Former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem has applied for a license to fight in Nevada, MMA Fighting has learned. Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director Keith Kizer confirmed the news with Ari…
Former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem has applied for a license to fight in Nevada, MMA Fighting has learned. Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director Keith Kizer confirmed the news with Ariel Helwani.
On April 5th, Kizer revealed Overeem produced a testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio of 14:1 in his urine test that was administered by the NSAC directly after the UFC 146 pre-fight press conference on March 27th. The limit in Nevada is 6:1, thereby putting Overeem far over the legal threshold. Junior Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson and Antonio Silva were also tested, but all passed.
Kizer also confirmed to MMA Fighting Overeem has not yet asked for a testing of the B sample turned in during his original urinalysis. According to commission protocol, Overeem’s original sample was provided into two groups. The original or A sample revealed Overeem to have the 14:1 T/E ratio. Overeem has a right to ask for the B sample to be tested should he feel the A sample inaccurately reflects his T/E levels.
Overeem is currently unlicensed in Nevada and is therefore not subject to punishment, although he’ll have to reasonably explain the cause of the high T/E ratio to obtain a license. The K-1 champion will get his opportunity to do so at a NSAC hearing on April 24th.
Junior dos Santos is still scheduled to face Overeem in the main event of UFC 146 on May 26 in Las Vegas for the UFC heavyweight title. However, that bout will have to be cancelled, re-scheduled or a new opponent found if Overeem is unable to obtain a license.
The UFC had a busy weekend of announcements for two upcoming television fight cards.
UFC on FX 3 was finalized with the addition of four new bouts. Welterweight wrestler Charlie Brenneman and Brazilian upstart Erick Silva will …
The UFC had a busy weekend of announcements for two upcoming television fight cards.
UFC on FX 3 was finalized with the addition of four new bouts. Welterweight wrestler Charlie Brenneman and Brazilian upstart Erick Silva will meet on the main card. Brenneman enters this bout having defeated Daniel Roberts at UFC on FX 1. Silva returns to action after losing by controversial disqualification.
In addition, middleweight Buddy Roberts will square off against Caio Magalhaes. Both middleweights are making their UFC debuts.
Two lightweight bouts were also added to the card. Tim Means will battle Justin Salas and Bernardo Magalhaes faces Henry Martinez. While Means and Salas were successful in the UFC debuts, Magalhaes and Martinez both dropped their first fights inside the Octagon.
The June 8th card at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida and airing on Fuel TV and FX is the location voted as part of the UFC’s Hometown Throwdown contest. The card is headlined by the flyweight rematch between Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall.
Jonathan Brookins, season 12 winner of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, will face Charles Oliveira. Brookins enters this bout having stopped Vagner Rocha via strikes in the first round at UFC on FUEL TV 1. This is Oliveira’s second bout at featherweight. He won his debut via cafe slicer in the first round over Eric Wisely at UFC on Fox 2.
The UFC announced another featherweight bout: Max Holloway vs. Pat Schilling. Holloway lost his UFC debut by submission to Dustin Poirier at UFC 143. Pat Schilling enter this bout also having lost his UFC debut to Daniel Pineda at UFC on FX 1.
The finale for TUF: Live is scheduled to take place June 1 at the Palms Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is headlined by a five-round, number-one contender’s bout between Martin Kampmann and Jake Ellenberger.
As interest in the all-heavyweight main card for UFC 146 begins to heat up, skeptics are beginning to wonder if maybe we’re expecting too much from the event. Specifically, can this many consecutive heavyweight fights offer eno…
As interest in the all-heavyweight main card for UFC 146 begins to heat up, skeptics are beginning to wonder if maybe we’re expecting too much from the event. Specifically, can this many consecutive heavyweight fights offer enough long-lasting action to satisfy fan expectation over the course of a full pay-per-view event?
There is a belief in the larger MMA community – partly rooted in the experience of the StrikeforceHeavyweight Grand Prix – that a full main card of heavyweight bouts could lead to an exceedingly short night of fights. It’s true quick finishes are hardly something to be reviled. Perhaps it’s also true, though, that there is something to be said for having a balanced fight card that offers as much carrot as it does stick.
Is it even true heavyweight fights on average end more quickly than fights in other divisions? If so, what is the average length of time for a fight in each division? Let’s take a look at the numbers to see what they tell us about the complexion of heavyweight fights.
