David Mitchell vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
Lim may be making his UFC debut, but with the event having such an Asian heavy crowd, it may still give Lim the feeling of having a home field advantage. Lim has been described as the best boxer in all of South Korea, and that could very well be true. He’s going to looking to keep the fight standing and knock Mitchell out, especially after Mitchell’s lack of striking skill was exposed in his last fight with Paulo Thiago, who isn’t even known as a striker. For a fighter who is primarily a Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, Mitchell’s Jiu-Jitsu isn’t anything spectacular. Lim should have no problem evading Mitchell’s takedown attempts and using his boxing to end this fight early. Mitchell may be a big welterweight, but Lim has fought and finished many of his opponents who clearly had a size advantage over him, after all Lim used to fight at middleweight. Unless Lim chokes in his octagon debut or Mitchell has improved drastically in every aspect of his game, Lim will make Mitchell look like an amateur. I’m predicting Lim to get an early knockout.
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Hougland
It’s no secret that Hougland’s best chance of winning is to catch Mizugaki with a submission. Mizugaki may not have the best striking, but it’s an advantage he will enjoy in this fight. As we saw in his fight against Yves Jabouin, Hougland’s striking is a notch above novice level, and while Mizugaki is no Yves Jabouin, I doubt that Hougland will be a threat to him on the feet. Even with Jiu-Jitsu being Hougland’s greatest attribute, it isn’t on the same level of someone like Rani Yahya, and even Yahya wasn’t able to beat Mizugaki using Jiu-Jitsu. I don’t see Hougland getting a dominate position on the ground and therefore, see a victory for Mizugaki. I give credit to Hougland for his durability and determination to always stay in the fight, so I don’t think Mizugaki will be able to finish him, but I am predicting him to win a unanimous decision.
Riki Fukuda vs. Tom DeBlass
Although he had a strong first round in his fight with Cyrille Diabate, DeBlass didn’t have the cardio to go the following ten minutes, and that cost him the fight. If DeBlass had poor cardio fighting at light heavyweight, I’m not too confident that his cut to middleweight will go smoothly. Fukuda on the other hand, hasn’t shown a cardio problem in his past fights, and will be fighting at his normal weight class. This alone will give Fukuda an advantage, but Fukuda also possesses the striking advantage as well. Both of these fighters are primarily grapplers, but DeBlass showed zero striking in his UFC debut, while Fukuda has excellent leg kicks, body kicks and impressive counter punches. As if Fukuda didn’t have enough advantages, he is also much more experienced than DeBlass with three times as many professional fights. Best case scenario for DeBlass he edges out Fukuda in the first round, but then Fukuda easily takes the next two. Either way, I’m picking Fukuda to win a decision.
Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. John Lineker
Urushitani was extremely tentative in his fight with Joseph Benavidez and therefore landed very little offense. Lineker has an even more aggressive style than Benavidez, and that leads me to believe that Urushitani will have a hard time pulling the trigger in this fight. Lineker was clearly getting the best of Louis Gaudinot and had five times the significant strikes, but in the end, succumbed to a guillotine choke. Lineker will be have a lot of rage coming into this fight, and Urushitani won’t have an answer for Lineker’s heavy hands. I’ll be surprised if Urushitani makes it out of the first round, but regardless of how long it takes, Lineker will get the knockout.
Written by : Ryan Poli