Thursday, January 19, 2012

UFC On FX 1 Preview


Main Event
Melvin Guillard vs Jim Miller
29-9-2 Record 20-3
28 Age 28
5'9 Height 5'8
155.5 Weight 155.5
71" Reach 71"
+155 Odds -185
Common Opponents:
Gleison Tibau
Guillard lost by Split Decision at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale 6/20/09
Miller won by Unanimous Decision at UFC Fight Night 22 9/15/10

How They Got Here: Miller is coming off his decision loss to Ben Henderson at UFC Live 5 which snapped a 7 fight win streak.  Guillard is also coming off a loss which he saw himself being upset and submitted by Joe Lauzon at UFC 136.

What To Expect: Guillard has been able to handle grapplers recently but has stumbled against them throughout his career and was actually caught by Lauzon before being submitted.  Guillard should come out with a more cautious game plan but he will still have to face the questions of his weakness in the ground game at some point during the fight.  The biggest question around this fight really is can Miller withstand Guillard's great standup and explosiveness long enough to get a takedown and in his world.

Prediction: Miller by Submission 2nd Round

Duane Ludwig vs Josh Neer
     21-11 Record 32-10-1
  33 Age 28
 170.5 Height 171
   5'10 Weight 5'11
    70" Reach 72"
     -140 Odds +115
Common Opponents: none

How They Got Here: Ludwig is now riding a 2 fight win streak since returning to the Welterweight division with his most recent win coming over Amir Sadollah by Decision at UFC Live 5.  Neer is coming off his return to the UFC which was a TKO win over Keith Wisniewski at UFC Live 6 to push his win streak to 5 fights.

What To Expect: In what should be everyone's pre fight pick for fight of the night between the 2 veterans it could be decided by who is the better conditioned fighter as it could be a grueling battle.  Ludwig is perhaps the more technical striker of the two but Neer is also up to task for a striking battle and could turn it into a battle.  If Ludwig does get the best of the standup exchanges though Neer does have a decent submission game to fall back on to get himself out of trouble.

Prediction: Ludwig by Decision

Mike Easton vs Jared Papazian
11-1 Record 14-6
27 Age 23
5'6 Height 5'8
135 Weight 135
70" Reach N/A
-350 Odds +275
Common Opponents: none

How They Got Here: Easton who originally was set to take on Ken Stone is coming off his UFC debut at UFC Live 6 where he defeated Bryan Bloodworth by TKO.  Papazian is making his UFC debut on a 3 fight win streak and is stepping in for the injured Ken Stone.

What To Expect: Easton will look to be the aggressor right from the opening bell with an attack that is highlighted with leg kicks.  Papazian does have the conditioning to keep up with Easton and perhaps even tire him out but it still should be Easton's fight to lose.

Prediction: Easton by TKO 2nd Round

Pat Barry vs Christian Morecraft
   6-4 Record 8-2
  32 Age 25
  243 Weight 261
5'11 Height 6'6
74.5" Reach 81"
   -160 Odds +130
Common Opponents:
Stefan Struve
Barry lost by Submission 2nd Round at UFC Live 6 10/1/11
Morecraft lost by TKO 2nd Round at UFC 117 8/7/10

How They Got Here: Barry has now lost 2 fights in a row both by stoppage with the latest being a submission loss to Stefan Struve at UFC Live 6.  Morecraft's last outing was a TKO loss to Matt Mitrione at UFC Live 4 an event Barry main evented against Cheick Kongo and also lost by TKO.

What To Expect: Being one of the more popular fighters today Pat Barry still will be fighting for his job and he was done no favours against the much bigger Morecraft who could just look to take Barry down and grind on him as he is in need of his own win.  As much as Barry wants to stay away from the ground game with Morecraft, it is Morecraft who equally needs to stay away from standing up with Barry.  Barry will look to keep his distance to avoid takedown attempts while attacking Morecraft's legs with kicks.

Prediction: Barry by TKO 1st Round

Prelims
Jorge Rivera vs Eric Schafer
Prediction: Schafer by Submission 2nd Round

Kamal Shalorous vs Khabib Nurmagomedov
Prediction: Nurmagomedov by Decision

Charlie Brenneman vs Daniel Roberts
Prediction: Brenneman by Decision

Fabricio Camoes vs Tommy Hayden
Prediction: Camoes by Submission 1st Round

Daniel Pineda vs Pat Schilling
Prediction: Pineda by Decision

Joseph Sandoval vs Nick Denis
Prediction: Denis by Submission 2nd Round

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