Below are the average lengths of time for a fight for each weight class since UFC 28, which is when the Unified Rules were put in place:
Weight
Average Time
HW
7:59
LHW
9:02
MW
9:06
WW
9:54
LW
10:34
FW
11:12
BW
11:19
The most obvious takeaway is, quite clearly, heavyweight fights on average do end more quickly than fights in other divisions. In fact, the data tells us heavyweight fights are approximately 30% shorter than bantamweight fights on average. We can also see the difference between heavyweight and light heavyweight marks the biggest increase in average time between any two weight classes.
The difference between the weight classes seems to be incremental from there, but there’s virtually a negligible distinction in time between light heavyweight and middleweight bouts. That’s the same for featherweights and bantamweights.
Speaking of bantamweights, the numbers here do not tell us precisely why their fights go longer than other UFC divisions. One common theory is they simply lack the striking power to do away with one another prior to the final bell seems. Again, these numbers do not speak directly to that theory (we’d need more information about the rate of knockouts), but that intuition seems to at least be on the right track and worth further exploration.
As for the heavyweights at UFC 146, no one is suggesting their fights have a predetermined destiny to be abbreviated. In this modern era of the UFC and with a main card with so much ranked heavyweight talent, perhaps they will serve as outliers and resemble more the pitched back and forth their lightweight contemporaries. But that’s the key word: outlier. The data is pretty unequivocal. We are right to expect a night of quick action, fast endings and a fight card with rapid turnover once the main card goes live.
I am also not suggesting the UFC won’t be able to offer a compelling television pay-per-view product even with an exceedingly short main card. The preliminary card for UFC 146 is as stacked as any and it stands to reason UFC will find ways to fill extra time to the extent it exists. In fact, it could be just that balance – longer bouts on the preliminary card, quick bouts on the main card – that could improve the television experience altogether.
I’m further not even asserting that should the main card fights all end early that it’d necessarily be a bad thing. The criticism in the aftermath of Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez in some ways missed the mark. It’d be disingenuous to suggest fight fans as well as the general public weren’t left wanting more, but since when is that the least desirable outcome? A quick knockout generally satisfies the violence quotient fans are expecting and typically does so without larger controversy. We could all be so lucky to have those conditions met at UFC 146.
What will be interesting to see is how these upcoming fights stack up in UFC heavyweight history in terms of their speed. The two records to keep an eye on when May arrives are fastest finishes among heavyweights in UFC history and fastest main cards.
The record books tell us the UFC 146 main card fighters will have to beat these top five fastest heavyweight finishes in UFC heavyweight history (since UFC 28) to earn their place among the quickest ever:
Higher ranked talent and those known for their durability (Roy Nelson) aren’t so easily dispatched. It’s far easier to put away Paul Buentello as Arlovski did at UFC 55 than it is Junior dos Santos at any point. But firepower is firepower. I’d be slightly surprised to see anyone on the UFC 146 main card knocked out this quickly, but would it really be so shocking?
As for the shortest main cards in UFC history, how can UFC 146 earn a place among the top five? Simple: each of the five main card fights that night will have to average less than four minutes each to beat these events:
I don’t know that UFC 146 will beat these previous efforts. And it’s interesting to note it doesn’t necessarily take a certain threshold of heavyweight bouts per fight card to achieve early endings. The chaotic, offensive nature of MMA allows for virtually any fighter in any division to make quick work of matters. But if there is any kind of card that one can put together to beat these aforementioned rankings while still offering competitive fights, there aren’t many that wouldn’t look similar to UFC 146.
This is the first edition of Crunching Numbers, a new weekly feature that explores the numbers of MMA and what they tell us about the sport and its fighters. All quantitative data provided by FightMetric.
As the long drought in UFC events comes to a close next weekend, MMA fans will be treated to a thoroughly intriguing event in UFC on FUEL TV 2. This is notable for two reasons, not least of which is that this marks the UFC’s de…
As the long drought in UFC events comes to a close next weekend, MMA fans will be treated to a thoroughly intriguing event in UFC on FUEL TV 2. This is notable for two reasons, not least of which is that this marks the UFC’s debut event in Sweden. The most important consideration, though, is what the main event between Alexander Gustafsson and Thiago Silva will tell us about the future of the light heavyweight division.
Gustafsson enters this bout regarded by some as the next great UFC light heavyweight. The Swede has demonstrated a growing aptitude for the game and increasingly defeated better opposition, seemingly with growing ease. He doesn’t appear ready for the Jon Jones end of the division just yet, but this upcoming fight will tell us what sort of trajectory he’s really on.
