The prelims were a perfect way to to start this card. Many people entered this fight believing that this card would lack in entertainment due to the fact that it lacked any star power. There were two nasty KO's and two wars. The prelims couldn't have gone any better.
Nick Penner vs. Cody Donovan: I have to admit, this fight was a lot
more exciting than I was expecting. It looked as if Donovan was getting the
better of Penner but then “The Quiet Assassin" caught Donovan on the ear with a
counter right hook. It dropped the Australian and Penner nearly finished the
fight. It happened again but with an uppercut and looked as though Donovan was
out. He got up again and eventually dropped Penner himself. Donovan capped it
off with ground and pound and earned a victory in his UFC debut. Now with this
making Penner 0-2 with two first round TKO losses, I project he will be released.
Possible matchups for Donovan: This was a huge win for the Aussie. He took
the fight on short notice and made a comeback for a first round TKO victory in
front of his hometown. Penner was definitely a fighter at the bottom of the
heap so this win doesn’t do much for Donovan’s stock. I believe he should fight
the winner of Roger Hollett and Wagner Prado next.
Mike Wilkinson vs. Brendan Loughnane: This fight was downright awesome.
Brendan came out in the first round and looked to have a really good gameplan,
sticking and moving with inside leg kicks. It was definitely working on the
smaller Wilkinson, but the second round was a different story. Wilkinson really started to
push forward and was landing some solid hooks that would have dropped most
fighters but Loughnane showed an amazing chin. The rest of the fight was exactly
like this and Wilkinson eked out a close unanimous decision win. I really hope
the UFC keeps around Loughnane, but history shows that fighters from TUF who
lose in the finale are released.
Possible matchups for Wilkinson: This was a really tough fight for a guy
who was a pretty big favorite heading in. Wilkinson is a natural featherweight
and I would predict he will make a return following this win. If he does, I would
like to see him fight Felipe Arantes who is coming off of a draw to Milton Vieira.
Ben Alloway vs. Manny Rodriguez: This was an early contender for KOOTN.
Manny came out strong right away and pretty easily took Alloway down on several
occasions. Alloway did get up each time and showed he does have a solid ground
game, though he does need to work on his takedown defense. In the later stages
of the round, he landed an accidental groin kick. Once they got back to the fight, Alloway
threw a front kick and Rodriguez leaned right into it. Rodriguez fell back and
Alloway put him out cold with some ground and pound. Manny is a very talented
fighter but he will have the same problem as Brendan Loughnane.
Possible matchups for Alloway: I really like Ben Alloway, all his
fights with the UFC (TUF included) have been fantastic. If he can work on his
takedown defense, he could be a name to watch. I want them to move him at the
right pace so a fight with 0-2 David Mitchell could be the fight to make.
Mike Pierce vs. Seth Baczynski: From beginning to end, Mike Pierce
fought like… well, Mike Pierce. From the opening bell to the closing bell,
Pierce smothered and outwrestled Baczynski en route to a unanimous decision
win. In the third round, though, Baczysnki started to light up Mike Pierce and
gave the favorite a nasty mouse. But it wasn’t enough, as Pierce continued to outwrestle
“The Polish Pistola”.
Possible matchups for Pierce: The wrestler in Mike Pierce put a stop to
the momentum of up and comer Seth Baczysnki with his much superior grappling.
Thiago Alves is looking for a rebound fight after losing to Martin Kampmann by submission
and if Pierce can beat Alves, that would be a huge name on his resume and launch him into title contention.
Possible matchups for Baczynski: This was a very big loss for Seth. He
was 4-0 since his return to the UFC and his step up in competition didn’t exactly
go as planned. He is still a top-20 welterweight and I would love to see him
fight the loser of Mike Pyle vs. James Head this Saturday.
Igor Pokrajac vs. Joey Beltran: Just like how Mike Pierce fought like Mike
Pirece, Joey Beltran fought like Joey Beltran. But this was an improved Joey
Beltran. Typically when he comes out, he rushes forward and slugs it out for 15
minutes. Beltran instead used a great gameplan of pushing Igor against the
fence and utilized some brutal dirty boxing. Of course, there were several
points where they did stand in the middle and slugged without pause for 30 seconds.
But other than that, Beltran saved his UFC career with his best performance in
his MMA career.
Possible matchups for Beltran: This was easily the
best fight of the fan friendly Joey Beltran’s career. He actually seemed to
have had a gameplan this time out. I know he isn’t a particularly talented
fighter, but he looked great Friday night. I think the fight to make is against
Fabio Maldonado. That has all the makings to be fight of the year.
Possible matchups for Pokrajac: This was an absolutely devastating loss
for the Croatian The only plus he gets from this fight is that he showed he
also has an incredible chin. Other than that, he looked terrible. He couldn’t ever
get anything off and Beltran dominated him from the start. He desperately needs
a rebound fight if he doesn’t want to be released and the man to match him up
with would be Chad Griggs. If Griggs isn’t already released following his loss
to Diabate, this is the fight to make.
Chad Mendes vs. Yaotzin Meza: If this fight was a surprise to you, you’re
either related to Meza or you train with him. Either way, this fight went
exactly as expected. Mendes stalked forward, noticed that Meza was holding his
chin a tad bit too high, and capitalized. It was a brutal KO and now hopefully Mendes
will finally get the type of fight that his talent deserves.
Possible matchups for Mendes: Now that Mendes has (hopefully) ridden
past this mismatch curse of his, he should get a top-10 opponent. The Korean
Zombie is the fight everyone has been begging the UFC to make and I believe now
is the best time.
Possible matchups for Meza: For a guy like Yaotzin Meza, it’s hard to
find a matchup that makes sense. I’m not even sure if he’s UFC material. My guess
is that he will fight a UFC newcomer himself next, but if not, he should fight
Joey Gambino in a loser goes home fight.
No comments:
Post a Comment