With UFC 145 in their rear-view mirror, the mixed martial
arts promotion and parent company ZUFFA is set to begin a summer jam-pack of
non-stop action. It all beings on Cinco de Mayo with the UFC’s third outing on
FOX.
The four-fight main card takes place in East Rutherford, New
Jersey but has a bit of a Northern California feel to it. Fresno’s Josh
Koscheck takes on Johny Hendricks in a welterweight bout that carries a lot of
weight towards an eventual title shot. In the main event, Stockton lightweight
Nate Diaz battles New Jersey’s own Jim Miller.
Those aren’t the only two fights on the card. The main card
begins with heavyweight action between Pat “HD” Barry and Madera native Lavar
“Big” Johnson. Johnson is making his second appearance in the UFC and is coming
off a KO win over Joey Beltran back in January. Barry, on the other hand, has
lost two of his last three. His lone win was a KO victory over Christian Morecraft,
which was also in January. Johnson and Barry have a combined 23 wins, 20 of
which came by knockout.
As likely as a knockout is between Barry and Johnson, it is
as likely there will be a submission in the middleweight bout between Rousimar
Palhares and Alan Belcher. Both fighters are riding three-fight win streaks and
are looking to vault themselves into top-5 talk. Palhares has won two of his
last three, and five of his seven UFC wins, by way of submission. His most
recent win coming via his favorite submission, which is the heel hook. He’s
used the submission to end three of his UFC fights. His opponent, Belcher, is
well versed in ending fights via KO and submission. None Belcher’s last three
fights went past the second round. This is Belcher’s first fight since a
September 2011 win over Jason MacDonald.
The co-main event is a battle between identical
welterweights. Koscheck vs. Hendricks is a match-up between two former NCAA
Division 1 wrestlers who have shown they have knockout power. Koscheck, winner
of the inaugural The Ultimate Fighter season, has won his last two bouts which
includes an impressive KO victory over UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes. Hendricks
is no stranger to knockout victories himself. He’s won two of his last three
via punches and neither went past two minutes of the first round. His last bout
was a 12-second, one-punch KO win over Koscheck’s former AKA teammate Jon
Fitch. Each fighter is looking stake a claim at a future title shot, whether it
be current interim titleholder Carlos Condit or injured champ Georges St.
Pierre.
The UFC’s deep lightweight division is showcased in a main
event bout between the #5 (Miller) and #9 (Diaz) ranked lightweights in the
world, according to Sherdog.com. Both
are younger brothers of UFC welterweights, but have made their own places in
MMA. Nate Diaz, the younger brother of Nick, has won his last two bouts since
returning to the lightweight division. He has a submission victory over
Takanori Gomi and an impressive unanimous decision win over highly-touted
Donald Cerrone. Jim Miller, whose older brother Dan is fighting next month, has
three career losses which have come against Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard and
current UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson. Miller rebounded from his
loss to Henderson by submitting Melvin Guillard in the first round of their bout
in January. This is a battle between two lightweights that don’t back down from
a fight. Expect this fight to go one of two ways. A test of each fighter’s
jiu-jitsu skills or a strike-fest with both men looking to land the knockout
blow. In a deep lightweight division a win for either fighter could vault them
into title talk and possibly a shot before the end of the year.
Follow me on Twitter @NiteshDutt.
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