A cadre of UFC veterans make up the prelim card for a solid night of pre-Main Card action at the TD Garden in Boston, with Patrick Cote and Tim Boetsch leading the way. Now here’s everything you need to know.
This January 17, 2016, a bunch of solid veterans try to liven the audience for the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Line Up
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
Welterweight Patrick Côté vs. Ben Saunders
Light Heavyweight Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman
Lightweight Chris Wade vs. Mehdi Baghdad
Featherweight Maximo Blanco vs. Luke Sanders
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Lightweight Paul Felder vs. Daron Cruickshank
Featherweight Charles Rosa vs. Augusto Mendes
Light Heavyweight Ilir Latifi vs. Sean O’Connell
Bantamweight Rob Font vs. Joey Gomez
Light Heavyweight Francimar Barroso vs. Elvis Mutapcic
The Odds
Ben Saunders -120 Patrick Cote +100
Luke Sanders +110 Maximo Blanco -130
Daron Cruickshank +220 Paul Felder -260
Ed Herman +190 Tim Boetsch -230
Charles Rosa -155 Jimy Hettes +135
Ilir Latifi -265 Sean O’Connell +225
Joey Gomez +180 Rob Font -220
Abdul-Kerim Edilov -280 Francimar Barroso +240
The Rundown
Welterweight Patrick Côté vs. Ben Saunders
Wow. It’s like a fight that belongs on a card with David Loiseau’s hype. The two scrappy veterans have remained relevant with admittedly soft matchups. But they did what good fighters do, which is capitalize on their opportunities. Both are 4-1 in their last five.
Saunders struggled with Kenny Robertson while Cote struggled with Josh Burkman, but both ended up with their arms raised all the same. Cote has advanced his game over the years, not quite being as good as the man who fought Anderson Silva for the title, but certainly not as bad as the guy who got quickly discard by Travis Lutter.
This fight will be a low rent version of Lawler vs. Condit. Think that new show with Jennifer Lopez that is basically a Lifetime Network version of Training Day. Not as bad obviously, but in principle; it’ll be Saunders’ volume to Cote’s power. Saunders has always been an odd duck in the fight game; a tall, lanky fighter who doesn’t excel at range, and doesn’t have to either. He loves brutalizing opponents in the clinch with elbows, and knees. And he’s savvy enough on the ground to threaten there. But a different approach might suit him as I think Cote is underrated in close. Cote’s technique has improved with his movement. With his right hand harder to predict, he’s more efficient. But you can also tell that his defense has been slow to catch up with the rest of progress; he seems to get hit a bit more, which won’t bode well for him.
Light Heavyweight Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman
Boetsch is fresh off a loss to Dan Henderson that normally wouldn’t be embarrassing if he hadn’t personally Christmas wrapped Hendo’s right hand for him the way he did. It was a ridiculous tactical performance, to be honest. However, he matches up well with Herman, who is fairly inconsistent.
Herman hasn’t exactly had an easy go; his last three losses are to Ronaldo Souza, Thales Leites, and Derek Brunson. He’s managed to mix in wins somewhere in there, which is why he never got a pink slip. What makes Herman inconsistent is his philosophy; he’s gifted on the ground, but doesn’t commit to get it there, and has the kind of fight night boxing that works well on against journeymen but not against anyone higher. Boetsch should be able to land enough to get Herman in close, where he can bully him in the clinch or in top control. There won’t be a whole lot of interactions in this one; against the fence, on the feet, or in the middle of the cage, on the feet…it won’t matter to Boetsch who has the edge in everything in addition to durability.
Lightweight Chris Wade vs. Mehdi Baghdad
Chris Wade hasn’t seen action since June, but he’s undefeated in the octagon thus far, relying on a potent blend of wrestling/submission threatening. He’ll be facing Baghdad, making his UFC debut. If you didn’t catch him on TUF, here’s a quick snippet of what to expect:
He’s got a good clean jab, and the number of knockouts on his resume are misleading; a fact that speaks more to his low quality in competition. He’s also coming in on short notice, replacing Mairbek Taisumov. The problem with Mehdi in this fight is that when he jabs, he lunges in. He lunges in for a lot of his strikes, but that extra footwork will make him ideal of allowing Wade to plant him on his back with a well timed takedown.
Featherweight Maximo Blanco vs. Luke Sanders
Only hardcore fans will feel a glimmer of hope on this one. After all, Blanco looked like a surreal talent during his World Victory Road tenure. North American didn’t treat him kindly in the early going, but he’s rattled off three UFC wins in his last three only reasonable competition.
