Ben Rothwell and Junior Dos Santos try to make us care about the Heavyweights again. The final four fights for UFN 86 are in the heavyweight division so heavyweight MMA will either warm the spotlight, or darken it depending on performance for UFC Fight Night in Croatia this April 10, 2016 at the Arena Zagreb.
Some fun bouts between perennial undercarders promises to inspire the crowd this April 10, 2016 at the Arena Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia.
The Line Up
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
Welterweight Nicolas Dalby vs. Zak Cummings
Lightweight Mairbek Taisumov vs. Damir Hadzovi?
Bantamweight Ian Entwistle vs. Alejandro Pérez
Bantamweight Filip Peji? vs. Damian Stasiak
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Featherweight Robert Whiteford vs. Lucas Martins
Heavyweight Jared Cannonier vs. Cyril Asker
Welterweight Bojan Veli?kovi? vs. Alessio Di Chirico
The Odds
Nicolas Dalby -170 Zak Cummings +150
Damir Hadzovic +250 Mairbek Taisumov -300
Alejandro Perez +125 Ian Entwistle -145
Damian Stasiak -125 Filip Pejic +105
Lucas Martins -115 Robert Whiteford -105
Cyril Asker +135 Jared Cannonier -155
Alessio Di Chirico +145 Bojan Velickovic -165
The Rundown
Welterweight Nicolas Dalby vs. Zak Cummings
Dalby is coming off a draw over the upstart Darren Till. He’ll be taking on the TUF veteran, and college major in exercise and movement science, Zak Cummings. The fight is a stylistic clash in the modern sense. Dalby is a striker by trade, and a completely reasonable one. I think a lot of people thought Till would take over given his size and acumen, but Dalby’s poise and comfort on the feet made the fight as competitive as it was close. As a striker, he relies on distance management. He likes to stay at midrange with his boxing, initiate a takedown if it’s there, and chamber his right leg whenever he senses he’s ceding that distance. He doesn’t have big power, but his speed and ability to counter make him dangerous enough. All offense is depends on positioning just like a submission, and Dalby has great positioning even when he’s not doing much except taking punches.
Cummings is pretty technical wherever the fight takes place. While he’s best in close quarters, or in top control, he possesses a durability ala Matt Brown (not that they’re anything alike stylistically) that makes him tough for any young or inexperienced fighter. He’s like Fitch in terms of approach, but heavy on the attack. If he loses, it’ll be because of not enough volume in my opinion.
Lightweight Mairbek Taisumov vs. Damir Hadzovi?
Here’s the not grudge match you’ve all been waiting for. Taisumov goes ona 3 fight killing spree, and as his reward? Another victim. House of Pain jamming with Helmet style. Unless Taisumov gets attacked by grown ass tigers popping out from the octagon floor, Hadzovic is losing violenty.
Hadzovic is actually pretty good. But as you can see, he cedes too much pressure.
He has brilliant knees that come of out nowhere, but otherwise he’s a tempo fighter who can’t control tempo. With a good jab, and abrupt versatility, he’s best suited against fighters less dynamic and athletically gifted. Taisumov has a brutal straight right. Like a lot of fighters from his province, he succeeds with the token “straight right” because it’s not so straight. He snaps his punches quick, but snaps them just awkwardly enough to create confusion for opponents. Think Mariano Rivera. Taisumov can have trouble generating offense when frustrated, but this is his fight to lose.
Bantamweight Ian Entwistle vs. Alejandro Pérez
Another zero sum bout. Entwistle at his point is a choir boy version of Toquinho.
Meanwhile, Perez is your garden variety TUF prospect: good in most areas, but not a spectacular athlete. To be fair, Perez has good but raw movement. He slides his head in and out for defense, but sometimes he’s just moving for the sake of moving, and it doesn’t provide much protection. Especially when he’s backing straight up. He has a quick release on his strikes, but not being a big puncher means Entwistle has time to set up his high octane submission game. Ian is hardly a sure thing: he lost to Dan Hooker who is no contender, and he’s prone to mistakes. But Perez would need to be harder to get on the ground and crisper volume in order to stand a chance I’m comfortable giving him.
Bantamweight Filip Peji? vs. Damian Stasiak
Since Pejic is the more intriguing fighter just by virtue of having a “Showtime kick feint” in his arsenal, let’s take a look for the unintiated:
Pejic is a little wild on the feet, but it’s almost calculated. He has crisp, straight punches that he likes to throw like darts from all angles. With equally violent kicks at range, he’s a handful at any distance. On the ground, he’s gettable, but he takes the same approach fighting off his back as he does on the feet; like a Croatian but poorer Donald Cerrone. He can be rendered inert when opponents pressure with takedowns because so much of his strikes rely on movement. Stifle his movement at range, and there’s a lot less output.
Stasiak is a good opponent for Pejic, despite being the clear underdog. He’s not a good striker with fundamentals, but he can throw good strikes at opportune times. He’s especially strong at firing back. This doesn’t mean he’s a good counter striker; only that he doesn’t let himself get blanketed by attacks. There’s a subtle difference beyond my pay grade that I can’t articulate well, but you get the idea; dude is territorial, will bite if you piss on his gate.
Having said that, I don’t see him getting it to the ground with much success. If he does, Pejic has more options between scrambling, and threatening with submissions of his own.
Featherweight Robert Whiteford vs. Lucas Martins
Whiteford, last seen getting careened by Darren Elkins, is a decent fighter with dime a dozen ability. He has pretty good reactive strikes, and fights will in close quarters, but he’ll have to contend with the thudding power of Lucas Martins. Martins is pretty efficient at using his power. His activity can be overwhelming to the point of being chaotic, but his ability to maim should be the difference in this fight even going into the third round.
Heavyweight Jared Cannonier vs. Cyril Asker
Cannonier is the rare breed of Heavyweight who has some actual technical acumen to his game. Well, heavyweights tend to be technical. They just tend to forego it in lieu of quick finishes. Cannonier is actually a good example of why that technique can be a waste of time: the bigger they are, the more effective the percussion is over precision. Shawn Jordan whooped up on him because Jordan has ridiculous, bowling ball man power. Asker should probably be fighting at middleweight. He works better in the clinch, and on the ground. He likes to engage in striking early on. He has pretty good upper body movement, actually. It compliments a quick piston like overhand right he likes to slip and rip with. Wait…I’m using Goldberg terminology? Kill me now.
This is the perfect fight for Cannonier who should be able to bully his way into positioning, and where his craft can be on display against a fighter who doesn’t have the ability to overwhelm.
Welterweight Bojan Veli?kovi? vs. Alessio Di Chirico
The two fighters with the least amount of name recognition happens to one of the more interesting fights on the card. At least in stylistic terms. Velickovic looks the part of a high end prospect. He’s young(ish), and fights that youthful, athletic game. But he seems to be a step behind mentally, not active enough when he needs to pick up the pace. As such, he typically settles in at range with a scintillating left kick from his southpaw stance that goes low and high. Di Chirico has some good up and down movement. With his hands wound up wide like a GI Joe toy suffering from eutrophication, he’s always in position for a check, counter, and/or pressure left hook. Bojan is more well rounded, but he doesn’t seem to use his arsenal enough to make him more threatening than he’s capable of. I like Di Chirico in a modest upset to take over on the feet in a gritty three round bout.
Predictions
Cummings by Decision
Taisumov by TKO
Entwistle by Submission, round 2
Pejic by TKO, round 2
Martins by TKO, round 2
Cannonier by Decision
Di Chirico by Split Decision