Don't Look Past These Guys: UFC Dark Horses

As the UFC continues to add to their already dense roster, there are a lot of mid-tier fighters that are being overlooked and not being given the respect they deserve. Every division has several dark horse title contenders and several constant underdogs.

These guys are starting to prove to us that they aren’t who we really think they are, but actually a force to be reckoned with. I have personally chosen my dark horse title contenders in who I believe will be challenging for the title as everyone else overlooks them.

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Heavyweight: Stefan Struve -  “Skyscraper” is really starting to find his grove in the MMA world. After his KO loss to Travis Browne at UFC 130, people started to write him off as a wasted talent.  People knew he had an immense amount of potential, but we never saw it come into fruition, until now. 

After his loss to Browne, he decided he is now going to fight smart. Fight IQ has been his biggest opponent since his UFC debut against Junior dos Santos. With extremely slick BJJ and technical striking, Struve has what it takes to be a future champion, but his chin has been saying otherwise.

Now riding a 3 fight win streak against Pat Barry, Dave Herman, and Lavar Johnson, he’s looking for a rematch with the champ but he’ll have to get through top heavyweight prospect in Stipe Miocic.

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Light Heavyweight: James Te Huna – This New Zealand born knockout artist has been making statement after statement in the UFC. With a record of 4-1 under the UFC banner, with his only loss to title contender Alexander Gustafsson, he is riding a 3 fight win streak with wins over Ricardo Romero, Aaron Rosa, and a fight of the year candidate against Joey Beltran, including a TKO win over Igor Pokrajac in his UFC debut.

Not a lot of people are talking about Te Huna and the title picture, but that time is certainly coming sooner, rather than later.

With immense KO power in his hands that also hold technical prowess, Te Huna may be the next guy to beat at 205, and I see a top-10 opponent in his next fight.

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Middleweight: Francis Carmont – Training out of a place like Tristar gym can get you immediate attention, especially when you’re an up and comer, but there is one man that is starting to hog the spotlight from the other up and comers. His name is Francis “Limitless” Carmont and this 30-year-old Frenchman is really starting to turn some heads, and showing that his nickname is rather apt.

Although his standup is not technically sound, but rather powerful, his ground game is his bread and butter. With 19 professional wins with 10 by submission, he is the type of fighter where you want to avoid his ground game.

After coming off a spectacular submission win over Karlos Vemola, who is a Czech national wrestling champion, Carmont is looking to take a step up in competition against the charismatic, Tom Lawlor. If he passes, he could be looking at a top-15 or even top-10 opponent.

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 Welterweight: John Hathaway – At only 25 years old, Hathaway has a ton of time to improve his all around game, which is quite scary considering he has already beaten Diego Sanchez (who was coming off of a title shot), Rick Story, and Paul Taylor. His only loss is to Mike Pyle, who absolutely dominated the fight, but that is simply a learning experience for the young Hathaway.

Following his two lackluster bouts with Pyle and Kris McCray, Hathaway made a strong comeback against submission specialist, Pascal Krauss as UFC on Fox 3.

This young man has an insane amount of potential and it has yet to be tapped into, perhaps we will see it against John Maguire on September 29^th.

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Lightweight: Tim Means – This one might come as a surprise to many. Tim Means has only had two fights in the UFC and against relative unknowns in Justin Salas and Bernardo Magalhaes. But, don’t be mistaken, Tim Means is immensely talented. His standup is insanely accurate and his takedown defense is great. His finishing ability is also fantastic as he has 13 (T)KO, 3 submission, and only 2 decision wins. His crazy reach and height can’t hurt either and Tim Means is continuing to make a name.

Although his next fight is against UFC debutant, and relative unknown, Abel Trujillo, Tim Means deserves recognition and with a win over Trujillo, he may finally receive some.

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Featherweight: Antonio Carvalho – Going into UFC 149, Carvalho was expected to be rather easily disposed of by Daniel Pineda. It didn’t exactly go that way. Carvalho blitzed Pineda and knocked him out with a beautiful head kick followed by a barrage of punches in only 71 seconds. Although this only makes him 1-1 in the UFC, this win showed that he clearly had a bad case of the UFC jitters heading into his fight with Felipe Arantes.For a guy who is known for his ground game, Carvalho’s standup looked pretty fantastic against Pineda. 

Believe it or not, Carvalho actually has a win over Hatsu Hioki back in 2007. Even though it was only a split decision, a win is a win and that win is huge. If Antonio Carvalho can continue to look as good as he did against Pineda, we are looking at a potential champion at 145.

