UFC 148 Prelim Recap

Melvin Guillard pounds on Fabricio Camoes (Donald Miralle/Zuffa, LLC)

Interesting night of fights with a thrilling finale! The night started out with 6 straight close decision wins. Super weird. All of them were close and nothing “big” ever happened. It was like watching the same fight 6 times in a row. But anyway let’s get to it!

Rafaello Oliveira vs. Yoislandy Izquierdo: Both of these guys are not quite UFC level athletes. I think that Izquierdo will be cut after going 0-2 in the UFC. Oliveira has had two stints now in the UFC and both of them being unsuccessful. He originally went 1-2 in 2009-2010. And is now again 1-2 from 2011-2012. I don’t think there is much for him in the UFC. I think he should go to Bellator or Strikeforce.

Shane Roller vs. John Alessio: Interesting fight. Roller won by decision with his grappling being the difference maker. Alessio is a decent veteran fighter who just has bad luck. He just keeps getting out-grappled. But the fight was not super exciting and I expected more out of them.

Possible matchups: Shane Roller has been sort of a disappointment in the UFC. He looked great in the WEC and he is a talented wrestler but in the UFC he has been subpar. I think he needs to keep fighting guys on the lower level at 155; possibly against Tony Ferguson. I think Alessio needs to really figure out how to win at 155 against UFC level competition. He needs to hone his strengths and defenses. The lightweight division is by far the most stacked and to stay in it at all you need to be winning. So, if he is not cut I would like to see him fight another guy on the brink of leaving: Spencer Fisher.

Constantinos Philippou vs. Riki Fukuda: Another close fight that went to decision, this time in favor of Philippou. It ended with Fukuda giving Philippou one of the worst eye pokes I have ever seen and then kicking him in the groin. That all sent Philippou into a rage and the end of the fight was Philippou swinging for the fences out of anger.

Possible matchups: Fukuda is now 1-2 with 3 boring decision fights. Dana hates boring more than anything so this could be getting close for Fukuda when it comes to getting the chop. If he sticks around I could see him fighting Nick Catone next. Philippou is now 4-1 in the UFC but has won his last 4. Philipppou has fought roughly every 4 months since early 2011. He could use a break but I would like to see him go up against either Patrick Cote or maybe C.B. Dollaway. Let him get in some wins against guys who will push him but he still has a good chance to beat.

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Gleison Tibau: Another close one but Khabib showed that he has the skills to do some big things at lightweight in the UFC. Tibau is incredibly underrated and the biggest lightweight in the world but Khabib took the close decision.

  

Possible matchups: Tibau has been hovering around the top 15 for a very long time. He is a very good fighter and should keep fighting guys at the higher level. Maybe Tibau could face up and comer Paul Sass. Khabib is a fighter who is 23 years old and 18-0. His future is very bright. I would like to see him fight either Mac Danzig or Evan Dunham.

Melvin Guillard vs. Fabricio Camoes: Guillard took a close decision here by keeping it on the feet and out striking Camoes. Guillard needs this win bad because he had lost two devastating losses in a row.

Possible matchups: Camoes is a decent fighter and I would like to see him fight Jacob Volkmann. Guillard is an excellent fighter who needs to keep fighting other great fighters. I would like to see him face Rafael dos Anjos.

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UFC 147 Prelim Recap

                               (Damm vs Anistavio “Gasparzinho” Medeiros)    Photo by Getty Images

Felipe Arantes vs. Milton Vieira: Vieira came into this fight with some hype behind him. He is virtually unknown but has been in the cage with Hayato Sakurai, Jake Shields, and Johnny Eduardo. He is most famous for having credit for inventing the anaconda choke. Vieira did impress… for five minutes. The first round was arguably a 10-8 in favor of Vieira but after that, Arantes had a decently easy fight. Once the fight made it to the judges, it ended in a split draw.

Possible matchups for Arantes and Vieira: Although not completely necessary, this fight was entertaining enough that I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch between the two.

