UFC Fight Night 35 staff picks: Is anyone picking Philippou over Rockhold?

Ahead of Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 35 event, MMAjunkie staffers give their main-card predictions. In the middleweight headliner, one fighter was the clear favorite.

All eight of our full-time writers and MMAjunkie Radio hosts picked former Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold (10-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) to defeat Constantinos Philippou (12-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in the five-round main event. Rockhold, who looks to rebound from a loss to Vitor Belfort, is a nearly 4-1 favorite over Philippou, who had won five consecutive UFC fights before a recent decision loss to Francis Carmont.

The fight with the biggest split features middleweight co-headliners Lorenz Larkin (14-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) vs. Brad Tavares (11-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC). Three staffers believe Tavares, a +180 underdog, will pull off the upset and claim his fifth straight UFC win.

The rest of the main card, though, wasn’t nearly as even. The card includes bantamweights T.J. Dillashaw (8-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) vs. Mike Easton (13-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC), middleweights Derek Brunson (11-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) vs. Yoel Romero (6-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), flyweights John Moraga (13-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) vs. Dustin Ortiz (12-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and featherweights Cole Miller (20-8 MMA, 9-6 UFC) vs. Sam Sicilia (12-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC).

Share your picks below.

UFC Fight Night 35 takes place at Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. The main card and prelims air on FOX Sports 1 (5 p.m. ET) following a pair of online prelims on UFC Fight Pass (4 p.m. ET).

For more on UFC Fight Night 35, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.