Something Old, Something New – UFC 210
In this week’s Something Old, Something New we look ahead to UFC 210 from the KeyBank Centre in Buffalo, New York where Light-Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is set to defend his title against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in a long-awaited rematch after Cormier won their first meeting. Also on the card, proud New Yorker Chris Weidman aims to remain in Middleweight title mix when he faces fellow contender Gegard Mousasi.
This week in SOSN, we once again look at the returning names of the “forgotten” men who have been sidelined for over 12 months as well as look to the fresh faces making their UFC debuts at UFC 210. This week, we start off with the newcomers as three fighters are set to make their first walk to the octagon this weekend.
Pearl Gonzalez (6-1) – Strawweight
Making her UFC debut in the strawweight division, Pearl Gonzalez will face the first big test of her professional career so far when she faces fellow prospect Cynthia Calvillo this weekend.
Gonzalez is a surprising addition to the UFC roster as she is relatively inexperienced and had only fought for smaller regional promotions such as XFC and Ring of Combat before getting the call-up.
Training out of Combat-Do in her home of Chicago, Gonzalez has since moved to San Diego and now trains with the city’s 10th Planet gym and with the San Diego Combat Club. Having finished five of her six opponents inside the distance, four by submission, the 30-year-olds strengths lie in her ground game where she is extremely good at utilising her BJJ purple belt.
Having fought at both Strawweight and Flyweight, Gonzalez will be big for the weight class and could look to move to 125lbs if the division was ever to materialise. Her most notable victory so far came in 2013 when she defeated fellow UFC fighter Cortney Casey via third round submission to capture the vacant XFC Flyweight title at XFC 36.
Desmond “The Predator” Green (19-5) – Lightweight
Former Titan FC champion Desmond Green will make his first appearance in the Octagon at UFC 210 when he takes on Team Alpha Male fighter Josh Emmett in a preliminary lightweight bout.
Hailing from Rochester, New York, Green has fought under both the Bellator and Titan FC banners on his journey to the UFC. Having competed in both the 2013 and 2014 Featherweight Tournaments in Bellator, the 27-year-old would reach the final on his second attempt but fell short, losing to Daniel Weichel via second round submission at Bellator 119.
Winning the Titan FC Featherweight title shortly after joining the promotion, Green’s reign was short-lived and he failed to become champion for the second time in 2015 when he lost a unanimous decision to now-WSOF champion Andre Harrison at Titan FC 35.
Since then, Green has put together a run of four straight victories with his most recent coming over Martin Brown at Titan FC 42 in December. Now, the Henri Hooft trained fighter is set to make his debut in front of a friendly crowd in Buffalo where he previously wrestled at collegiate level for the University of Buffalo.
With 13 of his 19 wins coming by decision, Green doesn’t have a reputation for finishing opponents but will seek to change that this Saturday night.
Magomed “Gladiator” Bibulatov (13-0) – Flyweight
Although opening the show against talented Filipino fighter Jenel Lausa, it is expected that Magomed Bibulatov will not take long to establish himself in the UFC’s Flyweight division as a legitimate threat to the crown of current champion “Mighty Mouse” Demetrious Johnson.
Rated as the top Flyweight outside the UFC for a while, Bibulatov is currently undefeated and has been a champion in ACB, WSOF and home promotion Akhmat Fight Show. Hailing from the North Caucasas and known associate of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the politics and recent events in the region threaten to overshadow the Russian’s entrance on the big stage.
Regardless of his links outside of the cage, Bibulatov has finished seven of his thirteen professional fights inside the distance, and with his strong background in Sambo and wrestling that’s so typical of fighters from his region, has dominated every opponent his came up against.
With significant wins over Taylor Lapilus and Donavon Frelow, Bibulatov will now aim to take on the best Flyweights in the world whilst trying to beat Khabib Nurmagomedov to the honour of becoming the UFC’s first Russian champion.
Now we look at the two UFC veterans returning from long layoffs this weekend in Buffalo as both look to force their way back up the rankings of their respective divisions.
Charles “Boston Strong” Rosa (11-2) – Featherweight
At UFC 210, featherweight Charles Rosa will make his return to the octagon for the first time since a January 2016 win over Kyle Bochniak to face the undefeated Shane Burgos.
Having grown up in a family of professional boxers, the Massachusetts native took up MMA in 2008 and relocated to Florida to train with American Top Team. The 30-year-old, who’s also a qualified chef, went 11-2 in his amateur career before a run of nine fights undefeated after turning professional saw him called up to the UFC.
Replacing the injured Robert Whiteford on short notice to face Dennis Siver in October 2014, Rosa made his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 53 losing to the German in a back-and-forth battle that was declared “Fight of the Night”.
After bouncing back with a win over Sean Soriano, “Boston Strong” would drop another close “Fight of the Night” loss by split decision to top prospect Yair Rodriguez at UFC 188. Now 2-2 with the UFC, Rosa recently re-signed with the promotion after threatening to search for a new employer following his spell of inactivity. However, he eventually chose to stay put to “fight the best” and the BJJ black belt will look to prove his worth against Burgos on Saturday.
Myles “The Fury” Jury (15-2) – Featherweight
Inactive since 2015, former TUF competitor Myles Jury finally makes his return to action this week as he faces fellow featherweight Mike De La Torre and aims to return to winning ways after two straight defeats.
Studying both wrestling and BJJ from a young age, the talented grappler would take up MMA at the age of 14 and turned professional in 2005 where he mostly fought for California regional promotion King of the Cage. He would put together a perfect 9-0 record before being selected to take part in The Ultimate Fighter after developing his own MMA system called ‘Jury Jiu Jitsu’.
After dropping out of TUF 13 due to a torn ACL early in the competition, Jury was invited back to TUF 15 and would lose to Al Iaquinta by a close split decision in the ‘Fight of the Season’ before making his official UFC debut in June 2012 during the TUF 15 Finale.
Going on a 6-fight win streak following his promotional debut, 28-year-old Jury recorded notable wins over Micheal Johnson, Diego Sanchez and Takanori Gomi. His first round finish of the former PRIDE veteran at UFC Fight Night 52 in September 2014 would mark a downturn in fortunes and the last time the Michigan fighter would get in the win column.
Since then, defeats to Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliveira have seen Jury’s stock fall and he will need to halt this losing streak on his return at UFC 210 or face becoming the forgotten man.
