Drew McFedries is a powerful puncher out of Pat Miletech’s camp in Iowa. His trend in the UFC has been to either knock guys out or get taken down and tapped. Thales Leites looks like a bad match-up for him, as he has a strong chin and superior submission skills.
Gray Maynard has excellent wrestling skills but isn’t much of a finisher. Getting tapped out by Nate Diaz on TUF doesn’t count on his official record, and he whined his way out of what could have been a loss to Rob Emerson at Fight Night 11. Maynard can, therefore, claim to be undefeated. “No Love” Clementi has done pretty well for himself since dropping to welterweight. He’s a well-rounded fighter with a salty personality. This is a nice match-up of youth and experience, with the winner likely to move up the welterweight ladder in the UFC.
Tyson Griffin is one of my favourite fighters. He’s a cardio and conditioning machine with great wrestling skills. He goes all-out all the time, but he’s had trouble finishing fighters who can keep up with his energy level. Sean Sherk has rougly the same skill set as Griffin, but he’s a bit stronger and more of a finisher. This should be an exciting fight. Sherk has the advantage on paper, but I’m going to be pulling for Griffin.
Fabricio Werdum is a great submission fighter who trains at the Chute Boxe academy. He’s never been knocked out or forced to tap in his pro MMA career. He has reportedly signed a new contract that puts him in line for a heavyweight title shot if he can get by newcomer Junior dos Santos. Like Lietes vs. McFedries, this bout pits a good striker with suspect submission defense against a tap-out artist with a strong chin. Werdum vs. Big Nog would potentially be only the second UFC title fight to not involve at least one American-born fighter (keep reading to find out about the first such fight).
Thiago Alves is a Muay Thai fighter who also has a black belt in BJJ. He’s coming off of five straight KO victories, including a very impressive win over Matt Hughes at UFC 85. He was slated to face Diego Sanchez in what would likely have been an amazing fight. Sanchez got hurt, however, so Alves will instead face off with the less exciting but still very tough lay and pray expert Josh Koscheck. If Alves can keep from being taken down and held there, he’ll likely be next in line to face GSP. That could be a truly great fight, so I’m definitely pulling for Alves here.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is, pound for pound, the greatest striker in MMA today. TKO middleweight champion Patrick Cote is a hard puncher with knockout power. Anything can happen in MMA, but realistically the best Cote can hope for here is that he lasts long enough to keep it interesting.