Silva, a perpetual tough task in the light heavyweight division, returns after a year-long suspension tied to steroid use. He also took the time to recover from a nagging back injury.
No one should count Silva out, but it’s incontestable that the eyes and expectations of the MMA world are on Gustafsson. Despite the attention, Gustafsson still has much to prove to make good on the promise that’s been foisted on him. Against Silva, the data suggests he’s going to have his work cut out for him, but there could be one shortcut.
If you’re thinking striking is the answer for Gustafsson to defeat the ferocious Brazilian, think again. It’s true Gustafsson’s stand-up has looked increasingly better. And he recently finished off light heavyweight fixture Vladimir Matyushenko in less than a minute with complete ease, although striking’s never been Matyushenko’s strong suit. But if the numbers tell us anything, they do not tell us Gustafsson is a better striker than Silva. In virtually every measurable respect, Silva’s got Gustafsson beat in the stand-up department:
– Silva blocks 65% of strikes thrown at him to Gustafsson’s 48%. The numbers favor Silva in the other direction, too. Silva is accurate 52% of the time striking, while Gustafsson only finds the mark 40% of the time.
– Per minute, Gustafsson absorbs more strikes than Silva: 1.93 vs. 1.72.
– Silva is more effective at landing strikes despite having a 2.5 inch shorter reach than Gustafsson. Per minute, Silva lands 3.3 times to Gustafsson’s 2.98.
This isn’t to say Gustafsson can’t win standing. If there is anything notable of his game, it’s the exponential speed at which he seems to be improving. It’s also true Silva might have a bit of ring rust from the layoff. Still, Silva’s turned in far more effective striking performances thus far in his UFC career according to all available data.
That leaves the wrestling and ground game for Gustafsson to utilize, right? Maybe, but it’s no guarantee.
A basic look at the numbers tell us the Swede has some slight advantages, but nothing he can majorly lean on. He’s more aggressive with submissions (he averages 2.63 attempts over the course of a 15-minute fight compared to .89 for Silva) and is remarkably good at defending against takedowns: he’s stopped 14 of 16 attempts and while a 88% defensive rate isn’t MMA’s best, it’s on pace to be at or very near the top. UFC light heavyweight champion Jones has a perfect 100% takedown defense rate, but that’s only against 12 attempts.
Despite being a jiu-jitsu black belt, is Silva really going to take Gustafsson down? Unlikely. He’s not particularly proficient at it and as aforementioned, Gustafsson is good at defending them. And Gustafsson isn’t much better at takedowns than Silva. Taking this all into account, Gustafsson doesn’t have much room to work with. If he’s only got a marginal advantage grappling and a clear disadvantage striking, where can he win this bout?
In turns out there is a commonality in Silva’s two total UFC losses. Yes, he lost to Lyoto Machida striking and Rashad Evans was able to use wrestling to stifle the American Top Team talent. However, it is the in-between space – positional control standing or the ground – where Silva has shown a true Achilles Heel.
For the purposes of this argument and the data, positional control is defined as time spent on one’s back or being pressed against the fence.
When Silva faced Machida, the former light heavyweight champion was able to control Silva’s position for 2:27 of the 4:59 of fight time. In the Evans fight, it was 7:14 of 15 minutes. Between those two fights, Silva was held in a disadvantageous position for approximately 48.5% of the time.
In all of Silva’s other UFC fights, he was positionally controlled for only 7.5% of the time. It should be noted that last figure is true of virtually every fighter, but what the data demonstrates is that it’s significantly more difficult for Silva to win when he’s placed and held in bad positions.
Why? Two reasons.
First, Silva isn’t exactly a rhythm striker in the traditional Thai boxing sense, but he does feed off momentum. As he’s given time to open up, he’s largely able to be effective and to continuously build on that success en route to wins or stoppages. If he is constantly forced to reset, however, he is significantly less potent as a striker. He needs time and few interruptions to be all he can be. This was evident in the Evans bout. Even when he’s not being controlled, Silva naturally worries about the takedown or bad positioning that could come his way if the opponent has been effective in establishing that early in the fight. It’s a natural and understandable response to effective aggression and positional control, but a clear deficiency in his game nonetheless.
Second, time held is time lost. As I mentioned earlier, Silva isn’t exactly submission hungry. He’s got OK takedown defense, but if he’s held he’s largely content or unable to do much about the position problem. The time in which he’s controlled adds up for his opposition.
