Paul 'The Headhunter' Buentello
Stefan 'Skyscraper' StruveShortly after the Aldana fight, Paul was let go by the UFC and signed with Strikeforce. His next fight took place in October 2006 against Tank Abbott with Buentello KO’ing Tank in just 1 round. Buentello won his next two fights in Strikeforce to set up a heavyweight title fight against Alistair Overeem. Unfortunately Paul only got to the 2nd round before getting stopped by a knee to the body. After this fight Buentello signed with Affliction and defeated Gary Goodridge via unanimous decision. In his most recent fight Paul defeated Kirell Sidelnikov at Affliction: Day of Reckoning via TKO.
Stefan Struve made his professional debut in the GFN organization when he was only 17, fighting against John De Wilde at Gentlemen Fight Night. By late 2008, he had racked up an impressive record of 16-2, losing once via injury against Romualds Garkulis in only his second fight, and another time in the second round of a Star Of Peresvit tournament in Ukraine against Christian M'Pumbu. In 2008, Struve entered talks with the DREAM and Affliction promotions before signing a four-fight deal with the UFC. He lost his UFC debut at UFC 95, losing to Junior dos Santos in the first round after dos Santos stormed Struve with an aggressive flurry. Struve won his next fight at UFC 99 against Denis Stojnic in a bout that saw Struve bleeding profusely from a cut that later required stitches. Struve was badly cut open with hammer fists from Stojnic while on his back in the first round, and despite bleeding excessively, persevered in the second round by gaining his opponent's back and eventually locking in a rear naked choke to win by submission at 2:37 of the second round. Struve most recently defeated UFC newcomer and previously undefeated Chase Gormley on October 24, 2009 at UFC 104 where he won the Submission of the Night award. The bout was composed mainly of grappling after Gormley took Struve down, there the Dutchman tried to work submissions until giving up top position to Gormley to secure a triangle choke. Following this fight Struve signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC with his next fight taking place at UFC 107.
This will be a tough test for Stefan Sturve, who has improved every time he’s stepped into the octagon. Buentello is a tough veteran and will prove whether Struve has the potential to be one of the top heavyweights in the UFC. Even though Struve will possess a reach advantage in this fight, his best chance at getting the victory will be on the ground where he can use his lengthy 6’11 frame to lock in one of his favoured triangle chokes. Buentello on the other hand will look to keep this fight standing, he rarely instigates the takedown in any of his fights and I think after seeing Junior Dos Santos overwhelm Sturve with his stand-up, Paul will probably feel that he has the striking ability to do the same. I think the result of this fight will all come down to whether Sturve has the ability to get Paul to the ground, if not then I see Paul overwhelming Struve with his superior striking before getting the TKO.
My Prediction: Paul Buentello via TKO.
Kenny 'KenFlo' Florian
Clay 'The Carpenter' GuidaFollowing his loss to Sanchez, Florian returned at the first Ultimate Fight Night to defeat Alex Karalexis. Picking up momentum, Kenny went on to face Muay Thai competitor Kit Cope, winning with a rear naked choke submission in round 2. Florian earned a title shot after defeating Sam Stout at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale; via rear naked choke in the 1st round. At UFC 64 Florian fought Sean Sherk for the UFC Lightweight title and lost via unanimous decision. Sherk exhibited superior control despite being cut severely by several Florian elbows. The judges scored it 50-45 and 49-46 twice for Sherk. After suffering this loss Kenny re-dedicated himself to training and came back stronger than ever winning his next 6 fights which included a decision win over Roger Huerta, to end Huerta’s 17 fight win streak and a 1st round submission victory over Joe Stevenson at UFC 91. In his latest fight Florian faced off against BJ Penn at UFC 101 for the lightweight title, however he lost by submission (rear naked choke) in the fourth round.
Clay Guida made his MMA debut in July 2003, losing via submission to Adam Copenhaver. Despite this loss Guida bounced back and shortly after he put together a 14 fight win streak to take his overall record to an impressive 18-3. It was around this time that Guida signed with Strikeforce and won the Lightweight title after defeating Josh Thompson via unanimous decision. However his title reign didn’t last long as he lost a split decision to Gilbert Melendez in his first title defence. Towards the end of 2006, Guida signed with the UFC and made his debut for the organization at UFC 64 against Justin James, picking up a submission victory in the 2nd round. Guida went on to lose his next 2 fights to Din Thomas & Tyson Griffin, however his loss to Griffin won fight of the night honours and seemed to make the fans take notice of him.
