No. 4-ranked contender Lyoto Machida meets No. 10-ranked CB Dollaway in the UFC Fight Night 58 headliner. The middleweight clash will send the winner into title contention.
Dollaway has a chance to silence his critics and establish himself as one of the elite in the division. He started his career 6-0 before joining the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. The Arizona State wrestler made the finals against Amir Sadollah, where he would suffer his first career loss.
Dollaway had an up-and-down start to his UFC career, going 5-4. He was stopped by submission twice, and he was knocked out twice. It looked as if Dollaway was nothing more than another lackluster product of TUF.
However, come 2012, he started to live up to the potential many saw in him.
In May of that year, he went up against veteran Jason Miller and dominated the fight. He then moved on to take on Daniel Sarafian and took a split decision.
One of his most impressive performances came in his fight after that, punishing Tim Boetsch, but he ended up on the wrong side of a decision in one of the worst judgements of 2013.
Dollaway got right back in the win column in 2014 with back-to-back victories over Cezar Ferreira and Francis Carmont.
Win or lose, the fight this weekend against Machida will show us how good Dollaway truly is.
Machida is the cream of the crop at 185 pounds. He is one of the best fighters we have seen, and the former UFC light heavyweight champion is arguably the worst stylistic matchup for Dollaway around.
The Brazilian has made numerous wrestlers look foolish, including Dollaway‘s former collegiate teammate, Ryan Bader.
The Brazilian is coming off a Fight of the Year candidate against champion Chris Weidman. He will be motivated to get another title shot with a dominant performance.
This is the perfect chance for Dollaway to show off the strides he has made in his overall MMA game. He can validate himself as a Top 10 middleweight with a competitive fight in hostile territory.
Machida‘s ability to create distance and takedown defense will make it exceptionally difficult for Dollaway to be successful with his wrestling. The American will have to threaten Machida with his stand-up and gain his respect.
Dollaway will be forced into showcasing his full range of skills.
The former light heavyweight champion is better in nearly every category, which is why Dollaway enters as a plus-400 underdog, per Odds Shark. Not many will give him a chance, and it is going to be difficult to change the perception that he is not an upper-echelon middleweight. His recent wins and impressive performances have failed to do so to date, but this is his golden opportunity.
Saturday’s performance will give us the best look into just how far Dollaway can go in this division. While a win puts him in title contention, a competitive loss shows us he can still get there.
A one-sided loss, on the other hand, will essentially confirm his role as a gatekeeper.
This is an important main event for the division, but even more important for Dollaway‘s prospects as a top-tier middleweight.
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