“The biggest fight in UFC history” is finally here.
“UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar” will take place Saturday night on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. As the name suggests, it will be headlined by the UFC heavyweight championship contest between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar.
Today, we’ll get our show preview going with the four fights that will appear under the Couture-Lesnar main event.
First off, Amir Sadallah, the winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 7” had to pull out of his fight with Nick Catone earlier this week, but the fans benefit because now we are guaranteed to see what should be a great fight between rising welterweights Dustin Hazelett and Tamdan McCrory.
I’ve seen both these guys fight in person, and the two fights they were involved in rank high on my list of favorite fights of the year.
At UFC 82 in March, Hazelett was impressive in a second round TKO loss to Josh Koscheck. He rocked Koscheck early in the fight and worked some good submissions before falling to a head kick and follow-up punches in the second round. It was, without a doubt, one of the most exciting UFC fights this year.
I saw McCrory take home a unanimous decision win over Luke Cummo at UFC 87 in August. He essentially twisted Cummo in knots the entire fight but just didn’t have enough to finish the fight.
What’s great about this fight is that both these guys are younger than me. We’re all 22, but both Hazelett and McCrory were born later in 1986 than I was.
This is going to be an awesome fight. Both of these guys are great on the ground, but I think Hazelett is going to have a pretty good edge on the feet.
Despite that, I think this fight will be won on the ground and I see Hazelett locking in a triangle choke for the win in the second round.
In a heavyweight bout, former No. 1 contender Gabriel Gonzaga will face UFC newcomer Josh Hendricks, a man who’s lost to the only good competition he’s faced.
This one isn’t even worth my time. Gonzaga by first round submission.
In a great middleweight bout, Demian Maia will face the resurgent Nate Quarry.
This has fight of the night written all over it. Maia is a jiu-jitsu wiz who has been impressive in his UFC appearances, especially his third round submission of durable veteran Jason MacDonald in August.
Quarry is coming off one of the most lopsided unanimous decisions you’ll ever see against Kalib Starnes, but I’m afraid his striking isn’t good enough to keep Maia off him.
While there’s no doubt Quarry has the edge on the feet, Maia’s edge on the ground is ridiculous. He’ll eventually get the fight there and finish it with a rear-naked choke in the second round.
In the co-main event of the evening, Kenny Florin will continue his quest for position in the lightweight division against Joe Stevenson.
This is an interesting fight. I thought Florian deserved another shot at the lightweight title following his domination of Roger Huerta in August, but since champion B.J. Penn is facing Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight title, it puts the lightweight division on hold. Now, both men are fighting to get a crack (or another crack, if you’re Stevenson) at Penn.
I’m not too sure about this one. While I believe Florian will come out on top, I can’t figure out how. I know he’ll have the edge in cardio and on the feet and I think they’ll be pretty even on the ground.
In the end, I see Florian coming away with a unanimous decision win.
Coming tomorrow, I’ll tackle the main event. Should be a good one!
