UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier

[INDYjon22]

Main Card

• Featherweight Bout: Chan Sung Jung vs. Dustin Poirier
• Welterweight Bout: Amir Sadollah vs. Jorge Lopez
• Lightweight Bout: Jeremy Stephens vs. Donald Cerrone
• Bantamweight Bout: Jeff Hougland vs. Yves Jabouin
• Light Heavyweight Bout: Fabio Maldonado vs. Igor Pokrajac
• Middleweight Bout: Tom Lawlor vs. Jason MacDonald

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

• Lightweight Bout: Cody McKenzie vs. Marcus LeVesseur
• Middleweight Bout: Dongi Yang vs. Brad Tavares
• Lightweight Bout: T.J. Grant vs. Carlo Prater
• Lightweight Bout: Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Kamal Shalorus
• Bantamweight Bout: Jeff Curran vs. Johnny Eduardo
• Bantamweight Bout: Francisco Rivera vs. Alex Soto

UFC returns to Fuel with what looks to be a very solid B level card. Every fight has the potential to be exciting as hell, which should make for a very fun night of fights. If that isn't enough, the main event is essentially a title eliminator to set up the next guy in line for Jose Also, or at least the next guy to fight in a number one contenders fight. Should be good stuff.

Chan Sung Jung is on a roll in the UFC and is definitely on his way to a title fight with Jose Aldo. However, so is Dustin Poirier. Poirier is young and on one hell of a win streak. His only loss coming at the hands of Danny Castillo. This fight should be great to watch. I am leaning towards Poirier having a slight advantage because of his ground skills, but this could honestly go both ways.

Amir Sadollah is still floating in mediocrity and will be facing the relatively unknown Jorge Lopez. If Amir shows up with his kickboxing skills then he will likely win, and the hype train may begin to build steam again. If he loses then his UFC career is essentially shot to hell, though he won't get cut. Lopez is a wild card and is the prototypical fighter to come up with an upset.

Stephens vs. Cerrone should be a barn burner. Both like to throw, but clearly Cerrone is the better of the two fighters. Cerrone will likely talk shit while beating the holy hell out of Stephens for three rounds.

Houghland vs. Jabouin could go either way. Hougland is on an impressive win streak, but is new to the UFC. He could really use this win to bolster his record, whereas Jabouin needs this win to stay relevant. Jabouin has won two in a row, but was finished in his UFC debut. This will be an interesting stepping stone fight for the guy who wins.

Maldonado vs. Pokrajac should just be a good old fashioned slugfest. Both guys have heavy hands and I would be very surprised to see this fight hit the mat for anything less then a TKO finish.

My boy Tom Lawlor fights the journey man Jason MacDonald in what is pretty much a loser leaves town fight. I like both guys, but they need wins. Both have tremendous ground skills, with alright stand up, MacDonald with the slight advantage. This fight will end when someone screws up on the ground and gets caught.

The undercard is also very solid and worth checking out on facebook. Should be a very fun night of fights.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Dont care about Soto or Curran but they should win here.

Dos Anjos will look to rebound from a close split decision loss after the win of his life against George Sotiropolis here while Kamal Shalrous needs to get a win after his first two fight losing streak. Both men are skilled on the ground and feet, but Kamal will have a slight edge on the feet and Dos Anjos on the ground, should be an entertaining fight and I have to give a slight nod to Shalrous but I'll be pulling for Rafael to submit him. Shalrous via Unanimous Decision

Grant vs Prater will be a decent fight, Prater is a recent addition to the UFC roster but has been around for some time in other promotions fighting many top fighters outside the organization. Grant has been in the UFC for a while now and has picked up some good wins, I think he'll use his wrestling here to pick up the win as long as he can avoid Prater's submissions. Grant via Split Decision

Dongi Yang vs Brad Tavares, this is going to be a brawl that is owned by the TUF 11 vet. After losing for the first time in his professional career to Aaron Simpson he is going to be coming in with a do or die adittude and he's going to take it out on his opponent. Yang is a decent fighter who's greatest attribute is his toughness, but it wont be enough and he's going to either lose a brawl by decision or get finished by Brad's heavy hands. Tavares via TKO

Cody McKenzie vs. Marcus LeVesseur, no idea who LeVesseur is but Cody is coming in for a win after two losses to Vagner Rocha and Yves Edwards. On top of that he's transferred from his normal camps in Alaska and training with Lyle Beerbohm to Stockton with the Diaz Brothers at Cesar Gracie, so now his already deadly submission's will be even more lethal. Gotta go with McKenzie via Submission

Tom Lawlor vs J Mac is tough for me to pick because they're both very talented and I am a big fan of both of them, but they both need the win and only one can get it. Lawlor is 1-3 in his last 4 outings, most recently losing to Chris Weidman at UFC 139. Macdonald will look to rebound from a TKO loss to Alan Belcher in September, but with his on and off record it may be his last fight if he doesnt win. Lawlor has the edge on the feet so if he can avoid being taken down then he should be ok, he's good enough to maybe stay alive on the ground if he plays safe but you dont wanna sleep on J Mac. Lawlor via Unaninous Decision

Fabio Maldonado and Igor Pokrajac may not be the biggest names or most popular fighters but these guys are heavy hitters that can put on wars. Maldonado is a guy who beats you up the whole fight and wins a decision while Pokrajac is more of the quick knock out guy, and I think he'll succeed here. Pokrajac via KO

Really dont care about Jeff Houghland or Yves Jabouin but I'll give the nod to Yves. Jabouin via Submission

Donald Cerrone vs Jeremy Stephens, this fight is why this event matters to me. This fight is almost guaranteed to give us a fight night bonus as these are two of the most entertaining fighters in the division, Cerrone looks to get back to his winning ways after losing a decision to Nate Diaz at UFC 141, before that he was on a 6 fight winning streak. Stephens looks for an important win after a close decision loss to Anthony Pettis, before which he was on a two fight streak including a KO of Marcus Davis. Stephens has heavy hands but Cerrone is extremely well rounded and should take this however he wants, most likely by submission. Cerrone via Submission.

Nobody has taken a mediocre career and made the most of it like Amir Sodallah, and that's coming from a guy who likes him. He's done jackshit since winning TUF and somehow he still has the co main slot here fighting a nobody who's claim to fame is a loss to Justin Edwards and that aint much to get excited over. Sodallah vis boring decision

This should be a good one, Dustin Poirier has been on a tear ever since beating then contender Josh Grispi at UFC 125, since then though he's been putting on one impressive performance after another and looks like the best guy to challenge Jose Aldo for the title. But Chan Sung has other ideas, he's riding a nice heap of hype coming off his submission of the year over Leonard Garcia and most recently a KO over former title challenger Mark Hominick. The winner here should get the next title shot and while I cant imagine how this one goes I see Poirier taking it in the end, but i'll be rooting for the zombie. Poirier via Unanimous Decision