Marcos “Vina” Vinicius vs. Wagner “Galeto” Campos: For the better part of two rounds, Galeto was dominating Vina with ease. He would land the better shots and then take the fight down. He even tried to knock him out Fedor/Arlovski style after Vina went for a flying knee. After the 2nd round, Vina’s corner told him that he needs to blitz Galeto to win this. And blitz him he did. Vina came out and barraged Galeto with beautiful clinch work, eventually knocking him out on his feet for the finish early in the 3rd round. It was a great comeback that scored him an extra $65,000.

Possible matchups for Vina: Vina showed a lot of heart and knockout power in his fight. Finding a matchup for him is a little hard but I think that if they don’t cut Macapa Teixeira then that fight would a be fun scrap between two crazy featherweights.

Thiago “Bodao” Perpetuo vs. Leonarda “Macarrao” Mafra: This fight was really fun. Mafra came out as a very aggressive fighter, winning the first round with better striking and takedowns. The second was much closer but I leaned more towards Bodao based on the fact that Mafra never really did much but Bodao landed some solid shots. Bodao came out like Vina did earlier in the 3rd; he wanted a finish. Bodao instantly caught Mafra and dropped him. Mafra was saved at 41 seconds into the 3rd after a violent attack of hammerfists.

Possible matchups for Bodao: Thiago is a very good striker; technical and powerful. A fight with fellow middleweight winner, Massaranduba would show us who is ready to step out of the shadow of TUF.

Hugo “Wolverine” Viana vs. John “Macapa” Teixeira: This fight was really fun. Both of these guys are fast paced fighters with wild standup and a slick ground game. I scored the first round for Wolverine but the second was very close. I eventually scored it for Macapa but it could have gone either way. The third had Macapa stalking Wolverine for most of the five minutes as Wolverine had visibly slowed down. The 3rd round was clearly Macapa’s and I thought that he had won, but like I said earlier, it could have gone either way. Wolverine ended up winning a razor thin split decision.

Possible matchups for Wolverine: Wolverine was at a clear disadvantage in size in this fight but still won. Wolverine was one of the bets fighters on this season but he is a natural bantamweight. He has a ton of potential and he should instantly fight someone with a name. He should fight the winner of Roland Delorme and Francisco Rivera to let us see where he is in the rankings.

Francisco “Massaranduba” Drinaldo vs. Delson “Pe de Chumbo” Heleno: Drinaldo is a prospect that we all really need to keep our eyes on. Not only is he a huge a thick middleweight, he fights at 155. That’s pretty crazy that he is such a ripped middleweight but is actually a lightweight, which scares me. The guy threw around 185ers but is a typical 155er. Anyway, Massaranduba completely dominated this fight from the opening bell. He eventually finished Pe de Chumbo with hammerfists after Heleno was clearly already gassed out.

Possible matchups for Massaranduba: I am going to assume that he is going to make the cut down to 155 but that might be tough. The guy has almost no body fat. His next fight might be at welterweight but lets go with 155. Him and Tibau have very similar body types but Tibau’s next fight is with rising star Khabib Nurmagomedov. I think Drinaldo should fight the winner of that fight.

Rodrigo Damm vs. Anistavio “Gasparzinho” Medeiros: This fight was the only grudge match from the season. Typically TUF grudge matches are close but this one was absolutely dominant. Damm controlled the standup and eventually dropped him. Damm showed that he is a true veteran of the sport as he went for the rear naked choke rather than trying to finish him with strikes.

Possible matchups for Damm: Although Damm entered TUF with a lackluster record of 9-5, you have to look at who those losses are to: Eiji Mitsuoka, Gilbert Melendez, Justin Wilcox, Maximo Blanco, and Luciano Azevedo (by split). All of those guys have names in the sport, except for Azevedo but he is a veteran (he s the only one to defeat Jose Aldo, and it was by 2nd round submission. WOW!). Anyway, Damm was unable to continue on TUF due to medical reasons, and he was well on his way to the Finale. He said that he believes that he would have won the season, and I believe him. I think that he deserves a fight against a talented fighter. Fellow Brazilian and TUF winner Brandao is coming off a loss and Damm has the skills to be a top guy in the UFC at 145.

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