UFC: Fight for the Troops 2

[INDYjon22]

Main Card

Melvin Guillard vs. Evan Dunham (No. 10 LW)
Matt Mitrione vs. Tim Hague
Mark Hominick vs. George Roop
Patrick Barry vs. Joey Beltran
Cole Miller vs. Matt Wiman

Undercard

DaMarques Johnson vs. Michael Guymon
Yves Edwards vs. Cody McKenzie
Waylon Lowe vs. Willamy Freire
Amilcar Alves vs. Charlie Brenneman
Rani Yahya vs. Mike Thomas Brown
Will Campuzano vs. Chris Cariaso​

The second UFC event of the new year. Not a terrible card and will be on free TV. I really enjoyed the first Fight for the Troops and it gave us some very exciting and interesting moments, including the Josh Koscheck knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida, Corey Hills broken leg and Razak Al Hassan's broken arm. Some truly fun, exciting and grotesque moments.

The card will be headlined by Lightweight standout Evan Dunham and the very popular Melvin Guillard. Dunham is coming off of a controversial loss to former LW champion Sean Sherk, whereas Guillard is coming off of a lackluster decision victory over Jeremy Stevens. The winner of this fight is sure to move up the ladder in the stacked LW division and probably face a top 10 fighter next, seeing as Dunham was undefeated up until the Sherk fight and Guillard is on a 3 fight winning streak currently. It should be fun to see who comes out on top.

Matt Mitrione has gone from being a laughed at joke on The Ultimate Fighter to being a very fun fighter to watch and one that is on the rise. Tim Hague is making his return to the UFC after winning two fights in some smaller promotion. Hague has knockout power and should make for an interesting match up with Mitrione. This one should be an absolute war.

Hominick vs. Roop will probably determine who gets the next shot at Jose Aldo's Featherweight title when he is healthy. Hominick is coming off of a split decision victory over Leonard Garcia, while Roop is coming off of an impressive KO of Chan Sung Jung.

Patrick Barry vs. Joey Beltran is a fight between two Heavyweight prospects who are trying to retain their status as prospects. Both men are coming off of loses. Barry lost to CroCop while Beltran lost to Mitrione. Both guys like to slug so this should turn out to be a fun fight.

Cole Miller and Matt Wiman were both on The Ultimate Fighter season 5 together on opposing teams. Wiman has a UFC record of 6-3 while Miller's UFC record stands at 6-2. Both guys have a lot of talent, Wiman on the feet and Miller on the ground. It will be interesting to see whose skills are better.

The undercard is fairly solid as well. The standout fight on the undercard is definitely the Yves Edwards vs. Cody McKenzie fight. McKenzie has a sick guillotine, while Edwards is the self proclaimed master of Thug Jitsue. Edwards should have the advantage on the feet but McKenzie can never be counted out because of that guillotine he has in his arsenal. Hopefully there is time for this fight to be shown on the main program because it could be the submission of the night.

 

[INDYjon22]

Overall, the show tonight was pretty decent. Good action in most of the fights and some definite surprises in a few of the fights.

I am no fan of either Evan Dunham or Melvin Guillard and that really didn't change tonight at all but I will say that Guillard got a hell of a big win and I commend him for finishing the fight. He has some great hand speed and some real power and it showed tonight. As for his post fight rambling about wanting to be next in line for the title and being the best fighter in the division, well lets just hope he is being optimistic and not really that full of himself because quiet frankly I can't imagine him fairing very well against the top guys in the Lightweight division.

As for Dunham, back to the drawing board kid. He has a lot of potential but he really needs to work on his stand up, specifically his striking defense. He can have all the grappling skills in the world, but if he can't defend a straight right coming at his face then he won't ever get past an 8 or 9 spot on the top LW list. Penn, Edgar, Bendo, Cerrone and some others would kill him.

Matt Mitrione looked great tonight. I have been skeptical of his hands for awhile but he proved me wrong tonight. He definitely has the power to take down some of the bigger name guys, not that Hague is a top guy. I can't wait to see him fight again and hopefully it will be against Pat Barry.