Is Gustafsson up to the challenge now that the blueprint is clear? Not so fast. The Swede has well-rounded talents, but he’s only controlled position for 23.2% of his UFC fight time against previous opposition. That’s not bad exactly, but it’s not the overwhelming percentage employed that seems necessary for success by Machida or Evans.
There isn’t one way to defeat Silva or any fighter for that matter, but it will be interesting to see if Gustafsson tries to follow the road map of positional control. Unless his abilities have taken a demonstrable step up since we’ve last seen him, standing toe-to-toe with Silva seems like a very dubious strategy. He’s got to keep Silva contained before anything else is really possible.
Gustafsson’s got talent. No one can or would deny it. But he’s under the weight of great expectations, too. Like any top and surging prospect, there’s both reason for optimism and expectations that have to managed about potential upside. On Saturday, we’ll know if he’ll join two previous light heavyweight champions as the only men to defeat Silva or if we’ve been too quick to anoint him the next big thing.
If you haven’t heard of Chris Honeycutt yet, you soon will. The two-time All-American out of Edinboro University and second-place finisher at this year’s 2012 NCAA national wrestling championships at 197 pounds is the most deco…
If you haven’t heard of Chris Honeycutt yet, you soon will. The two-time All-American out of Edinboro University and second-place finisher at this year’s 2012 NCAA national wrestling championships at 197 pounds is the most decorated and high-profile collegiate wrestler who has openly declared his intent to compete in mixed martial arts from this year’s graduating class.
There’s an open debate about what kind of style and athletic background in wrestling allows for the most seamless transition to MMA. However, there is evidence to suggest the physically bruising wrestler who finishes takedowns with authority will, on balance, find himself right at home in the confines of the MMA cage. And that is precisely the sort of athlete and wrestler Honeycutt has shown himself to be.
In this exclusive interview with MMA Fighting, Honeycutt opens up about his interest in fighting, why he was so open with declaration and intent to participate in the sport, which fighters he admires and names a famous alumnus from his university he plans to train with after graduation.
Luke Thomas: Chris, let’s get right to it. You were a very special case this year in collegiate wrestling. You had announced outright your intention to purse mixed martial arts. Talk to me about how that decision came to be.
Chris Honeycutt: I’ve always wanted to fight since high school. I kind of tuned it out, didn’t watch it for a while to focus on the sport of wrestling. I was watching more fighting matches and competitions versus watching my film in wrestling. I always enjoyed wrestling. I started when I was four years old and I always looked up to my brother with it and I stuck with it and it kept me in school and getting good grades and it got me to college and got me my degree. Wrestling paid off and now it’s time to pay off with my next upcoming career in mixed martial arts. I always wanted to do it and it was only a matter of time. I did what I had to do in wrestling in order to get there.
Luke Thomas: So you’ve been a fan for quite a while now of the sport then?
Chris Honeycutt: Oh yeah, as soon as it was on pay-per-view and TV, I latched onto it.
Luke Thomas: And when you watched it and you saw previous wrestlers do well, did you look at it as an avenue for a professional athletic career?
Chris Honeycutt: Oh yeah. As soon as [Matt] Hughes started winning. Hughes was a wrestler and then you just see more wrestlers falling into it. Bubba [Jenkins] came in last year and [Josh] Koscheck’s successful and [Brock] Lesnar left the WWE for a little bit and he was a wrestler. I think it attracts us to the sport. It comes in hand in hand in some aspects, you’ve just got to add more sports to it.
Luke Thomas: Did you catch any heat for announcing that you had intentions to go into MMA? I know there’s some tension between the wrestling and MMA communities in that way. I know some seniors that are even contemplating MMA maybe feel like they would catch their coaches wrath if they were open about it. What was your experience when you went public with this intention?
Chris Honeycutt: At the all-star match in the first couple weeks of the season this year, I never really got any heat for it in a negative way. Just my parents, obviously, they wanted me to not go into the cage but that’s parents, right?
Some people were surprised. Some people already knew because I’d been kinda talking about it for years but I always tried to keep wrestling in my mind frame at the time. I never got any heat or negativity about it though other than my parents not wanting me to do it.
Luke Thomas: Was there ever any interest or folks saying you could possibly go to the international level in freestyle or at least make an attempt at it?
Chris Honeycutt: I took freestyle real, real serious. Usually after the collegiate season, I would take a week off and then I’d start working out for the following season. I do freestyle because it keeps me being competitive. If I don’t have anything to compete for, it’s kinda just my own way of training, I go in and work out. It gives me more of a drive to work out harder. I don’t know. I was interested.