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Bantamweight: Alex Caceres – Alex Caceres, or otherwise known as Bruce Leeroy, has looked great since his drop down to 135. After losing his first two bouts to Mackens Semerzier and Jimy Hettes in the UFC, he decided it was time for another drop. And it’s done wonders.

He won his bantamweight debut against former WEC featherweight champion in Cole Escovedo, and he won dominantly. He ended up losing his next fight to Edwin Figueroa, but it was highly controversial and it was a bizarre fight overall. He ended up easily submitting former WEC star, Damacio Page, in the second round with a triangle choke. With his extremely well rounded MMA game, Alex Caceres is one of the most underrated fighters in the UFC today.

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Flyweight: Chris Cariaso – Cariaso is another one of those fighters that simply hasn’t received enough praise. The guy is a very good fighter. His ground game is strong and his standup is underrated. With wins over Takeya Mizugaki, Vaughan Lee, Will Campuzano, Josh Ferguson, and a very close fight with a top-5 bantamweight in Michael McDonald, Cariaso is for real.

I think his fight with McDonald truly speaks to his skill. That fight was extremely close throughout the fight and Cariaso had a huge disadvantage in the size category, giving up 5 inches in height. He stayed in there with McDonald and actually won some of the standup.

After his successful 125 pound debut against Josh Ferguson, Cariaso is just one win away from a title shot. He has what it takes to really give any 125er a run for their money.

UFC on FX 3 Predictions

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Sam's Picks

Main Card

Ian McCall vs. Demetrious Johnson: I am seriously excited for this fight. Their first outing is one of the best fights that I have ever seen and if it weren’t shrouded by controversy, then a majority of the fans would agree. The first round of their first fight was a very close one. McCall scored an early inside trip but eventually Johnson reversed with McCall standing up shortly thereafter. Johnson was landing more shots but McCall once again scored another trip takedown. After they stood up again, Johnson landed a solid hook and hurt McCall but didn’t do anything to really capitalize on it. It could have gone either way but I scored it 10-9 McCall based on his takedowns. The second round was close again. Johnson was the busier striker, like the first, but he was landing more sold shots, though none of them hurting McCall. McCall was not able to score any takedowns this round and due to this, I gave the second round to Johnson, 10-9. The third round was another story. Remember, heading into this flyweight tournament, there was a 4^th sudden victory round incase of a draw. So in this round, McCall came out as the busier fighter. He was landing more combinations and getting better of the exchanges. McCall eventually tied up and did a mini supplex to get the back of Johnson. He was pounding on him for about 15 seconds and eventually Johnson escaped back to his feet. McCall continued to win the standup and repeated the supplex and got his back again. He almost finished the fight but Johnson was saved by the bell. The third round was an easy 10-8 for McCall. Therefore, my score for the fight was 29-27 for McCall, but the commission really dropped the ball on this one. It was supposed to be a majority draw, but instead they announced it as a split decision for Johnson. I said before that it was close but I thought to myself that there is no way that Johnson won that fight. Well, I was right. Johnson didn’t win the fight. Dana White’s worst nightmare came true as the fight was a draw despite the fact that they had the 4^th sudden victory round. So this is why I am excited for this fight. The first was amazing and I would not mind seeing another scrap between these two flyweights. I believe that this fight will be similar but with McCall actually winning this one = McCall by unanimous decision. My 1^st pick for FOTN!

PS: I am now a huge Uncle Creepy fan. One of my favorites!

Charlie Brenneman vs. Erick Silva: Erick Silva is finally taking a step up in competition. And it isn’t an easy one. Brenneman is a very good wrestler with a shocking upset against one of the (at that time) fastest rising prospects in MMA, Rick Story. He took the fight in less than 24-hour notice and dominated the fight. Luckily, he was fighting someone else at the time so he was already prepared. But the one thing that has really been something that has haunted Brenneman is his chin. Both Anthony Johnson and Johny Hendricks have finished him. Silva is a finisher and he is the new thing at WW = Silva by 2^nd round TKO. My pick for KOOTN!

Mike Pyle vs. Josh Neer: BARNBURNER ALERT: It seems that almost every single one of Neer’s fights are always extremely entertaining. This one will most likely be no different with Pyle involved. It will also most likely a close fight, too. Pyle is one of the more underrated and underappreciated fighters at welterweight and this is most likely because of his losses to both Ellenberger and MacDonald. Out of these two, Pyle has fought the better competition and I believe that it will show = Pyle by 3^rd round RNC.

