edson Barboza, who handed Felder his first career loss in an entertaining three-round affair.

Seven of his professional wins are by form of knockout.

Pearson’s boxing remains nearly unmatched in the division, but as Jack Slack points out, he’s heavily reliant on his head movement, which can be nullified by power kickers. Felder fits the bill — in addition to his tremendous size and strength, his striking appears difficult for Pearson to deal with.

Felder still has a lot of room to grow and needs to work on setting up his spinning attacks, but his length and sheer power ought to be too much for Pearson. Felder catches him with something nasty after eight or so minutes of back-and-forth action.

Prediction: Felder via second-round technical knockout

135 lbs.: Francisco Rivera vs. John Lineker

Coming off of a loss to Takeya Mizugaki, Francisco Rivera (11-4) gave Urijah Faber everything he could handle in Dec. 2014 before suffering a nasty eyepoke that opened him up for a submission. He returned in bombastic fashion last June with a thunderous knockout of Alex Caceres, his fourth (technical) knockout in UFC if you count the overturned Dulorme finish.

He’s finished eight opponents overall, all via knockout.

John Lineker (25-7) earned the biggest win of his pro career in January when he took a decision over former world number-one Ian McCall, but his failure to make weight (yet again) and apparent disinterest in trying resulted in him being forced up to bantamweight. The former Jungle Fight champion ended his flyweight run with a 6-2 record, including four knockouts.

He will give up a staggering six inches of height to the 5’8″ “Cisco.”

Much to my frustration, I’ve been a fan of Lineker for some time and am confident that he could give most of the flyweight division a thumping if he could just get his weight in check. His ceiling is quite a bit lower at 135 pounds, but he should still be able to take out “Cisco.”

Rivera has brain-melting power, but I’m not sure it’s enough to crack Lineker’s concrete dome. In addition, despite the height difference, the Brazilian’s ring cutting should allow him to get inside and unleash his signature body shots.

Expect a “Fight of the Night” slugfest where Lineker’s attrition striking breaks down a game Cisco for a late stoppage.

Prediction: Lineker via third-round technical knockout

145 lbs.: Clay Collard vs. Tiago dos Santos

Though Clay Collard’s (14-6) madcap style didn’t pay dividends against Max Holloway, he managed to earn his first UFC win by edging Alex White in Dec. 2014 for a unanimous decision win. His last time out, however, he fell short against former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF): “Latin America” competitor Gabriel Benitez, who swept all three scorecards.

He’s knocked out eight foes overall, though his last four wins came via decision.

Tiago dos Santos (19-5-2) extended his win streak to 10 in his UFC debut by battering Akbarh Arreola on last year’s “Lawler vs. Brown” card. Though he entered his next fight as a favorite, “Trator” couldn’t handle the power of Mike de la Torre, who handed the former Jungle Fight champion his first career knockout loss.

He has 13 wins by finish, six by knockout.

This probably won’t be the most technical fight you’ve seen all year, but it should be fairly entertaining. Both men have high-volume striking attacks that should work together to produce a solid scrap.

I think the Brazilian edges it.

“Trator” seems to have a more cohesive attack than Collard, who is often content to throw the kitchen sink without any real goal. Barring a one-hitter quitter from out of nowhere, that style should fall short against “Trator’s” nasty work in the clinch. Expect the Brazilian  to steadily wear Collard down for an increasingly one-sided decision win.

Prediction: dos Santos via unanimous decision

185 lbs.: Joe Riggs vs. Ron Stallings

Joe Riggs’ (40-16) win on Bellator’s “Fight Master” paradoxically led to his return to UFC, but it’s been a bumpy road for “Diesel.” In addition to his self-inflicted gunshot wound, Riggs suffered a neck injury in his loss to Ben Saunders, dropped a decision to Patrick Cote and was recently forced to withdraw from a fight with Uriah Hall for reasons unknown.

Of his 40 wins, just four are by decision.

Team Lloyd Irvin’s Ron Stallings (13-7) made his Octagon debut on short notice, losing by cut to Uriah Hall this past January. In April, he earned his first UFC win with a mild upset of Justin Jones, though he had to settle for his first career decision victory.

“The Choir Boy’s” stoppage wins are split evenly between knockouts and submissions.

The true conflict here is between Riggs and his own body. When he’s on, he’s a skilled boxer and wrestler who should be able to hold his own against Stallings anywhere the fight goes. On the other hand, he’s got a ludicrous amount of mileage on him and will be giving up some size.

I think he’s got one more win in him, though.

Stallings shares Riggs’ lack of durability and really doesn’t possess any outstanding skills. Riggs has the pop to hurt him with punches and, if he can mix in some takedowns, should be able to grind his way to a decision victory.

Prediction: Riggs via unanimous decision

UFC 191 features a good main, co-main and co-co-main, as well as some great brawls on the “Prelims” undercard. Not a bad PPV event at all!

See you Saturday, folks!

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 191 fight card, starting with the Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, and then the remaining under card balance on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.

Current UFC “Prelims” Prediction Record 2015: 83-57 (2 NC)