By Michael Owens
After a few teething problems in the first two events, UFC events on Fox have become renowned for delivering a four-fight main card of high octane action to a primetime U.S audience.
The eighth show on the network promises to be no different thanks to a quartet of scraps in the lighter weight classes. It was tragic to lose the guaranteed barnburner that would have been Matt Brown vs. Carlos Condit, but fight fans should still be amply compensated for their time thanks to the efforts of the following gentlemen.
Lightweight – Mac Danzig vs. Joe Lauzon
In the absence of the aforementioned Brown, the UFC looks to one of its other brawl-happy TUF veterans to deliver an injection of energy into the opening fight of the broadcast.
Joe Lauzon is usually involved in fun fights whether he’s winning or losing, though the majority of his most memorable bouts have come when he has had his name in the ‘W’ column. The Boston native has never gone to a decision for any of his 22 career wins, grabbing 18 submissions and four knockouts along the way. However, his last performance was probably his least inspiring yet in the octagon as he fell to a decision loss to Michael Johnson. That was J-Lau’s second defeat in a row after the fight-of-the-year effort against Jim Miller, so you would expect him to get after Mac Danzig to avoid his third loss in a row.
Danzig is also coming off two consecutive losses, but he is in considerably more danger of being cut after a third straight defeat than post-fight-bonus king Lauzon. He’s a good fighter, but unfortunately not up to competing with the UFC,’s elite, or even the lower end of the top 25 of the lightweight division. Lauzon falls into that bracket.
Expect Lauzon to attack from the word go and look to get the fight to the mat as soon as possible. Danzic possesses a competent striking game, and can counter well, but most likely won’t be able to deal with the kind of pressure that a fired up Joe Lauzon does.
Featherweight – Nik Lentz vs. Chad Mendes
This event is in Sacramento, and stacked with home-town fighters from Team Alpha Male. Since Duane Ludwig took over coaching duties at Urijah Faber’s gym, its top fighters have looked absolutely terrifying, attacking their opponents with ferocious punching and gaining a host of TKO and KO wins.
At the forefront of the Alpha-Male abattoir is Chad Mendes, who has butchered every one of his opponents since his loss to Jose Aldo for the featherweight belt. He spent less than four minutes in the cage in the first three of those fights and became to only man to knock Clay Guida out in the fourth. Add in his outstanding wrestling to the mix and you have – without a doubt – a cocktail that tastes like the second best featherweight in the world and arguably the hardest fighter to match up in the UFC.
Sean Shelby has had problems finding men who want to step in the cage with ‘Money’ Mendes until Nik Lentz stepped up. How can you sell a match against a man who does not have the belt, but is nearly guaranteed to beat you to a pulp?
‘The Carny’ has put a solid run of three straight wins together at featherweight. He is a grinder with great top control and difficult to finish to boot. On the other hand. Lentz will struggle to impose his grappling on such an outstanding wrestler and he is difficult to finish for most mere mortals, but not superhuman athletes like the man he will face off against at the The smart money is on Mendes to continue his run of finding a home for his brain-meltingly powerful and explosive fists to take another step towards a rematch with Aldo.
Urijah Faber vs. Michael McDonald
The elder statesman of Team Alpha Male will face his toughest test outside of a title fight in the UFC. Faber’s only losses since the turn of the decade have only been against champions and former champions. Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao have got the better of him, but even then Faber was able to survive the full 25 minutes. Every other opponent he has stepped into the cage with has been a heavy underdog and ‘The California Kid’ has dispatched them with relative ease, stopping most of them in the process.
This fight should be different. Michael McDonald has proved himself to be possibly the outstanding young fighter in the UFC with his only defeat coming after a competitive scrap against interim champion Barao.
The skill sets of both men make this a difficult fight to call. Faber has good striking, but McDonald’s range and power give him the advantage. However, Faber is nigh-on impossible to stop. Just ask Barao or Aldo.
Faber, the former WEC featherweight champion, has a phenomenal BJJ game, which for some reason is not heralded like it should be. His ability to take the back can be matched by very few fighters at any weight class and if he locks on a choke, you can expect the man with the constricted neck to be tapping in fairly short order. ‘Mayday’ McDonald was choked by Barao, but otherwise he has flexed a good ground game, even submitting Brad Pickett with a nice triangle in his last fight.
This could be a real passing of the torch fight if McDonald can grab the win. He would launch himself right back into title contention by beating one of the most respected competitors in the game. He is looking better in every fight and could force Faber to walk the long road back to championship conversation all over again (to face a champion who has had his number in the past), all the while while advancing through his mid-30s. WIth that said, I’d give a significant grappling advantage to Faber over the 22-year-old upstart. Furthermore, there is nothing to suggest that Faber has depreciated as a fighter. This is a tough one to call, but over just three rounds, I think Faber will set a relentless pace, out-grapple his would-be usurper and pick up a decision victory.
UFC flyweight championship – Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez
Speed kills, and what you’re looking at here is two of the fastest fighters in the game. Get set for a rough and tumble, five-round war with bodies and limbs flying around the cage at a supersonic pace.
For some reason many people have Demetrious Johnson pegged as some sort of unstoppable force of nature thanks to his capture and subsequent two-time defence of the UFC flyweight belt. He looked imperious in his last outing against John Moraga, but his previous two fights – one with Benavidez and one with John Dodson – he was take to the wire and eked out narrow decision victories.
The first fight against Benavidez was particularly close and it really could have gone either way. Then the Dodson fight showed that Mighty Mouse could be hit and hurt, though he showed a remarkable ability to recover and re-establish his wrestling to wrestle back control of the fight.
Johnson is a fantastic fighter, but the improvements to Benavidez’s striking over the past 15 months just might be the x-factor in this fight. While I would certainly not be bold enough to predict a stoppage victory, I think the ‘Joe-jitsu’ practitioner will catch the champion and put him down at some point in the fight. That will also help him to impose his wrestling game, which is otherwise comparable to DJ’s.
Call it a 48-47 decision for Joe B-Wan Kenobi, which will set up a rubber match in 2014. If this fight matches the frenetic pace of the first, I can’t see too many people complaining about that.