In Guida's next fight, he defeated Marcus Aurelio at UFC 74 by decision. Guida was defeated by Roger Huerta at The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale via rear naked choke in the 3rd round in a closely contested fight. Guida's recent bouts include UFC - Fight Night 13 where he defeated Samy Schiavo via TKO at 4:15 of round 1. In a bout at UFC - Fight Night 15, he defeated Mac Danzig via unanimous decision. Guida then went on to defeat Nate Diaz via split decision at UFC 94: Georges St-Pierre vs. BJ Penn 2. His last fight was against Diego Sanchez, at the The Ultimate Fighter 9 finale which he lost by split-decision. The fight had a frantic pace in which Guida weathered a ferocious striking offensive from Sanchez, with a seemingly endless barrage of punches and a brutal headkick which dropped Guida in the first round. This fight went on to win "Fight of the Night" honours and would later make #13 on the "100 Greatest UFC fights" list.
Both of these fighters will want to come back strong with a win after having their winning streaks stopped in their last fights. This fight definitely has the potential to steal the show on the night and I expect both fighters to come out strong from the bell and look to exchange strikes from the get go. Guida is renowned for the pressure he puts on his opponents and his outstanding cardio and I expect him to keep a high tempo throughout the fight as he looks to take Florian into deep water. In the early exchanges I think Florian will end up getting the better of Guida in the striking, forcing Clay to look for the takedown. Now this is the position that could decide the winner of this fight, if Kenny can shrug off Guida’s takedown attempts then he should be able to pick him apart in the striking exchanges and take a decision victory. However as we’ve seen in Guida’s previous fights, many of his opponents have trouble escaping once he locks on to them and Kenny’s wrestling isn’t one of his strongest assets. Clay is relentless with his takedown attempts and he will look to grind Kenny down if he gets into a clinch position. If Kenny is unable to get out of this position then I can see Guida taking a unanimous decision.
My Prediction: Clay Guida via decision.
Jon Fitch
Mike PierceIn his next seven fights, Fitch amassed wins over fighters such as Shonie Carter, Alex Serdyukov, and Jeff Joslin. After failing to make the selection process for the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Fitch earned a shot in the UFC on October 3, 2005, where Fitch defeated Brock Larson in a middleweight bout. Soon after, Fitch dropped to the welterweight division and won his next six fights. With victories over Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, Luigi Fioravanti, and Diego Sanchez, Fitch was now seen as a potential title contender. On March 1, 2008, Fitch defeated Chris Wilson by unanimous decision at UFC 82. This marked his 8th consecutive victory in the UFC, tying the record set by Royce Gracie for most consecutive wins in the UFC.
This impressive record earned Fitch a shot at Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 87, Fitch went the distance with the champion but ultimately lost via unanimous decision with scores of 50-43, 50-44, 50-44. He rebounded from this loss with a dominant performance over Pride veteran Akihiro Gono en route to a convincing unanimous decision at UFC 94. After his win over Gono, Fitch took on Paulo Thiago, who had previously KO’d Fitch’s training partner Josh Koscheck, Fitch controlled Thaigo throughout the fight with his wrestling & ground and pound before getting a unanimous decision win.
Mike Pierce made his professional mixed martial arts debut in June 2007 against Nick Gilardi, getting a TKO victory in the 1st round. Pierce compiled a 3-0 record before suffering the first loss of his career to Nathan Coy via unanimous decision at SF 23 - SportFight 23. After putting together a 4 fight win streak, on April 30, 2009, Pierce fought & defeated Paul Bradley, who appeared on The Ultimate Fighter Season 7 and was previously undefeated. This prompted the UFC to sign Pierce & in his latest fight Mike defeated well respected former WEC no.1 Contender Brock Larson via unanimous decision in his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 19.
This fight will be a huge opportunity for Mike Pierce, as a win over Jon Fitch will really make the welterweight division sit up and take notice, however defeating Fitch will be no walk in the park. Since debuting in the UFC back in 2005, Fitch has only lost to one man and that man just happens to be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today, Georges St-Pierre. Besides that loss Fitch has defeated everyone else put in front of him. Pierce is coming off of the biggest win of his career to date after scoring a unanimous decision over Brock Larson so his confidence should be high however, the tactics he usually employs in his fights may not work against Fitch. Normally Pierce will look to set-up the takedown as soon as possible, but with Fitch’s wrestling background Pierce may struggle to get the veteran down. I think Fitch will stuff Pierce’s takedowns before scoring a takedown of his own and then using his excellent ground game to wear Pierce down. At the end of the night I think Fitch will just be too experienced for Pierce and barring any mistakes he should comfortably take a victory in this fight.
