Brandon Vera, Mauricio Rua, Lyoto Machida and Ryan Bader will all be looking for a rematch with Jon Jones by winning on Saturday night
Not that it makes any difference over here because it’ll be on ESPN as usual, but the the UFC returns to network TV inthe U.S. with UFC on FOX: Shogun vs. Vera this Saturday night. with a 4 fight main card, with 2 of those fights carrying potential title contendership implications. So, without further ado (and ignoring the absurdity of some of the potential opponents for Jon Jones), let’s have a look at these 4 contests that will be providing us with violent entertainment.
Light heavyweight (5 rounds) – Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Brandon Vera
Ah the much maligned main event. After allegedly ducking Glover Texieria, Shogun settled on a fight with Brandon Vera, who he viewed as a much more recognisable name with UFC fans. I’m sure he also regarded him as less of a test, as Vera should be defeated fairly easily by the former UFC champion and PRIDE grand-prix champion (he probably would have dealt with Glover pretty handily too, but never mind).
Vera has never really put it together at light heavyweight, and most people thought he only deserved a draw in his victorious return against Elliot Marshall. I still think he is capable of winning fights in the division, but certainly not a fight like this that could supposedly lead to a title fight against one of MMA’s all-time greats.
Shogun is a more powerful striker than Vera, he is stronger in the clinch, and his submissions are more dangerous. The only area where Vera probably has an advantage is with wrestling thanks to his greco-Roman background, but that should be negated by all of the above. ‘the Truth’ can take a licking, so he could stick around for a little while, but it is hard not to imagine Shogun getting some sort of stoppage victory in a 5 round fight.
Light Heavyweight – Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader
Badre looked very competent against a faded Rampage during his last outing in Japan, but he will have his work cut out for him against a dynamic and elusive striker like Machida. I can only imagine ‘The Dragon’s’ evasive in-and-out selcction of straight punches and kicks to be kryptonite for Bader’s rudimentary striking. The TUF 8 champion has the power to hurt anyone, but he will be too slow to catch his opponent, and he is not particularly quick to get out of the way of incoming shots, particularly shot of the kind of velocity that will be thrown by Machida.
Bader’s best chance to win would be to secure a takedown and control his smaller foe, but even then I would have thought that the karate expert will be able to return to his feet, and eventually land some sort of missile on on the American’s chin and clam a T/KO win.
Lightweight – Joe Lauzon vs. Jamie Varner
This is a tough one to pick. Joe Lauzon tends to annihilate lesser fighters with an aggressive submission attack set up by some competent striking, though he struggles with fighters that are approaching his level. I would have put Jamie Varner in the former category until a couple of months ago when he revived his career with the upset of the year, crushing Edson Barboza, knocking him out in the first round after having a rough time in fights after losing his WEC belt.
This should be competitive, and is a bit of a pick ’em, though I would expect whoever takes the upper hand early will cruise to victory. Both guys like to start quickly and are difficult to finish, but they’re both kind of flaky too. I’ll back Varner to ward off some early heat from Lauzon and start to control the fight, and cruise to a UD win.
Welterweight – Mike Swick vs. DaMarques Johnson
So Mike Swick returns to action for the first time since February 2010 when he lost to Paulo Thiago at UFC 109. just to put that into perspective, back then Jon Jones was coming off a controversial loss to Matt Hammil, BJ Penn had just dispatched Diego Sanchez and was considered unbeatable and the best lightweight ever and Kimbo Slice was undefeated in the UFC.
Really, who knows what is going to happen after such a long period of time off with such serious illness AND injury. If Swick was fighting a few months after his last fight, I would have no hesitation picking him for this fight. He was quick, strong, and came forward with a dangerous attack of boxing and submissions. DaMarques Johnson is the kind of fighter that loses to the kinds of fighters of Swick’s level. However, who know’s how Mike Swick is going to look. He could come out with a fire lit under his backside and blitz the TUF UK vs. USA runner-up inside the first round, he could play it safe and grind out a terrible decision, or he could be completely overwhelmed and be soundly beaten. It’s hard not to root for Swick given his troubles, and I would like to see him capture his form of old, though if pressed I’d imagine he’ll get a boring win.
Prelims
Definately a set of fights to pay attention to, particularly those taking place at 145lbs or below where pairings of fighters will be engaging in some all-out barnburners. Phil Davis might also provide some entertainment as he takes on the undefeated Brazilian Wagner Prado, but the British heavyweights will most probably fight like British heavyweights and provide the least skilled mixed martial arts of the evening. I suppose there’s always the potential for an explosive/appauling finish though, so there’s always a silver lining (of sorts) to even the least appetising of contests.
Featherweight – Cole Miller vs. Nam Phan
Light heavyweight – Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado
Featherweight – Josh Grispi vs. Rani Yahya
Heavyweight – Phil De Fries vs. Oli Thompson
Featherweight – Manny Gamburyan vs. Michihiro Omigawa
Flyweight – Ulysses Gomez vs. John Moraga
Don’t forget to follow TRIANGLECHOKEMMA on facebook and twitter.
Triangle Choke MMA 