UFC Live on Versus 3 takes place tomorrow night on Versus (I hope you can find the channel by now despite its placement away from the sports channels on many cable and satellite systems).
Main Event: Diego Sanchez vs Martin Kampmann
This is one of the better free tv main events we've had from the UFC in awhile, probably since the last time either of these two guys showed up in a free main event (Sanchez against Clay Guida and Kampmann against Carlos Condit, both back in 2009). In Sanchez's return to welterweight, he looked bad in the first round until his cardio (that seemed to be missing at times when he was at lightweight) kicked in and he took it to Paulo Thiago last October. At that same event, Kampmann did his usual. He fought his fight and he made one major mistake that cost him against Jake Shields. To some degree, I view this fight as seeing if Sanchez is worthy of being at the top of the division. Kampmann's skill set will never make him a true contender (he's not bad at anything but has no overwhelming strength to rely on, an increasingly more dangerous problem to have in the current MMA landscape), but he beat anyone who isn't a contender that gets put in front of him.
As far as the fight itself goes, Sanchez will push the pace, Kampmann will do what he usually does and Sanchez will win the fight with his cardio in round three after splitting the first two rounds. Despite my fairly by the books prediction here, it should be an exciting fight that will win fight of the night barring a surprise finish here.
Sanchez by decision
Versus Card
C.B. Dollaway vs Mark Munoz
Both were extremely gifted college wrestlers that have been locked in the middle end of the middleweight division for quite some time. While both are looked at as disappointments considering the credibility they bring as wrestlers, neither really has a ton of experience. Dollaway in particular has never seemed like he was going to put it all together. He obviously has the talent, but with the exception of some inventive submissions (he is most likely to win submission of the night here), the complete package just isn't there. Opposite him stands Munoz, a wrestler who has a much better standup game than Dollaway, but whose wrestling hasn't transferred over to MMA as expected. The winner here stays on track to possibly reach the upper tier of the division while the loser is back to preliminaries and facebook fights despite what would be by that time, a wealth of experience in the UFC.
In the fight, expect a sloppy kickboxing match. The wrestling will cancel out and Dollaway's robotic striking will limit his ability to finish takedowns against Munoz while Munoz's inability to make his wrestling work in MMA will do much the same. With that happening, expect Munoz, the better striker, to impose his will over the final two rounds on his way to a decision win.
Munoz by decision
Alessio Sakara vs Chris Weidman
This fight appears to be a mismatch, especially in the experience category. That said, Sakara has wrestling issues at times and Weidman has shown he can wrestle in his four pro fights to date. Even coming in as a late replacement, Weidman will win if his cardio holds up. It will for the first two rounds and he will survive the third to take a decision win.
Weidman by decision
Brian Bowles vs Damacio Page
Bowles is the better fight and this is a showcase fight as long as his rebuilt hands hold up when he hits Page, and he will hit Page. Expect this to be very quick as Bowles has the best knockout power in the bantamweight division.
Bowles by TKO, round 1
Facebook Preliminaries
Joe Stevenson vs Danny Castillo
Stevenson has the better reputation and has fought much better competition over his career, but I wonder how much of that reputation is the Ultimate Fighter and favorable matchups, especially considering he has been largely uncompetitive against even good competition let alone great competition over the last couple of years. Here, he faces a middling former WEC lightweight, but that lightweight is fighting for his job and he knows it. That will be enough against the overrated Stevenson.
Castillo by decision
Steve Cantwell vs Cyrille Diabate
If Cantwell is over his injury issues, he wins this easily. Diabate has one huge win over Luiz Cane and a whole bunch of nothing in his career other than that. Cantwell is the better wrestler and has a very good jiu-jitsu game in addition to that. He should be able to get Diabate to the ground and submit him, unless the 18 month injury layoff has totally sapped him as a fighter.
Cantwell by submission, round 2
Under card
Thiago Tavares vs Shane Roller – Roller by decision
Takeya Mizugaki vs Reuben Duran – Mizugaki by decision
Rob Kimmons vs Dongi Yang – Yang by decision
Rousimar Palhares vs Dave Branch – Palhares by submission round 1
Igor Pokrajac vs Todd Brown – Pokrajac by TKO round 2
No comments:
Post a Comment