My Prediction: Jon Fitch via TKO.
Frank Mir
Cheick KongoAt UFC 38 Mir faced off against Ian Freeman, a time out was called due to an apparent cut on Mir's face near the end of the 1st round, and the referee stopped the fight when a wobbly Mir had difficulty standing up resulting in Mir’s first professional loss. In his comeback bout Mir then fought David "Tank" Abbott at UFC 41, defeating Tank in only 46 seconds into the first round by submission. On June 26, 2003 Mir fought Wes Sims at UFC 43. Mir won by disqualification at 2:55 of round one after Sims stomped down on Mir's face after slamming his way out of Mir's armbar attempt. After this controversial ending a rematch took place at UFC 46 with Frank winning by knockout at 4:21 of round two. This win set Mir up for a shot at the vacant Heavyweight title against Tim Sylvia at UFC 48. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight at 50 seconds into the first round when Mir's armbar visibly broke Sylvia's right forearm declaring Mir as the new Heavyweight champion. Shortly after winning the title Mir was involved in a motorcycle accident that caused a break in Mir's femur and tore all the ligaments in his knee.
Mir recovered from his motorcycle accident and fought Márcio Cruz at UFC 57. In a shocking upset, Mir was defeated by the relative newcomer in the first round by TKO due to strikes. Mir went 1-1 in his next 2 fights drawing a lot of criticism from fans due to his lackluster performances, with many people saying that he was not the fighter he once was after his accident. In his next bout Mir took on Antoni Hardonk, winning via submission in the 1st round. He followed up this performance with wins over Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, with Mir defeating the Brazilian via TKO in the 2nd in one of the most dominant performances of his career to date. In his most recent fight at UFC 100, Mir lost a re-match against Brock Lesnar via TKO after getting overwhelmed by Lesnar’s ground and pound in the 2nd round.
Cheick Kongo began training in martial arts when he was 5 years old, taking up Kendo and Karate. As he grew older, he learned to master Muay Thai and kickboxing and would also practice Greco-Roman wrestling. Kongo began his professional career in June 2001 by knocking out Andre Tete. He then followed up that win with a TKO over Dave van der Veen before losing his first professional MMA fight to Rodney Faverus by decision. Kongo was 7-2-1 before competing in the UFC against Gilbert Aldana at UFC 61, whom he went on to defeat by TKO due to a doctor stoppage. He followed up his successful debut with another win, this time over UFC newcomer Christian Wellisch by KO due to a knee strike, before losing to UFC newcomer Carmelo "The Fury" Marrero at UFC 64.
Kongo bounced back from his first UFC loss with 2 wins including an impressive victory over Mirko Cro Cop before losing a split decision to veteran fighter Heath Herring at UFC 82. He then put together a 3 fight win streak with victories against Dan Evensen, Mostapha Al Turk & Antoni Hardonk. Cheick lost a unanimous decision in his last fight at UFC 99 against Cain Velasquez.
Even though Frank Mir has improved his stand-up considerably over the last few years, I still consider this more of a grappler vs. striker fight. Kongo has some of the best striking in the heavyweight division and I think it would be a mistake for Mir to stand and trade with him. If Mir wants to get into the title picture again, he will need to take Kongo down to the ground and expose the weaknesses in Cheick’s game by submitting him early. Cheick has looked extremely vulnerable when he’s been put on his back in past fights and someone with Mir’s world class submissions should be able to finish the fight relatively quickly as soon as the fight hits the ground. Kongo on the other hand will need to use his improved takedown defence in this fight in order to stop Frank’s takedowns, if he is able to do this then he definitely has the ability to out-strike Mir and could end up getting another TKO victory. The outcome of this fight really does depend on whether or not Frank is able to get Cheick down, if this fight hits the ground then I can’t see anything other than a submission victory for Mir, however if he is unable to get the takedown then I think Cheick may pull off one of the biggest wins of his career and thrust himself into the title picture.
My Prediction: Frank Mir via submission.