It’s clear he’s not who we thought he was. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t talented. Unfortunately it’s hard to know just how improved he is because replacing Dennis Bermudez in what would have been a truly awesome fight, he’s up against Sanders, who is really good. At Bantamweight.
With his southpaw stance, his speed will be enough to give Blanco fits. Sanders is fairly well rounded, similar to most bantamweights. But whether his bantamweight game can translate is another question. I’m not sure a threatening left hook from a much lighter fighter will be enough. Blanco has never been knocked out, even when he was duking it out at Lightweight. At his absolute best, Blanco is a brilliant technician of rhythm and movement. At his worst, a lazy pugilist of inertia and confusion. Sanders has a good chance of exploiting the latter fighter. But I think Blanco is putting enough of his game together to become more consistent.
Lightweight Paul Felder vs. Daron Cruickshank
Hell of a match up. Both are coming off losses they seemed favored in. They’re also a lot alike in many ways. Both have fairly eccentric striking games that look like they could be elite with someone else’s brains. Keep in mind, this isn’t some kind of shot at anyone’s intelligence. What I mean to say is that their fight philosophies are somewhat stunted; against Pearson and Barboza, Felder couldn’t harmonize the pressure of eccentricity with the presence of efficiency, opting for his favorite mix tape of kick and punch hits instead of the necessary steady stream to break through their offensive output.
Cruickshank has a similar problem, except where Felder needs to abide by his script, Daron has a fight script, and loves that fight script, but chooses the wrong time to improvise. Felder should be able to handle Daron’s aresenal fairly well. He’s a much bigger lightweight, and has exceptional timing for a big man. This will be a stark contrast to Cruickshank’s lack of proper timing. I see this looking more like a really fun “point fighting” contest though. Spinning moves, which both men love, are typically favored in matchups where opponents cede distance. But no matter the scenario, I still favor Felder’s counterpunching style.
Featherweight Charles Rosa vs. Augusto Mendes
Rosa drew a hell of a German straw in getting Dennis Siver for his UFC debut. He showed real moxie in that fight, but lately my impression of him has been that maybe he’s nothing but moxie. As good as he on the ground, it would be unwise to test himself against Mendes on the ground, who has a studded background in Jiu Jitsu, having faced off against names like Rafael Mendes. Mendes is coming in on short notice (8 days, in fact). It’s difficult to say what kind of impact it’ll have on Mendes, but I actually think his game favors him here. Rosa’s striking is unorthodox but kind of lumbering; he reminds me of a less talented Brian Ortega. Watching Mendes in top control is a sight to behold. Rosa is the kind of fighter who will typically lose to blue chip talent. Mendes, at 32, isn’t some can’t miss prospect. But he’s elite in at least one area, and that area will be all he needs against Rosa who remains a question mark talent.
Light Heavyweight Ilir Latifi vs. Sean O’Connell
Latifi has managed to outlive his presence as a short notice punchline. Nobody ever laughed at his skill though. Just his situation, being put into this thresher where he had four days to prepare for Gegard Mousasi. Since then he’s proven his worth with his wrestling, clinch presence, and raw strength. He’ll be facing the hard charging MMA veteran O’Connell. This is another fight with not a whole lot of interactions to analyze. O’Connell will pressure forward, and Latifi will play the immovable object role. The immovable object is far more immovable than the unstoppable object is unstoppable in this case.
Bantamweight Rob Font vs. Joey Gomez
Gomez is only 6-0 but he’s proven himself fairly worthy in that short amount of time.
He pumps a long jab, and chambers his right hand when he needs to. Despite his boxing prowess, he seems somewhat limited everywhere else. Font just knocked out George Roop, which tells me he should be able to deal with Gomez’ punch acumen; Roop isn’t a great technician, so it might be an unfair comparison, but Roop is active and versatile. It’s a good win. Font’s ability to close the distance with his right hand, and transition into takedowns will prove the deciding factor against a solid little technical fighter.
Light Heavyweight Francimar Barroso vs. Elvis Mutapcic
Mutapcic was one of the first guys to explain to the MMA world how flawed Cezar Mutante was.
The knockout is fairly brutal, with Cezar doing the ‘Going Underwater’ fall from Snatch routine. Mutapcic, whose name is a consonant nightmare to spell consistently, has good power in his patient stance. I don’t know how well Barroso can close the distance and threaten with top control. He’s never been efficient in transitioning but he pressures via momentum. He’s got good raw power in his overly aggressive strikes, but for the most part, all I see is some guy trying to ice skate uphill.