Mark Hominick destroyed George Roop and I loved it. Hominick has some great striking and I definitely think he poses an interesting match up for Jose Aldo. Not that I think he will win, but I do think he will fair better then Brown, Gamburyan and even Faber. I can't wait to see that fight go down. As for Roop, he may not get cut but he certainly isn't a prospect or all that important and great of a gate keeper. Dana might as well save himself some money and cut him. He'll land on his feet in Shark Fighting within 3 months.

Barry vs. Beltran was a nice little war. I don't understand why Barry doesn't use his kicks more often. Those things are fucking deadly. How Beltran didn't crumble from the force of those kicks is a real show case of his toughness. But man, if Barry just used his kick boxing more often he would be a beast in the Heavyweight division. Like I said earlier, I hope Barry vs. Mitrione is set up and soon.

I was let down by the Miller/Wiman fight. Miller just did not look good at all. It's a real shame, I may not be a fan of the guy but he usually puts on a hell of a fight. Matt Wiman looked great tonight. his striking looked great. I would match him and Melvin Guillard up for their next fights. That one would be a war and would be a wonderful main event for another Fight Night.

The undercard was interesting. McKenzie looked good and then got sloppy. No surprise that Edwards jumped all over it. You just can't make mistakes when you're facing a veteran like Yves Edwards, he is way to experienced. Great performance from Yves and McKenzie, with some more training, could be good. That figure four body lock by DaMarques Johnson was absolutely sick, he shouldn't be upset at all because that thing looked brutal. Mike Brown may be out of a job. Yahya pretty much dominated him and Brown hasn't looked all that good since his title run. I was also really hoping Willamy Freire would pull off the win, alas he came up short.

Good night of fights that detailed a cause worth supporting. The UFC should be really happy for what they are trying to do to help the soldiers of America. Hopefully another Fight for the Troops will be set up for next year because it would be a great yearly show.

 

[Final Form Snyper.]

I can only comment on the fights that were available to watch in Australia.

Melvin Guillard vs. Evan Dunham - This too me seems to be a case of so close yet so far for Evan. He is a prodigy do doubt but showed here that when pressured by a good striker, that he will wilt abit. I just want to congratulate Melvin, I picked him to win but I thought the TKO would come at the end of round 2. Melvin training at New Mexico with Greg Jackson is a dangerous Melvin because under one of the best coaches in MMA he will only improve.

Matt Mitrione vs. Tim Hague - I don't get the appeal with Hague, he is a sloppy fighter with questionable cardio. Meathead on the other hand is greatly improving with each and every fight. This was a good win for him because he came out unscathed and chances are will take a fight soon against a top 10 ranked fighter in the UFC. The best weapon he has is his reach and when he layed that straight on Hague you could see why. Keep smiling Matt because the future looks bright for you.

Mark Hominick vs. George Roop - All I can say hands up Roop, hands up. Hominick came in and overwhelmed George early and with a striker like Mark it can be a problem and this case was no different. Mark Hominick came, he saw and he conquered. Jose Aldo is next.

Patrick Barry vs. Joey Beltran - I felt sorry for Beltran in the last round, yes he did some cosmetic damage but on the feet he was outclassed to a point that I believe that Barry could have stopped him (with those leg kicks of his) maybe a foot injury to Barry played a role in this but Pat was just stringing him along until the last 20 seconds when he upped the tempo and dropped Joey at the end of the round. What amazed me was the fact that Beltran couldn't take Barry down, is he evolving or was Beltran just off his game?

Cole Miller vs. Matt Wiman - Wiman was the stronger and more aggressive fighter of the 2 and it showed after the first 30-40 seconds into the fight. He showed great control and some good ground and pound, including the Donkey Kong two fists..... great win and now has some momentum to build on. Cole just wasn't himself, he played defensive the majority of the fight. I do tend to believe that he was rocked early and just couldn't recover.

Undercard

Yves Edwards vs. Cody McKenzie - I'm impressed with the improvement of Cody, he came out strong and was actually standing with Yves. He was landing but Yves was landing the better punches...... taking 1 to give 1 doesn't apply when your standing with Edwards. I believe that he will come back much better.

 

[jmt225]

It was a decent show. Nowhere near as good as last year's.