Luke Thomas: Let’s talk about MMA in general. I’ve read some of the things you’ve had to say about it but maybe for the audiences that haven’t seen that material, what is it about MMA that interests you? Obviously, wrestling is a strong base in many different capacities, but beyond that, what intrigues you about it?
Chris Honeycutt: It’s just the complexities of all the sports being together. You can be the best taekwondo artist in the world, but if you don’t see a right hand coming at your face then you need to learn a new martial art as well. You can’t just be good at one of them. You’ve got kickboxing, regular boxing, taekwondo and not to mention if someone takes you down, you’ve got Brazilian jiu-jitsu and wrestling itself.
I spend all the time practicing wrestling to go hard for seven minutes and they’ve got to go for 15 or 25 and do what I do and then more plus keeping their breathing slow and calming. For wrestling, you can go at a normal rate and beat guys sometimes because not everybody can go just seven minutes hard.
Luke Thomas: Obviously striking is really different than wrestling, but have you dabbled at all in boxing or dabbled in Brazilian jiu-jitsu maybe as a recreational thing?
Chris Honeycutt: Yeah, when I was in Boston my first years of high school, I did a little bit of boxing. I never competitively boxed. I was getting into it but it kind of faded away right before I moved back to Ohio. I would go to a gym and kind of spar and mess around for a little bit. I did taekwondo for a month or two but nothing I think is gonna help me transition. It was all for fun back then but I enjoyed it.
Luke Thomas: But you’re naturally inclined in ways that wrestling interests you but so did the other martial arts. Is that a fair characterization?
Chris Honeycutt: Oh yeah. I’m eager to learn the others. I know I’m gonna be good at taking people down but what am I gonna do when I take them down? I’m gonna punch them and try to not get submitted. I’m eager to learn the ground game and my hands. That’s one of the biggest things. Koscheck now, he doesn’t use his wrestling, he just uses his hands.
Luke Thomas: There was a video that came out on Flowrestling. They were sort of walking by the national finalists in the hallway and you were talking to some other guys and there was a brief moment where you said something about Koscheck and training. Are you going to be training with Koscheck at the Dethrone Base Camp?
Chris Honeycutt: That’s the plan for the moment. Koscheck is successful in the sport and he’s an alumni of my college. He’s only one weight below me and one of my former coaches at Edinboro.
That’s the plan. I’m not shutting everyone out. I got a few calls and e-mails from some other gyms and managers. I’m still figuring out what’s going on. I’m trying to learn the business as well. I get the idea of how the sport works but I don’t know the business that much and I’m hoping to get out there and have him teach me about it and explain. I kind of sheltered myself out of the sport of mixed martial arts because I wanted to do well in wrestling and now I’m trying to just bring it all in and learn as fast as I can.
Luke Thomas: Would you mind divulging which gyms reached out to you? I know American Top Team does some pretty good scouting.
Chris Honeycutt: Well American Top Team was probably the first gym to contact me after the national finals. Koscheck didn’t really need to because I was there this past summer and I explained to him what I wanted to do with my career in the future. It’s hard to think of the gyms off the top of my head. I don’t really know any. In the hallway at nationals, a guy I was talking to said I could come out to [Randy Couture’s] place in Vegas. I don’t know. I have so many messages I haven’t looked at them all yet.
Luke Thomas: So does that mean you intend to compete at 185, middleweight?
Chris Honeycutt: That’s what I plan to compete at. I haven’t been down there since last year when I was wrestling there but I wrestled great at 185. Wrestling is a little different because you’ve got to make weight every single weekend and sometimes two days in a row.
As far as my physique, I’m shorter. I’m 210 pounds and the last thing I’d ever want to do is go against Bones Jones or something five years from now and he’s got 9-10 inches on me in height and reach.
Luke Thomas: And you said you walk around at about 210? Is that what you weigh when you’re working out but not specifically dieting?
Chris Honeycutt: Yeah, it’s more like 205. I’m 205-210 coming in and I usually weigh about 205 on the way out. I don’t lose too much weight so I could lose 10 pounds.
Luke Thomas: Have you looked at other guys who are doing what you’re doing, like Bubba Jenkins for example. He did well against Taylor last year but he’s taking small fights and taking it day by day. Is that a guy who’s creating a path that’s easy to follow or is that not so much on your radar?
