UFC Fight Night 40 staff picks: An upset brewing in Silva vs. Brown headliner?

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 40 card has six main-card bouts, and our MMAjunkie writers and radio hosts have picked a pair of fights unanimously, and two others are near-unanimous calls.

All eight of our staff members believe Erik Koch (14-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) will top Daron Cruickshank (14-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in their lightweight fight. And everyone believes Louis Smolka (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will stay unbeaten in his flyweight bout against Chris Cariaso (16-5 MMA, 5-4 UFC) to open up the main card.

In addition, seven of the eight staffers think Tim Means (20-5-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) beats Neil Magny (9-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) and seven of eight like Lorenz Larkin (14-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) to beat Constantinos Philippou (12-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) in the co-main event at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

In the main event, Matt Brown (18-11 MMA, 11-5 UFC) is a 2-to-1 underdog against Erick Silva (16-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC), but five of our eight pickers think the Ohio native will hit seven straight wins in the welterweight division. And at heavyweight, Ruan Potts (8-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his UFC debut and has three of our eight experts picking him to beat Soa Palelei (20-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC).

Check out the full picks above.

Additionally, leave your main-card picks below. As usual, MMAjunkie reader “IAMMA” is organizing the MMAjunkie Member Picks, where “Shut_The_Fitch_Up” remains our leader.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 40, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.