Chandler vs. Hawn
Michael Chandler gets to defend his belt (and his undefeated record) against Rick “Genghis” Hawn Thursday night in what’s sure to be exciting fight. Hawn has knockout power in all his limbs be it his hands or feet, and Chandler has demonstrated some power of his own in the past. In my opinion this is going to come down to Chandler’s phenomenal ground game, and his experience. Though he’s only been in ten fights, Chandler has racked up impressive wins against the likes of Eddie Alvarez, Akihiro Gono, and Patricky Freire. Unless Hawn manages to land a power shot early I think it will be a long night for him, and Chandler will defend his belt by either decision or submission.
Curran vs. Freire
The second title fight will be between Pat Curran and Patricio Freire. Freire is a dangerous man with both knockout power and slick submission skills. Curran on the other hand is not the #2 ranked Featherweight by Sherdog without reason; this man is very skilled on the ground and on his feet as well. This will be the fight to watch, and it’s a tough one to predict. I’m going to have to go with Curran by decision, but this will be a close fight in my opinion.
Sobral vs. Zayats
This is one of the biggest mismatches of the Light Heavyweight tournament. This doesn’t take much explaining, Sobral is a BJJ black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr, and he has some solid standup. He is a former UFC title contender, as well as a former Strikeforce champion. Zayats on the other hand got knocked out by Vinny Magalhaes. This is easy, Sobral by submission.
Petruzelli vs. Noe
Here’s another fight that’s a little mismatched, we have the Kimbo Killer fighting a relatively unknown. Petruzelli has had some trouble with some submission defense in the past, luckly for him only two of Noe’s four submission wins have been by technical submission. I wouldn’t expect this fight to go to the ground, so I expect Petruzelli to knock out Noe pretty easily.
Newton vs. Djambazov
This is going to be an interesting match, both of these Light Heavyweights have some solid ground skills, but Djambazov has some stand up skills as well. Newton will want to take this to the ground if he wants to win against the Bulgarian. I think that Djambazov will win here; every fight he has won has been a finish. Therefore, I think the Bulgarian will keep the fight standing and knockout Newton.
– Josh Leduc