Chris Honeycutt: I’ve talked to Jenkins a couple of times. We’re not best friends but I talked to him a little bit about the transition to mixed martial arts. This was last year at the nationals, not this year. He said he was going to go to mixed martial arts, this and that and I knew Lance Palmer was going to go to mixed martial arts too. He kind of kept it more under the radar and he’s in California with Urijah Faber. I believe they’re both 2-0. I wouldn’t say I’m looking to him for a path. I think he’s just another wrestling doing it, going out and getting what he wants. That’s what every wrestler has to do in this sport.
Luke Thomas: Let me get you to speak as a fan. Maybe wrestlers, maybe not wrestlers, who are some of your favorite fighters to watch?
Chris Honeycutt: Well obviously Koscheck because I was out there for a month and he’s a former Edinboro wrestler. If Bubba’s on, I’ll watch Bubba and if Lance is on, I’ll watch Lance because we were on the same high school together at St. Eds so I watch him. If there’s a wrestler, I’m rooting for them basically because the sport’s gonna go through wrestling.
Luke Thomas: If you could sort of plan out your 2012 maybe early 2013, how long do you think you need to get some of the next level of training before you take your first amateur fight or your first pro fight?
Chris Honeycutt: Well I’m gonna train for 10-plus months before I’m gonna fight. My dad says he’s gonna help me out. He says he doesn’t want me to rush into it. I’m gonna lean on him for support with my training so I don’t rush things because when I start to fight, I know I’m gonna fall in love with it right away and I’m gonna want to fight over and over again out of the gate. I’m gonna do my best to keep myself away from the competitive side and just train to learn the sport. I have pretty much just basic athletic ability in terms of striking and submitting. I get the idea of it. 2012, as soon as school’s out, I’ll heal up and pretty much get out to California as fast as possible at the moment.
Bellator’s sixth season rolls on tonight with the return of their welterweight champion Ben Askren. In the main event this evening, he’ll defend his title against Douglas Lima, the winner of the season five Bellator welterweigh…
Bellator’s sixth season rolls on tonight with the return of their welterweight champion Ben Askren. In the main event this evening, he’ll defend his title against Douglas Lima, the winner of the season five Bellator welterweight tournament. Also on tonight’s card, Brazilians Marlon Sandro and Alexandre Bezarra fight for a spot in the featherweight. Longtime bantamweight standout Masakatsu Ueda makes his Bellator debut in one of two bantamweight tournament quarterfinal bouts.
Last, but certainly not least, former WEC and IFL featherweight Chris Horodecki returns to the Bellator cage on the preliminary portion of the card.
I expect an early start for Askren and to have not a ton of difficulty taking Lima down. But Askren’s had real difficulty finishing anyone at this level. He’s also a little too hittable for my tastes, which is in part a function of how long his fights against higher-end competition go. Lima’s had problems in the past and will have to work around Askren’s relentless takedown attempts, but over time I believe he can tag and hurt the champion both coming in and standing flat-footed at range (which Askren sometimes does).
I really think highly of Bezerra. He’s a great athlete with effective offensive wrestling and a well-rounded skill set. He’s only been to the third round once in his career (a fight he won) and his lone loss came in 2009 to now UFC featherweight Charles Oliveira. I suspect he can give Sandro, the prohibitive favorite, a much tougher time than most imagine. He is a touch sloppy with his striking and needs seasoning, so Sandro should walk away victorious. But I am betting this will be much closer than most imagine.
This is frankly Ueda’s fight to lose. Marx, a bantamweight product out of Greg Jackson’s camp, is no slouch and brings a lot of in-cage experience to the fight. Ueda is also long in the tooth and has probably already seen his best days. I’ll grant Marx has done well fighting above his natural weight class. Still, the level of competition Ueda has faced and defeated is categorically better than even Marx’s best win.
This one has fireworks written all over it. Lima is a ferocious prospect out of Brazil who’s only gone to the third round once, a fight which was his pro debut (a victorious one at that). He’s got good athleticism, excellent power and surprisingly quick submissions. I worry a bit about his inexperience, which is why his opponent in Nakamura is such a good test for him. A veteran of DEEP, Nakamura is a much more patient fighter with a reliable double leg he times nicely off of counter strikes. This will be a tightly contested fight.
Not much to say about this one except that Horodecki should have his way here. It’s true the USMC-veteran in Richman has done well for himself on the regional circuit and Horodecki’s stock value has certainly come back to earth. Even still, there’s a pretty clear gap in ability.
