UFC 133 Evans vs. Ortiz Previews Part Four: Jorge Rivera vs. Constantinos Philippou

Previews, Top Story

If there is one thing that we can all agree on when discussing UFC 133 it would be just how weak the card is as a whole, but nothing epitomizes just how terrible it is than this fight and its place on the main card of a PPV. There’s very little at stake as both combatants look to bounce back from loses, Jorge Rivera (19-8, 13 KOs, 2 SUBs) suffered a very dramatic one to Michael Bisping and Constantinos Philippou (7-2, 4 KOs, 1 SUB) bored us with a standard issue one to Nick Catone. Philippou landed in this spot thanks to a very late withdrawal from Alessio Sakara after he tore his ACL in training and has thus given him his one shot at MMA glory. He doesn’t deserve to be here by any means but if he makes it work, if he makes a splash against this version of Rivera who is here relegated to the role of low rent gatekeeper, then maybe he can make something of himself in this UFC run he has been granted. If not he probably won’t be cut since he is doing the company a solid but it will most likely put him one loss away from being cut.

It’s hard to imagine Rivera ever being more entertaining than he was in the lead up to the Bisping fight as he openly mocked the man for a variety of things in a series of Youtube videos that nearly led to Bisping’s head exploding. Since the videos really weren’t all that good (nor do I think they were meant to be) you have to wonder what sort of insecurity issues Rivera uncovered with them. Sadly the smack talk has not surfaced for this lower profile fight against Philippou. Rivera, something of a “relic” (to use Bisping’s terminology), was first seen in the octagon back at UFC 44 and has lost to some of the best in the Middleweight division (Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Chris Leben among others). He’s highest profile W to date would be, for my money, his first round KO of Kendall Grove. But that was three years ago and Grove’s career has sputtered out since. He’s never been relevant and even with a win on this overly-elevated stage he still won’t be. And considering his age (39) one does have to wonder how many fights he has left in him.

Philippou is still a fairly unknown entity and I think Rivera provides a good litmus test for him at this stage of his career. He killed on the Ring of Combat circuit, racking up a record of 7-1 and earning his way into the big leagues. As in this fight, his Octagon debut against Catone was a last minute deal and so he was certainly cut some slack by the bosses for his sluggish performance there. But late replacement or not you have to wonder how much room the UFC has for middleweights who cannot beat either Catone or Rivera.

The fight itself is one between strikers but if Rivera’s fight with Bisping proved anything it is that the guy can take vicious punishment to the head and still keep on ticking. Philippou has a significant age advantage which will absolutely translate into the speed category as well, the question is does he have the firepower in his hands to take advantage. Those of us who root for justice in the world still may believe that had Bisping not landed that crazy knee then Rivera would have been able to finish him off later on but I can’t say that I’m on board with that theory. This match up provides all sorts of slipperiness for me as far as trying to forecast a winner goes but I certainly haven’t seen anything from Philippou that conveys to me that he is qualified to be a Zuffa fighter. I see this fight being a slog to get through for us the audience, probably the worst of the night, and a less than inspired decision victory for the veteran.

Jorge Rivera via decision