The UFC roster is tearing at the seams. Even on a Fight Night, there are so many intriguing match-ups that 5 of the preliminary matches will be aired on Facebook and once again, even with 9 fights scheduled to air one way or another, there's still unaired matches I wish I could watch.
For the Main Event, it's wrestling extraordinaire Phil Davis up against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Nogueira is a big name because of his boxing and jiu jitsu game but hasn't looked all that great since his UFC debut, and where he hasn't looked all that sharp, his wrestling, is where his opponent excels. Davis has dominated all of his UFC opponents but what sets him apart from the rest of the wrestling pack is his strong submission game. The odds are Davis is going to win by control with his wrestling but with guys like Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, and Lyoto Machida at the top of his division, he needs a dominant win if he wants a top 5 opponent next. Davis' name keeps coming up next to Jones' and it's his chance to show he can win against a high level opponent just as impressively as he's been doing.
For the Co-Main Event, it's hard hitters Dan Hardy and Anthony Johnson pit against each other. Coming off the KO at the hands of Condit, I see Hardy coming in with improved striking. Johnson is huge, fast and powerful but he's coming off a long lay off. This fight is very evenly matched but Hardy is coming off of 2 losses, which should have him motivated and though they both knock people out, Hardy is the more technical one and takes this by decision.
Also on the televised card, Amir Sadollah takes on DeMarques Johnson. Short notice or not, Sadollah has the better skill set and I see Sadollah putting on yet another Muy Thai clinic on a lower tier fighter. Leonard Garcia rematches Chan Sung Jung. There's always the possibility that Garcia could win a fight he should've lost just because he's uber aggressive and wild but still, I see 'The Korean Zombie' picking his shots better than last time (though I think he won that one) and hopefully the judges base it more on effective striking than on aggression and the rightful winner gets his hand raised.
On the Facebook prelims, Alex'Bruce Leroy' Caceres fights Mackens Semerzier. I like Caceres' Bruce Lee-like pre-fight attire and his style, best described as kick happy, and hopefully, that let's him the win. Jon Madsen takes on Mike Russow. Madsen has controlled all of his fights with his wrestling and in his fight most recent fight showed his wrestling has an aggressive aide with his finish of Yvel. Russow single-handedly derailed the Duffee hype train but looked unimpressive for most of that fight and though Madsen finished his last fight, Russow's own good wrestling base will negate Madsen's aggression, but he'll still get controlled. John Hathaway fights Kris McCray. Though Hathaway lost his fight to Pyle, he still has a win over top dog Diego Sanchez and even in his loss, showed a lot of heart and just natural strength. McCray hasn't looked that good since TUF, and even on the show, didn't really look that great. Hathaway wins by whatever he wants and that'll probably be standing. Sean McCorkle takes on Christian Morecraft. Both are big guys with losses to Stefan Struve, but Morecraft was beating Struve pretty good up until Struve KOed him and I see him coming in as the better fighter into this fight. Johnny Hendricks fights in an unaired bout and hopefully gets a big win so we can see that wrestling pedigree against some 170 bad asses.
The card is stacked as always. You're on Facebook all the time. Put those wasted hours to good use watching guys MMA it out.
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