Four lightweights—all seeking a win, all on decidedly different career paths—make up two fights announced Wednesday for UFC on Fox 16, scheduled for July 25 in Chicago.
In the first fight, hard-hitting Erik Koch takes on wrestle-boxer Ramsey Nijem. The other presents struggling Team Alpha Male member Danny Castillo with a tall order in Russian grappler Rustam Khabilov.
Both bouts were announced Wednesday by Matt Erickson of MMAJunkie.com.
Both 27-year-old Nijem (9-5) and the 26-year-old Koch (14-4) will try to rebound from a prior loss. Nijem followed up two straight losses in 2013 with two straight wins in 2014, only to fall by TKO to Carlos Diego Ferreira last August. This will be his first fight since.
Nijem has seen uneven results in the UFC, but Koch is on a bona fide losing streak. Once considered a hot prospect at both lightweight and featherweight, Koch has dropped three of four. His last win came in 2011, over Jonathan Brookins.
Still, Koch, who trains with the vaunted Roufusport camp in Milwaukee, has formidable power in his hands, having landed four wins by knockout to go along with seven wins by submission. He’ll be an interesting matchup for Nijem, who relies on takedowns and ground strikes as his own bread and butter. A mean-spirited mat war could be in the offing.
Of the four fighters named in Wednesday’s announcements, the hottest of the group is Khabilov (17-3). The 28-year-old Dagestani is part of a large influx of fighters from the North Caucasus region of Russia, including current lightweight challenger Khabib Nurmagomedov. Though he had a mountain of hype behind him just a year ago, that has cooled since Khabilov lost his second straight, a surprise split decision to Adriano Martins.
Khabilov is known for his wrestling, which he initiates and punctuates with huge takedowns and slams. However, though his opponent, Castillo, is 35 years old and a loser in three of his last four, he’ll be anything but a pushover.
@RustamTheTiger–@lastcall155, @RamseyNijem–@NEWBREED04 Added to #UFConFox16 http://t.co/15OBBq3wAt — @TCritchfield52 pic.twitter.com/Jj7HjR6Lht
— Sherdog.com (@sherdogdotcom) April 23, 2015
Castillo, based at Urijah Faber’s vaunted Team Alpha Male gym in California, is a jiu-jitsu black belt and a former college wrestler himself, and he will not be an easy mark for Khabilov’s wrestling attack. It is possible this one could become a wrestling stalemate that devolves into a ham-fisted striking contest.
As always, time will tell. UFC on Fox 16 is scheduled to be headlined by bantamweight title rematch between champion T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao.
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