The UFC delivers again. This event was yet another fantastic
card on their small scale that introduced promising fighters, new title
contenders, and hometown favorites prevailing in victory. Let's take a look at
some of those bouts and some possible matchups for both the winners and losers
Darren Uyenoyama vs.
Phil Harris: Both fighters impressed me in this fight. I thought it was
going to be a striker vs. grappler match, but it was really a mixed martial
artist against mixed martial artist. Harris took down Uyenoyama early, but they
got up quickly and Darren threw some sort of flying spinning somersault kick.
Yea, it was just as crazy looking as it sounds. The first round was closely
contested but the second was another story. Uyenoyama took down Harris and got
his back in an absolutely beautiful transition. He then soon after got the rear
naked choke for the highlight reel submission.
Possible matchups for
Uyenoyama: Darren Uyenoyama has now become a top guy in the UFC’s flyweight
division with this finish over Harris. He has both unorthodox standup and a
brilliant ground game. His original opponent for this fight was Louis Gaudinot
and this fight still makes sense as they are both 1-0 at flyweight in the UFC
with second round submissions. Who ever wins that fight should then fight in a
number one contenders match.
Possible matchups for
Harris: Despite being finished in his UFC debut, Harris is still a fighter
with a lot of promise. Another fighter who lost his UFC debut was Ulysses Gomez.
Because they are both 0-1, they should fight for a possible loser goes home,
but hopefully not, fight.
Bart Palaszewski vs.
Diego Nunes: This fight was bound to produce fireworks and it did, plus a
little extra. Diego Nunes is typically the type of technical striker that picks
his shots and strikes when he sees the opportunity. In this fight, he blitzed
Bart from the opening bell. No one has ever seen Diego fight so aggressively,
and I got to say, I really like it. He caught Bart on multiple occasions and
almost finished him in the first and at the end of the fight. He even landed
one of the most solid spinning back-fists to not knock someone out. If Diego
can work on his cardio and continue to do what he did on Saturday, he will
quickly become a top contender.
Possible matchups for
Nunes: Like I just said, Nunes can become a title contender very quickly if
he continues to do exactly what he did the other night. Now that he is a
contender, he needs to fight some contenders. Hatsu Hioki is coming off of a
huge loss to Ricardo Lamas and because he is still a top guy at 145, he will
continue to fight top guys. With Diego Nunes looking to become a top guy and
Hioki looking to reestablish himself as a top contender, this fight would be
fantastic.
Possible matchups for
Palaszewski: This has now been two losses in a row for "Bartimus"
and his third of his last four. That isn’t great but he is still one of the
better fighters at featherweight. Mike Brown is a former champion at 145 and is
looking to go back into title contention. Now that he has wins over both Daniel
Pineda and Nam Phan, he needs to take a step up in competition if he wants to
get there. Bart Palaszewski is that step up.
Jacob Volkmann vs.
Shane Roller: Volkmann finally got hat first finish under the UFC banner
and better yet, he did it in front of his hometown in Minneapolis. Volkmann ran
out and put his hands on Roller as quickly as possible. He got the takedown and
Roller’s back in the process. The rear naked choke attempt followed soon after
but Roller was not giving his neck up, but Volkmann didn't care, he decided to
crush his jaw instead. Volkmann really impressed me in this fight. And with
this loss, Roller has now lost 4 of his 5 fights. That is simply not UFC
caliber. He has now even decided to retire.
Possible matchups for
Volkmann: The man named "Christmas" is surprisingly a force at
155 pounds. He doesn't look menacing. Actually, he’s quite unassuming. But he
has some solid grappling that can put any lightweight fighter on their back.
I'm sure he wants another step up in competition and a fighter that was screwed
out of a fight on Saturday was Thiago Tavares. This would be a fun grappling
match.
Marcus LeVesseur vs.
Carlo Prater: There is always that one fight you wish you could un-see at
every UFC event. This was that one fight. And let me tell you, it was awful.
For two guys who's jobs were on the line, you would expect a spirited affair.
But this fight was packed with sloppy takedowns and guillotine attempts. That
was it. The outcome was very questionable and no one cared. Prater is basically
0-3 in the UFC. He's gone.
Possible matchups for
LeVesseur: Marcus could very well be 0-2 in the UFC so I don't think he
deserves any step up and should be put right into a loser goes home fight. CJ
Keith is coming off of a first round TKO loss to Ramsey Nijem after missing
weight. I thought he would have been released but since he's still in the UFC,
these two should square off.
Mike Pierce vs. Aaron
Simpson: This fight was shockingly good. The UFC had it as the first fight
originally for a reason. They have both had very boring fights in their last
two performances. This fight was anything but. Midway through the first round,
Simpson caught Pierce and almost finished him with some ground and pound and a
submission. Simpson looked fantastic in the first round but Pierce showed a lot
of heart going into the second round. He landed a huge right hand right on the
chin of "The A-Train" and instantly put him out. It was a great
comeback, but it wasn't the only one.
Possible matchups for
Pierce: Pierce is one of the more under appreciated fighters in the UFC. He
holds great knockout power and fantastic wrestling, a pretty good equation for
success. He is slowly but surely making his way to the top and if he wants to
continue that ascension, he should fight the winner of Mike Swick and Matt
Brown. The winner would most likely become a top-10 welterweight.
Possible matchups for
Simpson: If Aaron Simpson isn't considering retirement yet at 38 years of
age, his time is coming soon. A fighter who is coming off of a win but just
about at the same level of Simpson is Dan Miller. A wrestler vs. wrestler can
sometimes turn into a slugfest.
Danny Castillo vs.
Michael Johnson: Remember when I said Pierce's comeback wasn’t the only one?
Well this is the other one. Danny Castillo dropped the Blackzilian at about the
one minute mark of the first round. He then started to rain down so many hammer
fists on Johnson's temple, that I was actually telling the ref to stop the
fight. After that, Castillo locked in an ultra tight arm triangle choke that I
thought was going to end the fight for sure. But no, Johnson showed the heart
of a warrior and defended well against every one of Castillo's attacks. Going
into the second round, Johnson was instantly the aggressor, taking hold of the
center of the octagon. Castillo came in and Johnson caught him with a short
left hand and dropped him. He followed up with some brutal hammer fists of his
own and knocked Danny Castillo clean out. It was another fantastic comeback.
Possible matchups for
Johnson: With this win, Michael Johnson has become a legitimate contender
at 155 pounds. He is athletic, strong, has great wrestling, and powerful
striking. There is no wonder as to why Rashad says he is a future champion in
the UFC. Another fighter who has looked great in his last performance was Matt
Wiman. This would be a huge step up in competition for Johnson and it would
also be extremely entertaining.
Possible matchups for
Castillo: The Alpha Male product has yet to do anything that really
impresses me inside the UFC. His lone finish win was over an out of shape
Shamar Bailey. Although he is still a talented fighter, he has yet to truly
make a statement. Evan Dunham is coming off of a close loss to TJ Grant and if
either fighter wants to reinstate themselves as contenders, they need a win
over a fellow former contender in each other.
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