BJ 'The Prodigy' Penn
Diego 'Nightmare' SanchezPenn fought 3 times for K-1, compiling a 2-1 record for the promotion, with all fights taking place well above his normal weight class. The 2 wins came against Duane Ludwig & Renzo Gracie and the loss to Lyoto Machida. In early 2006 Penn re-signed with the UFC and made his return at UFC 58, losing to Georges St. Pierre by split decision in a fight that determined the number one welterweight contender. An injury sustained by GSP allowed Penn to step in at UFC 63 to take on Matt Hughes in a re-match for the welterweight title, Penn controlled the first two rounds, but sustained a rib injury during the scramble to take Hughes' back in round two. He was visibly affected in the third round, appearing exhausted. Hughes was able to take Penn down and rained down punches on a defenceless Penn, leaving the referee no choice but to stop the fight. After this loss Penn moved back down to Lightweight and appeared intent on creating his legacy in the division, he put together a 3 fight win streak including a win over Joe Stevenson in which he won the Lightweight title for the 1st time in his career. He then defended the title against Sean Sherk at UFC 84, stopping the former champ in 3 rounds. Penn then moved back up to Welterweight in a re-match against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 94, what was expected to be a competitive fight turned out to be totally one sided as GSP controlled Penn throughout the fight inflicting the worst defeat that Penn has suffered thus far in his career. Penn dropped back down to the lightweight division after this loss and successfully defended his title after submitting Kenny Florian in the 4th round.
In 2002, Diego Sanchez made his MMA debut for King of the Cage, putting together an impressive 11-0 record and in the process becoming KOTC champion. His UFC debut came when he was chosen as a participant on the first season of the reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. He won a contract with the UFC after winning a fight against Kenny Florian, becoming the middleweight winner for the first season of the show. Shortly after, Sanchez dropped to welterweight, defeating Brian Gassaway, Nick Diaz, John Alessio, Karo Parisyan, and Joe Riggs. Sanchez then fought Joe Riggs on December 13, 2006 at UFC Fight Night 7. Sanchez landed a right hook that knocked Riggs down, followed by a running knee that knocked Riggs out. Sanchez won at 1:45 of the first round, scoring the first UFC knockout of his career.
At UFC 69 Sanchez ended up losing by decision to Josh Koscheck, ending his undefeated run, in a fight that was virtually all stand up. In his next fight he lost a split decision to Jon Fitch at UFC 76 on before rebounding against David Bielkheden at UFC 82 with a submission due to strikes. Following the win, Sanchez stopped former Marine Luigi Fioravanti via TKO due to strikes at 4:07 of the third round at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale. After pulling out of a fight with Thiago Alves due to an injury, Sanchez announced he would be moving to the lightweight division. His next fight was then scheduled at UFC 95 against Joe Stevenson in the lightweight division. Although Stevenson pressed the action throughout the bout, Sanchez landed the better strikes and won by unanimous decision. On June 20, 2009 Sanchez won a split-decision victory against Clay Guida at the finale of The Ultimate Fighter: US vs. UK Finale. Sanchez won Fight of the Night honors, his second such award in a row.
This may be BJ’s toughest test at lightweight to date. Diego Sanchez has looked impressive since dropping down from welterweight, reeling off wins over Joe Stevenson & Clay Guida to set-up his title shot. This will be BJ’s third defence of his lightweight title and since going back to his natural weight class he has destroyed everyone who has stepped into the cage with him and he will no doubt be looking to do the same to Sanchez on Saturday. It’s difficult to predict where most of this fight will take place due to both fighters being so well rounded, Sanchez has tightened up his stand-up a lot recently and as Clay Guida found out in his last fight, Diego has got some power to go with his technique. However Diego cannot go into this fight expecting to have the same kind of success in the striking against BJ as he had against Guida, BJ’s boxing skills are excellent and his jab is one of the best in MMA. Add to this the fact that he has an iron chin and Diego is facing an altogether different beast. I think if this does turn into a striking battle then Diego will need to pick his shots and try to out-point BJ rather than get caught up going for the KO. Now onto the ground game, we all know that BJ has some of the best BJJ in MMA hence the nickname ‘Prodigy’ his flexibility makes it extremely difficult for his opponents to control him on the ground as they are always on the look-out for any submission attempts. Now Diego is no slouch on the ground either and can more than hold his own, however I think that BJ’s ground game is on another level. There’s also the fact that BJ’s takedown defence is world class and even if you can get him down, he’s usually back on his feet within seconds. Taking all this into consideration I can see most of this fight taking place on the feet unless BJ instigates a takedown or pulls guard. I think Diego may get some success early on in the fight but once BJ establishes his jab I think he’ll begin to get the better of Diego and will end up taking a decision victory.
Prediction: BJ Penn via decision.
