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Get the inside look at the UFC 243 main card, featuring an exciting co-main event between lightweights Al Iaquinta and Daniel Hooker, plus heavy hitting Tai Tuivasa.
For those of you who regularly read my previews – first of all, you’re greatly appreciated – you’d know that the preliminary contests for UFC 243 are of subpar quality for a UFC PPV. You’d expect the main card to produce a jump in quality, right? Well, there are two quality contests on UFC 243… but you’ll have to wait until the co-main and main event before we get to those… and I only get the pleasure of covering the co-main. The rest of the prelims present a heavyweight squash match, a well-matched welterweight contest that shouldn’t be anywhere near the main card of a PPV, and a pair of debuting (and inexperienced) heavyweights. I’ll give the usual caveat that the quality of the fights isn’t always equal to the entertainment quality they provide, but understand there’s reason to be wary of purchasing UFC 243 if you want a solid main card from top to bottom.
Al Iaquinta (14-5-1) vs. Dan Hooker (18-8), Lightweight
The second fight of a two-fight card, this contest may be considered to be below average for the co-main event of a PPV, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact it is still an awesome fight. It’ll be shocking if this contest is anything other than awesome.
If I had just one sentence to describe Hooker’s fighting style, I’d say not a single one of his eight UFC wins have come by way of decision. Hooker isn’t a great athlete. In fact, he’s quite plodding. But damn it if he doesn’t know his way around the cage to create the openings he’s looking for. The New Zealander was a professional kickboxer before navigating towards MMA and his technique is as sharp as you’d expect it to be from someone with his background. Though he has largely abandoned a ground attack since making his way up to lightweight, he’s proven to be opportunistic when it comes to submission opportunities when the present themselves, securing a pair of guillotine chokes in his UFC run. Though it seems unlikely this contest hits the mat, it is worth noting that Iaquinta once found himself tapping to Mitch Clarke. Just saying….
By most accounts, Iaquinta should be able to take this contest handily. He’s the better athlete. He’s got the better wrestling. Given he’s been schooled by Matt Serra, you’d think he’d own the advantage on the mat too should the fight spend an extended amount of time there. Even if it remains a striking battle, Hooker’s edge in technique and power isn’t overwhelming; it may even be negligible in the power department. Where Iaquinta appears to struggle is with the mental aspects of the sport, his submission loss to Clarke being a prime example. However, those incidents have been further and fewer between and Iaquinta has worked hard to shore up known weaknesses such as takedown defense. However, Donald Cerrone exposed a new hole as Iaquinta struggled to close the gap between himself and the Cowboy without being pick apart on the counter.
This is tough to figure. Both are tough as nails, Hooker only having been stopped with strikes by Edson Barboza and Iaquinta never succumbing to them. Neither has had cardio issues either. How this contest plays out depends on how you believe Iaquinta responds to the Cowboy loss. If he doesn’t make any adjustments – or the adjustments are minimal — Hooker should be able to counter him with regularity. However, Iaquinta has never lost back-to-back fights, tending to rebound from losses with arguably the best performances of his career up to that point. I’m hardly confident, but I’ll go with Iaquinta to do just enough to eek out a decision victory. Iaquinta via decision
Tai Tuivasa (10-2) vs. Serghei Spivak (9-1), Heavyweight
Unless Spivak just had a bad night in his debut against Walt Harris this past May, there’s every reason to believe the UFC is setting up Tuivasa with an easy rebound following the first two losses of his career.
It’s not hard to see why the UFC is so high on Tuivasa. He’s incredibly personable. He’s a deceptive athlete. Most importantly, he hits like a truck. The protégé of Mark Hunt hasn’t adapted his mentor’s penchant for patience, always looking to push the pace of the fight, often recklessly. Junior dos Santos was able to eventually finish him off when the big man didn’t slow his attack and Blagoy Ivanov countered his way to a decision. Tuivasa did show improved patience against Ivanov, but he still has a long way to go if the organization hopes to have him develop into a contender. Fortunately, Tuivasa is still only 26 and shouldn’t be close to his prime yet.
While Spivak’s 50 second loss to Harris looks terrible, he had been undefeated prior to that contest with some notable names on his resume. He has good size, an active clinch, and has been difficult to take to the mat. However, the notable names he has on his ledger are well past their primes and several of his other wins have come against smaller opposition. Spivak has talent and even appears to have the better ground game than Tuivasa. However, it’s unlikely he has the wrestling or trips to get Tuivasa to the mat. Basically, the likes of Tuivasa and Harris are massive jumps in competition for the Ukrainian and he doesn’t appear to be ready for them.
In addition to his natural power, Tuivasa has also proven to be tough. Sure, he was stopped by JDS, but not before absorbing several hard shots from the former champion. Spivak hasn’t shown to have those type of tools. Perhaps I’d give him a greater chance of pulling out the upset if he showed some creativity on the feet, but Tuivasa has him beat there as well. It’ll be a shock if this ends with any way other than Tuivasa having his hand raised. Tuivasa via KO of RD1
- Known for being an all-out action fighter upon coming into the UFC, Luke Jumeau has struggled to get that aspect of his fights to translate over since coming over to the UFC. Not that his contests have been boring. In fact, they’ve been very competitive. The problem is his shortage of athletic ability and power have manifested themselves against stiffer competition. Nonetheless, Jumeau has shown better than expected takedown defense and his toughness ensures he’s never fully out of any contest. However, he has his toughest test in Dhiego Lima. Long considered to be an underachiever, the younger of the Lima brothers has been putting it all together as of late, using his long reach to great effectiveness and boosting his own takedown defense. His overall athleticism along with his newfound discipline should allow him to overwhelm Jumeau in this welterweight contest. Lima via decision
- While DWCS vets have commonly entered the UFC as a favorite in their debut, it’s rare when they entered their DWCS as an underdog only to be the favorite coming into the UFC. Yet, that’s where Yorgan De Castro finds himself. The undersized heavyweight is an exceptionally technical striker with devastating low kicks capable of taking out his opponent’s base. However, he’s facing someone who has a striking background himself in Justin Tafa, a teammate of the aforementioned Tuivasa. He’s got a lot of similarities to Tuivasa in that he hits like a truck, owns a doughy frame, and is at his best moving forward. Unfortunately, it also could be stated he is too aggressive at times. Nonetheless, I’ll go with the countryman in this one as I don’t think he’ll give De Castro much time to establish himself. Tafa via TKO of RD1