The UFC Fight for the Troops 3 card isn’t stacked with big names. Many of the fighters scheduled to compete in Fort Campbell, Ky. have had opportunities at titles—or at least appeared in the title picture before.
Their failures to capitalize on those chances have them at somewhat of a crossroads. The stakes created by these dynamics can produce great fights. Fans are hoping that will be the case Wednesday night.
Among these hopefuls is a small group of fighters who are probably faced with their last chance to be considered serious contenders.
Liz “Girlrilla” Carmouche
Carmouche battles Alexis Davis, and a shot at the UFC women’s bantamweight title could be on the line. Pickings are slim when it comes to legitimate contenders for Ronda Rousey‘s title.
With Cat Zingano recovering from knee surgery, per Yahoo! Sports (via MMA Weekly), the amount of compelling opponents is decreased even more.
Because of this, Rousey is set to take on Miesha Tate Dec. 28 in Las Vegas for a rematch of their Strikeforce bout that took place back in March 2012. Rousey dominated that fight, as Tate succumbed to the armbar—as have all of Rousey‘s opponents.
Carmouche is a work in progress. Her best attributes are power and her unrelenting will. She’s still trying to develop her grappling and submission game, but she briefly had Rousey in trouble in their battle at UFC 157. Ultimately, Carmouche also fell to Rousey‘s not-so secret weapon. However, because few women have established themselves as solid contenders, Carmouche is set up for a relatively quick shot at the title.
The flip side of this is not so promising for Carmouche. If she loses, it will be hard to ever sell her as a legitimate contender. Her losses have come to the more elite fighters in the sport (Rousey, Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen). It would be easy to permanently label Carmouche as a second-tier fighter who can’t compete with the best.
Girlrilla doesn’t want to be a gatekeeper, but a loss may just relegate her to that standing.
Chris Camozzi and Lorenz Larkin
These two fighters will have tons to gain and much to lose when they square off Wednesday. Camozzi had his four-fight win streak snapped by Ronaldo Souza at UFC on FX 8 in May. Camozzi isn’t a great athlete, but he’s tough as nails and simply outworks many of his opponents.
While those intangible qualities are admirable, Camozzi may have maxed out his potential. His lack of agility, foot speed and hand speed will be a major problem against the elite fighters at 185 pounds.
Larkin may very well be an example of that concept.
He’s explosive and Camozzi‘s awesome chin may very well be tested in a major way in this bout. Larkin lost a decision to Francis Carmont in his last bout, so he can’t afford to hit a two-fight losing streak. Based on Carmont‘s last performance against Costas Philippou, there is no shame in losing a decision to him.
Carmont has won 11 fights in a row, with Camozzi as one of his victims in that string.
If Larkin loses to Camozzi, it will not only stain him with a second straight defeat, but for all intents and purposes, this is a fight he should win. Larkin is well-trained and physically more gifted than Camozzi. If he loses, it will drastically hurt his stock.
Camozzi doesn’t stand to lose as much, but a loss would clearly convey that he’s gone as high as he can go. His ability to grind out wins simply won’t work against the more elite athletes like Larkin.
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