Viewers Guide to the Undercard: UFC 167 Edition

Previews

The UFC was 20 years old this week and for their birthday party they have brought out the big guns. This Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada , UFC 167 will be headlined by Georges St. Pierre and his UFC Welterweight Championship. Georges, or GSP to his friends, will look to defend the belt against the consensus #1 contender, Johny Hendricks in one of the more anticipated title fights of recent memory. Heading in to the bout many believe that Georges will face his biggest test, with some claiming that GSP will finally come a cropper to the wrestling chops and big left hand of Johny Hendricks. The fun does not stop there though as Rashad Evans and Chael P. Sonnen will go at it in the co-main and GSP’s protégé Rory MacDonald takes on the resurgent Robbie Lawler in a welterweight bout that many have slept on. Rounding out the main card is another welterweight matchup as Josh Koscheck takes on Tyron Woodley, as well as a flyweight battle with Tim Elliot and Ali Bagautinov locking horns.

Now, as ever I am here to hold your hand through the prelim portion of the card, so let’s get started.

Donald Cerrone vs. Evan Dunham –
Headlining the prelims is a lightweight bout between Donald Cerrone, #10 on the official UFC lightweight rankings, and Evan Dunham.

Donald Cerrone is often his own worst enemy. ‘Cowboy’ has all the skills in the world but his tendency to start slow has cost him on occasion. If he is able to eradicate this trait from his game and be able to push the action from the opening bell, the close losses he has suffered at the hands of the elite of the division could well become a thing of the past. Cerrone is a well loved fighter for his aggressive style and well rounded skills, and has become a firm favourite with the Zuffa bosses collecting multiple Fight, Submission and Knockout of the Night awards during his time with both the WEC and the UFC. Cerrone was on the losing end last time out to Rafael dos Anjos via unanimous decision back in August and will be looking to avoid the stigma of back-to-back losses for the first time in his career.

Evan Dunham was also left cursing the judges’ decision in a defeat to Rafael dos Anjos in his most recent performance back in May at UFC on FX 8. Before that setback, Dunham had been on a patchy run of form having racked up an average 3-3 record over his previous six fights. Before this run of results, Dunham was viewed as one of the hottest prospects in the lightweight division and if he is able to claim Cerrone’s scalp, Dunham could be set up for another assault on the elite of the division.

I’m going to go for Cerrone on this one. ‘Cowboy’ should have too much on the feet for Dunham, irregardless of the fact that he may start out sluggish, and if Dunham is able to take him down to the ground then Cerrone is wily enough off of his back and active enough with submissions to have Dunham think twice about doing it again.

Prediction – Cerrone via unanimous decision.

Ed Herman vs. Thales Leites –
Next up is a clash of middleweights as Ed Herman takes on Thales Leites.

While it may not feel like it due to the time away from the Octagon as a result of multiple injuries, Ed Herman has been around the UFC for a long, long time considering his inability to either claim a title or even factor in to a contender conversation. Herman has been a part of the UFC since 2006 when he competed on season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter and has yet to claim a significant victory that would propel him up the rankings. This is not to say that Herman is a bad fighter, not at all, Herman is potentially as exciting as they come with his come-forward approach, heavy hands and accredited ground game; it’s just that Herman appears to hit the proverbial wall when the competition is increased.

Thales Leites is not quite the fighter he was in ‘07/08 when he went on a five-fight win streak which culminated in an unsuccessful title shot against the then UFC Middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, but he seems to have got some form back. Having been cut from the UFC in 2009, Leites returned to the Octagon in August of this year and faced off with Tom Watson in his home nation of Brazil. Watson was game and went there to put on a show, but he ultimately fell foul to Leites vastly superior ground game and the jiu-jitsu wizard put on a grappling clinic to take home the unanimous decision.

The longer that Herman can keep this fight standing, the better for his chances. While Herman is no slouch on the ground, Leites is a notch above and will favour himself to have Herman’s number should this one spend extended periods of time on the mat. Fortunately for Herman, I feel that he will have good enough wrestling to fend off the takedown attempts of Leites en route to a stilted, scrappy decision victory.

Prediction – Herman via unanimous decision.

Rick Story vs. Brian Ebersole –
On to the welterweight division and a matchup between Rick Story and Brian Ebersole.

Rick Story is in a tough, tough spot. Having temporarily stopped the rot of a 1-3 record with a victory over Quinn Mulhern at UFC 158 back in March, Story was brought back down to earth in his most recent performance at UFC 160 where he was on the losing end of a split decision to Mike Pyle. Normally I would say that this was a do-or-die fight for Story, however Story did his employers a solid in taking the Pyle fight on short notice and this may well have stored enough good faith with the UFC to prevent them from pulling the trigger on anything other than a Story win. We’ll see.

Brian Ebersole is in a much better situation that Story, but he’s not exactly sitting pretty either having been defeated in his most recent contest. I say recent, it was well over a year ago that we last saw Ebersole compete back in July 2012 at UFC 149 against James Head. That loss snapped an 11-fight win streak that Ebersole had gone about quietly compiling and now Ebersole will see the Story fight as an ideal opportunity to regain any lost momentum.

While he’s currently mired in the worst run of his professional MMA career, I’m going go for Story to take this one. Both men have a wrestling pedigree and are strong for their weight class, but I think that the long layoff Ebersole has experienced will prove decisive here. I do not expect this one to be pretty though.

Prediction – Story via unanimous decision.

Sergio Pettis vs. Will Campuzano –
Last, but by no means least is a bantamweight tussle featuring Will Campuzano and Sergio Pettis.

Pettis, Pettis, Pettis. Where have I heard that name before? Oh right, the UFC Lightweight champ Anthon Pettis! Well this isn’t him. This is his little brother, Sergio. Pettis is just 20 years old, but do not let this young man’s lack of years fool you in to thinking that he is green to the sport. Pettis made his amateur debut back in 2009 three days before his 16th birthday and it was not long after he turned 18 that he was to enter the professional ranks. In these two short years Pettis, a product of the Roufusport gym that also homes his older brother and Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren, has worked his way up with ease and achieved success without any real trouble. Pettis has already held two titles in his career, the RFA flyweight championship and the NAFC bantamweight belt which he secured in his most recent performance. Pettis has so far enjoyed a perfect start to his MMA career and will be looking to announce himself to the UFC community with a statement performance in his promotional debut this Saturday.

Will Campuzano should receive a great deal of credit for the preservation of this fight. Sergio Pettis’ original opponent, Vaughan Lee, had to withdraw from the bout just over a week away from fight night leaving the prospect with the very real possibility of a delayed debut. Campuzano stepped up on short notice from out in the wilderness and returns to the UFC after compiling a wretched 1-4 record during his first stint with Zuffa. Since he was released in 2011, Campuzano has got his career back on track and will enter the Octagon riding a five-fight win streak with his most recent victory coming over Hideo Tokoro in Japan last month.

While Sergio may share the same last name and training camp as his brother, they do not exactly share the same style. Sergio is just as capable of the unorthodox array of strikes that Anthony is, however by his own admission he sees himself as more of a technician when it comes to striking. Campuzano is no joke, but I see his role in this one as no more than a moving target for Pettis to tag and be tested.

Prediction – Pettis via KO/TKO in the 3rd round.

A History graduate from Royal Holloway University of London, Adam Keyes has been an MMA enthusiast since being introduced by friends to videos of Bas Rutten demonstrating a warped form of self defence. From there Adam has immersed himself in all the MMA he could get his hands on and has never looked back.