Scott Jorgensen vs. Eddie Wineland: BARNBURNER ALERT: These guys are 135 pounds of excitement. But the sad part about this fight is the fact that it’s the type of fight in which they are both trying to keep themselves relevant at bantamweight. Wineland was the first bantamweight champ in the WEC and Jorgensen has always been right around that area in the title talks. Hopefully neither of them will be cut if hey lose because they never fail to put on a good fight, plus they both have had some tough competition in their UFC careers. I see this fight being close in the standup but with Jorgensen edging him out with being a busier striker = Jorgensen by unanimous decision. My 2^nd pick for FOTN!

Prelims

Leonard Garcia vs. Matt Grice = Grice by 2^nd round submission.

Mike Pierce vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha = Pierce by split decision.

Seth Baczynski vs. Lance Benoist = Baczynski by 3^rd round submission (choke).

Dustin Pague vs. Jared Papazian = Papazian by 1^st round TKO. My 3^rd pick for FOTN!

Tim Means vs. Justin Salas = Means by 3^rd round TKO. (Our exclusive interview with Means here)

Caio Magalhaes vs. Buddy Roberts = Magalhaes by split decision.

Bernardo Magalhaes vs. Henry Martinez = Martinez by unanimous decision.

Jake Hecht vs. Sean Pierson = Hecht by 2^nd round TKO.

Dave's Picks

Main Card

Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall: Well, we got a repeat of a fight of the year candidate. Now, most people complained about the outcome because people thought McCall won (I thought he did too) but if it results in these two fighting again, then how can you be upset?! I am so pumped for this fight. When it comes to predicting the fight you obviously have to use their first fight to help determine who might win. Johnson did catch McCall a few times with solid punches but for the most part McCall dictated where the fight went and dominated on the ground. McCall now knows exactly what he needs to do and I think Johnson will not be able to fix that much in order to win. McCall literally did whatever he wanted on the ground and if he can repeat that he can win. If McCall fights smart and outwrestles Johnson then he takes this. = McCall by unanimous decision. My Pick for Fight of the Night!

Charlie Brenneman vs. Erick Silva: This fight is the hardest one to pick for me. Charlie Brenneman is a legit fighter with good wrestling and control. Brenneman has way more experience on the big stage and has been successful going 4-2 and even defeating Rick Story on short notice. Silva on the other hand, has been too good. He has won 2 times (yeah, I am counting the Prater fight as a win) in 1 minute and 9 seconds. Now both of those guys are not as good as Brenneman but Silva has beaten some serious competition in Brazil. This fight is hard to pick because I haven’t seen enough of Silva but man is he a killer! That should be his nickname: “The Killer”. The dude goes out to finish people. I think this will be Silva’s chance to show the world that he is ready to go to an elite level. If Silva is able to destroy Brenneman, then the sky is the limit and we could see him fighting for the title one day. = Silva by TKO in round 2. My Pick for KO of the Night!

Josh Neer vs. Mike Pyle: Now both these guys are pretty similar. They are long time vets with good ground games. However, Pyle has just been facing, and for the most part defeating, a higher level of competition. Pyle has recently beat Funch, Almeida and destroyed John Hathaway. Neer has recently defeated Duane Ludwig, Keith Wisnieski and Blas Avena. Not even close. But don’t get me wrong. Neer is a very dangerous fighter who can beat almost anyone if he is on. But I see this fight going Pyle’s way. It won’t be one-sided but Pyle should take this one. = Pyle by unanimous decision.

Scott Jorgensen vs. Eddie Wineland: What a great way to start off the main card! I am a huge Scotty Jorgensen fan. I love watching him fight and I have met him three times and he is a super cool and chill dude. This fight might be close they; are both wrestlers with good standup. However, I see Jorgensen being able to dictate the pace and where the fight goes. They are both in their prime and anything is possible in this one but I am going with the guy who has the more refined skills. = Jorgensen by unanimous decision.

Prelims

Leonard Garcia vs. Matt Grice: Garcia by unanimous decision.

Mike Pierce vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha: Pierce by split decision.

Seth Baczynski vs. Lance Benoist: Baczynski by submission in round 1. My Pick for Submission of the Night!

Dustin Pague vs. Jared Papazian: Papazian by unanimous decision.

Tim Means vs. Justin Salas: Means by TKO in round 2. (Our exclusive interview with Means here)

Caio Magalhaes vs. Buddy Roberts: Roberts by unanimous decision.

Bernardo Magalhaes vs. Henry Martinez: Bernardo by split decision.

Jake Hecht vs. Sean Pierson: Hecht by split decision.