Preview And Predictions – UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Cowboy (Audio Included)

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It’s becoming somewhat of a weekly occurrence but the UFC is back again with another injury hit card this Sunday night as the 8-sided enclosure is erected in the Consol Energy Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the 83rd time in the ‘Fight Night’ sequence.

Initially, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was due to headline the event against Tim Means but when an irregularity on a United States anti-doping test of Means was found just three weeks out he had to be pulled from the fight with not enough time for the B-Sample of Means to be tested and for him to get a fair hearing.

In his place, Alex “Cowboy” Oliveria steps in to fight Cerrone in what is a particularly odd and playful matchmaking gimmick which doesn’t really make much sense when you look at both men’s careers but is pretty much all that could have been done in the time available.

As careers go, Donald Cerrone has an extremely long and prosperous one for someone who has never held a belt at a major organisation. After debuting in 2006 Cerrone began to make a name for himself a year later when he signed for the WEC. Within four fights he was in a championship bout against Jamie Varner while fights against the likes of Danny Castillo, James Krause and Benson Henderson also came in a period which gained Cerrone much adoration for his attractive style and fun “Cowboy” persona.

After three failed WEC title attempts Cerrone transitioned over to the UFC after the companies’ merger in 2011 and has been a mainstay in the rankings ever since.

Lightweight wins over Melvin Guillard, Edson Barboza, Myles Jury, Eddie Alvarez and former champion Benson Henderson have been the highlights of his 19-fight Octagon career but losses to Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis and, most recently, Rafael Dos Anjos for the second time have Cerrone searching for new challenges at welterweight.

The first of those will come against Oliveria on Sunday, a man who himself has fluctuated between the 155lbs and 170lbs divisions throughout his career.

Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Oliveria, whose 2011 debut in MMA came eight months after Cerrone’s UFC debut, fought much of his early career in his home city. In fact, Oliveria’s first fight outside of Brazil didn’t come until his third bout in the UFC having entered the world’s premier fight promotion with an 11-1-1-1NC record.

Now four fights deep in the UFC, Oliveria has evenly shared his outings between welterweight and lightweight. His only loss came against Gilbert Burns who made a great comeback to get a late armbar while three wins against veteran KJ Noons, Joe Merritt and Piotr Hallmann have put him back on track. Sunday night, though, will be by a huge margin the toughest fight of his career to date.

As a fighter Oliveira isn’t a bad one at all. He is a movement orientated fighter who skips around the cage and attacks from range. And with 9 of his 14 career wins coming by knockout, it’s a clearly useful, working style.

When out of arms length Oliveira is very hard to back up or hit because of his lateral footwork and head movement but when he dashes in to strike, which he constantly does, he puts both himself and his opponent in danger of being knocked out. Grappling wouldn’t be his forte per se but he is improving in all areas, especially his offensive fence work and ground control.

Cerrone, like Oliveira, is a big, lanky fighter for the lower weight classes but he uses his size much differently. First and foremost he is a kickboxer who will stand in the pocket and redden you with leg kicks, jabs and hooks. After that Cerrone has ever improving body and head attacks while his ferocity as a fighter, despite being a slow starter, is up there with anyone when he’s on for.

Defence has always been the weakness for Cerrone, although you only really see it against top class opposition who attack him hard with wrestling and/or elite striking attacks which usually focus on his body. On the floor Cerrone is extremely dangerous with elbows and submissions off of his back but that probably won’t come into play on Sunday.

Expect this one to be a very stand-up centred fight with plenty of action. Cerrone will do all the chasing early while the often elusive Oliveria will be looking to pot shot from the outside in the hope that he can catch him cold.

If that doesn’t bring a finish the leg kicks of Cerrone will come into play. Against someone who is a frantic mover like Oliveira cutting him down will be all important and nobody is better at that than Cerrone.

Once those legs start to produce welts and the movement slows it should be easy pickings for the American Cowboy. Yeehaw!

Like many UFC fight night cards the main event here is very much the one to look out for with only a couple of fun fights on the undercard to keep us entertained. And the best of those, a bantamweight clash of Team Alpha Male up-and-comer Cody Garbrandt and Brazilian hitter John Lineker, fell foul of the injury bug this Monday when Lineker contracted dengue fever and was later replaced by Auguto Mendes.

Other than that the meetings of featherweight whirlwind Dennis Bermudez vs. fan favourite Tatsuya Kawajiri and the women’s bantamweight clash of Marion Reneau vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith should be fun while the co-main event between former Strikeforce alum Derek Brunson and Battlegrounds one night tournament champion Roan Carneiro should be a close-run affair worth keeping an eye on.

FIGHT PICKS

Donald Cerrone vs. Alex Oliveira – Have to picks Cowboy in this one… Cerrone
Derek Brunson vs. Roan Carneiro – Brunson should be too strong and win a decision
Dennis Bermudez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri – Kawajiri is tough but Bermudez should get a stoppage
Chris Camozzi vs. Joe Riggs – Camozzi via ground and pound
James Krause vs. Shane Campbell – Krause via submission

Alex Garcia vs. Sean Strickland – Garcia
Daniel Sarafian vs. Oluwale Bamgbose – Sarafian
Jonavin Webb vs. Nathan Coy – Webb

Marion Reneau vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith – Reneau
Lauren Murphy vs. Kelly Faszholz – Murphy
Anthony Hamilton vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov – Shamil
Cody Garbrandt vs. Augusto Mendes – Garbrandt

BET OF THE WEEK

This week I’m going with Bermudez to win via TKO/KO at 11/4

START TIMES (Sunday)

Early Prelims – 10.30pm on Fight Pass

Prelims – 12am on BT Sport 2

Main Card – 2am on BT Sport 2