Jordan “Young Gun” Mein will fight former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves in the first bout on UFC 183‘s main card this Saturday.
It’s a fight that will pit two fighters at drastically different points in their UFC careers against each other. Mein has only one Octagon loss (a competitive second-round TKO loss to top-10 welterweight Matt Brown), while Alves has alternated wins and losses and battled numerous injuries over the last three years.
In four fights, Mein has achieved a 3-1 record, defeating fight veterans like Dan Miller and Mike Pyle. His gritty, clinch-heavy style was on display in his wins over Miller and Nova Uniao’s Hernani Perpetuo.
Despite his reputation as a grinder, Mein has logged 16 career knockouts and has the killer instinct, evidenced by his TKO wins over Miller and Pyle. But wins over two veterans on the downslide of their mixed martial arts careers aren’t enough to send the 170-pound division a message.
Alves, a kickboxing tactician, rose to prominence with dominant victories over UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck in 2008. His high-octane kicks and knees are debilitating and can end a fight without a moment’s notice.
If you’re not convinced of Alves‘ potent offensive attack, here’s an interesting statistic: The Brazilian is currently second in the UFC record book for most leg kicks landed in a three-round bout.
Alves has notched 30 or more leg strikes twice in his career, against Koscheck and John Howard. In his last fight, the American Top Team mainstay topped 50 leg strikes in a 15-minute war against Seth Baczynski.
Though he has alternated his approach against Howard, Papy Abedi and Martin Kampmann following his title loss to Georges St-Pierre, striking remains Alves‘ bread and butter.
But before we predict UFC 183’s action, let’s dissect what were arguably Mein’s two biggest Octagon appearances.
Following successful stints on the Canadian independent circuit and in Strikeforce, Mein defeated Miller in a back-and-forth affair and was then slotted against burgeoning contender Matt Brown.
“I feel great. It’s an honor [next big thing talk] for people to say that about me. Coming off a win against Dan, I was super happy. Matt Brown is just as tough if not tougher,” Mein told Karyn Bryant, with regard to his status as a welterweight in April 2013.
Brown, who had been on a tear, producing three knockout wins in 2012, closed the distance and backed up the Canadian in the opening minutes of their April bout. However, it was a picture perfect head-body combination that got the best of Brown, turning the tide for Mein.
His success, however, failed to carry over into the second frame, and Mein was finished by a barrage of knees and punches by Brown a minute into the round. Mein rebounded with a split-decision win over Perpetuo in April but recorded his most dominant victory to date over Pyle.
A left hook landed by Mein in the opening minute of the pair’s fight in August was all she wrote for Pyle. The victory gave Young Gun his most lopsided UFC win thus far.
As UFC 183 approaches, Mein will soon come face to face with a scarier striker than Pyle. Alves is content picking opponents apart from a distance or putting them away early. He sports seven wins via knockout in his nearly 10-year UFC tenure.
The Brazilian has matured since title contention but has made occasional mental lapses. In his fight against Kampmann, he succumbed to a third-round guillotine choke when he could have won.
Mein appears to have the more intelligent game plan, and he has been put in precarious positions before in his fights against Brown and Miller. Look for Young Gun to grind out a unanimous decision against the Brazilian on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.
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