Melvin Guillard looked the best he's ever been against Dunham. Incredible performance, though I think at the end of the day this was just a bad match-up for Dunham. It was Guillard's size and strength that was the difference. If Dunham put on some muscle he would be able to contend with the likes of someone like Guillard. Regardless, great performance by Guillard, though I'm still not a believer at this point. Had he fought Yves as originally planned, I think Yves would have pulled off the upset. But, we'll see in the near future what Guillard is all about. Definitely looking forward to who the UFC pits up against next.

Speaking of Yves Edwards... absolutely tremendous fight against Cody McKenzie. This fight easily made the show for me. First round was all Edwards, and the second round was all McKenzie, until Yves was able to get just a little control on the ground. Great fight and performance by my main man Yves Edwards. I really hope that was the start of great things to come for the guy. Such an exciting fighter, and an absolute class act.

Matt Mitrione looked great, but I agree with him that it's time to see him against some elite competition.

Was happy to see Mark Hominick destroy George Roop. Definitely looking forward to his fight against Aldo now. I think he'll cause some serious problems for Aldo. It'll be interesting to see.

Patrick Barry vs. Joey Beltran was a fun little kickboxing match. Great performance by Barry, though I think he needs to learn to KEEP throwing those leg kicks, rather than letting the guy recover. He could have easily finished the fight if he was more aggressive with those things. Regardless, awesome performance from him.

And Cole Miller vs. Matt Wiman was a major disappointment. Wiman looked great, but that was not the Cole Miller we've seen the last few fights he's been in.

Overall, decent free show. Yves Edwards vs. Cody McKenzie saved it I thought, but still... I enjoyed it for the most part.

 

[Via Armbar]

Guillard/Dunham

Surprising little match we saw. I knew Guillard was an underdog coming but I wasn't sure why. Not just because he's been submitted more times then Liddell's been knocked out but because style wise he's horrible for Dunham. Evan has sloppy ass stand up and Melvin has underrated take down defense. It all came down to composure here and Guillard kept it, gaining the win. Dunham really needs to work on his stand up and some more on his grappling to get it to it's full potential. I'd like to see Guillard matched up with Florian or Sherk to really see if he's at that level. Give Dunham someone to work with like Dennis Siver if he loses the match with G-Sot or perhaps Wiman.

Mitrione/Hague

Still improving, Meathead showed us that he's aiming to be a legitimate force in the heavyweight division. He showed surprisingly smooth footwork and great tactical striking. He doesn't rush, picks his spots and has great instinct. All three things are hard to find among the biggest men of the UFC and it should take him far. I'd like to see him matched up with Rothwell or Madsen if he wants to test his ground game. Hague, I'd like to see hm never again.

Pat Barry/ Joey Beltran

HD might be one of the most frustrating fighters in recent memory. He has huge potential with his kickboxing but lacks that certain something that will make him a beast. He seemed far too relaxed in this fight and passed on far too many chances to end it. Beltran is a zombie and will not be finished by a fighter not looking for it. He was going to blast through Barry's half assed striking and volume punch his way to a decision. If Barry would have chopped those legs down immediately and not retreated with his head down every time Beltran moved forward it would have ended earlier. He really needs to find that killer instinct and game planning or he won't climb the ladder. Possibly match him with the winner of Struve/Browne.

Hominick/Roop

I like The Machine a lot. Great striking, good game planning and a solid ground game. All the things you can want in a fighter. He put it all together that night and showed Roop what it meant to be a good striker. But do you notice the little blemish in the above statements? He beat George Roop. A fighter who couldn't make in the UFC's 155 division. Honestly beating him isn't something to brag about but it got him the title shot against Aldo. I expect Aldo to destroy Hominick but I suppose we will have to wait until April to see it.

Wiman hurt Miller bad in the first and Cole never really recovered. Both are guys to me that while they are both very skilled, they are too inconsistent to ever make waves in the divisions top tier. McKenzie/Edwards was a fun back and forth. It's scary to see how badly Cody's stand up is. It's honestly probably the worst in the company, just so awkward. His grappling though can really be something to notice if he can even it out. Edwards is a fun journeyman but nothing more. Puts on a show and entertains, as long as he does so he'll have a job. Good show, not great but entertaining enough.