UFC Flyweight bout: Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall
Odds: (-155 Johnson /+125 McCall )
Betting Pick: Johnson
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In the main event of the evening, Flyweights Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall and Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson will meet in an immediate rematch of their Flyweight title tournament match, which ended in controversy. The bout, which was very competitive and could have gone either way, was ruled a majority draw, but Johnson was erroneously announced as the winner in the post-fight decision. Now, the two will meet again, hopefully to provide a more clear result and clarify the burgeoning Flyweight title picture. Their first bout was entertaining and hotly contested, and the rematch promises to deliver another great main event.
Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall, despite his rather unfortunate nickname, is clearly one of the world’s most dangerous Flyweights. While he has only had one UFC fight, until recently, most of the top 125 pound action was occurring outside of the Octagon, and McCall has fought some of the top Flyweights and Bantamweights in the world, including a decision loss to current Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and an impressive win over former World #1 Flyweight Jussier da Silva. McCall is very versatile, with fast and technical striking and very effective submissions. Like most Flyweights, he is very quick on his feet and has amazing cardio conditioning that allows him to keep up a breakneck pace from bell to bell. In their first fight, McCall did a great job of preventing Johnson’s takedowns and securing takedowns of his own, but what kept him from securing the victory was his inability to maintain position on the ground. He clearly has the tools to be a winner here, but if he wants to avoid another too-close-for-comfort decision, he is going to have to find a way to capitalize on his takedowns and not let Johnson sweep or escape every time. He took some pretty big shots from Johnson last time, and so he is going to have to be wary of the standup, but if he can find a way to keep Johnson on his back after securing the takedown he will be in a great position to win this fight and challenge for the Flyweight title.
Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson had already cemented himself as one of the better Bantamweights in the world, despite his noticeable size disadvantage, when UFC decided to open up a Flyweight division. 125 pounds is a much more natural weight for Johnson, where he won’t have to rely on superior speed and technique to consistently deal with larger and stronger opponents. Johnson is extremely versatile, with good striking, good wrestling, and very effective submissions, sweeps, and escapes. Against McCall in their first fight, he landed a number of big shots that hurt McCall and did an excellent job of getting out of bad positions on the ground, but he had a lot of trouble keeping McCall from taking him down in the first place. It’s clear that he has the tools to stand and trade with McCall, and that he is good enough on the ground to get out of any real trouble, but if this fight is going to be as competitive as their last one, he simply cannot afford to give McCall those free points on the judges’ scorecards that he did last time. His number one priority has to be takedown defense, because even if he isn’t in any danger of being finished, every single time his back touches the canvas he is letting McCall keep it close on the scorecards.
Their first fight was extremely close, and I don’t see any reason to expect that this one will be any different. These guys haven’t changed that much as fighters in three months, so this one is going to come down to which of them learned their lesson from the last fight the best. Johnson had more significant offense, including a big punch in round 1 that rocked McCall, but he let McCall creep back into the fight with a steady stream of trips and takedowns. In a few cases, Johnson baited his own trap by trying, and failing, to take McCall down and leaving himself open to getting clinched and tripped in the process. He needs to learn from that, press his advantage on the feet, and try to do a better job of keeping this fight off the ground altogether. In the end, though, I thought Johnson did enough to win the first fight, albeit barely, and I think he will replicate that performance. Johnson takes the close decision nod in another very competitive fight.
Prediction: Demetrious Johnson by Decision.
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