Preview for UFC on Fuel TV Mark Munoz vs. Chris Weidman
By: Daniel Kendricks
Following the biggest UFC PPV in history last Saturday night, the knock down/drag outs & tap outs continue tomorrow night from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA with another stout card headlined by two of the UFC’s fast rising middleweight standouts, “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Mark Munoz vs. “The All American” Chris Weidman. Before getting treated to that, there is a plethora of young hungry lions frothing & foaming at the mouth to lock ’em up and get one step closer for their shot at UFC gold. Bring it, baby!
Getting’ the party started are lightweights Rafael Dos Anjou (16-6-0) vs. former WEC standout, Anthony “The Assassin” Njokuani (16-6-0). In a classic grappler vs. striker matchup, both are coming off of wins, but need to keep the ‘W’s coming as both have been somewhat up & down in the win/loss columns over the last year. Though having a strong jiu jitsu base, Dos Anjou isn’t shy about standing. Conversely, Njokuani has been a party to some hectic ground scrambles so the action shouldn’t have many lulls, whether on the feet or on the mat, if any at all.
If that doesn’t sound like nonstop banging & scrambles, then it gets faster with the quickness of the bantamweight division as Ultimate Fighter Season 12 alumnist T.J. Dillashaw (6-1-0) throws down against England’s Vaughan Lee (12-7-1). Get ready for some lightning fast fireball action in this one. Both are well rounded with the edge in standing going to the Brit while the nod in head crackin’ ground n pound goes to the Ultimate Fighter finalist. Both are also coming off of wins; Lee’s being the more notable as he recently submitted former Pride & K1 beast, Norifumi ‘Kid’ Yamamoto in the first round of his last outing at UFC 144.
Some bigger boys lockin’ horns in the middleweight division to move it right along with the stocky Czech, Karlos Vemola (10-2-0) does a quick 2 month turnaround off of his win Mike Massenzio to go head-to-head with GSP teammate, Francis “Limitless” Carmont (18-7-0). Here’s another grappler vs. striker matchup between 2 hot prospects both coming off of wins in their last appearances. Shouldn’t be any secret where each guy prefers to keep this one, but Vermola has KO’d opponents & on the flip side, Carmont has submitted opponents so nothing is to be simply assumed between these 2 powerhouses.
Welterweights keep it rockin’ between yet another former Arizona State product and world class wrestler in Aaron “A-Train” Simpson (10-3-0) vs. Kenny Robertson (11-1-0). Simpson will definitely have the edge in wrestling being of a world class pedigree although Robertson isn’t exactly what you’d call “inept” in the grappling department being a 3 time NCAA Div. 1 Nat’l. tournament qualifier. Robertson should have the edge in the standing battle, having the much higher KO percentage.
The big boys of the light heavyweight division light it up in preparation for the main event with James Te Huna (16-5-0) goes up against former heavyweight, Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran (14-7-0). Te Huna, the New Zealand native, has comprised most of his wins in the UFC by either KO or TKO so in following the usual M.O. of the big men, this one most likely won’t be determined by the judges’ scorecards. Beltran is making his re-entrance into the UFC, this time in the light heavyweight division having made his debut at the weight in a non-UFC win over Anton Talamante. 11 out of his 14 wins have come by KO or TKO, so as aforementioned; this one most likely won’t go the duration of the fight.
Finally, in the main event what looks like a pretty even skill test goes down between “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Mark Munoz (12-2-0) and “The All American” Chris Weidman (8-0-0). Being that he’s a former Oklahoma State national champion and I’m also of Phillippine descent, I’m predicting that Munoz owns Weidman. HAHA! No, just joking’, folks. Seriously, Munoz is gonna look to land some of those bombs that have been garnering him a lot of notoriety as of late, but Weidman is undefeated for a reason. He (Weidman) has some serious battle tested experience with names like Damian Maia & Alessio Sakara on his resume of Octagon victims. He’s also trained under Matt Serra along with putting a U.S. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu title as notch on his belt and Abu Dhabi competition experience. Add all that up & it equals one scary as hell beast to try to take out.
Munoz also owns a win over Damian Maia so being a monster submission grappler is familiar territory & he has the definite edge in the standing game having been in with the likes of Chris Leben, who he finished in 2 rounds, & having trained what you know was some grueling standup with Wanderlei Silva. Although both are excellent wrestlers, Weidman is most likely going to be more comfortable in a ground submission battle which Munoz won’t shy away from being as that he owns some super vicious ground n pound. Tough to call, but it’s gonna be fun to check out, for sure!
Prelims
135- Rafael Assuncao (16-4-0) vs. Issei Tamura (7-2-0)
170- Marcelo “Magrao” Guimaraes (7-0-1) vs. Dan “The Anvil” Stittgen (7-2-0)
185- Rafael “Sapo” Natal (14-3-1) vs. Andrew Craig (7-0-0)
125- Chris “Kamikaze” Cariaso (13-3-0) vs. Josh “Taz” Ferguson (7-4-0)
135- “The Angel of Death” Damacio Page (12-7-0) vs. Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres (6-5-0)
Main Card
155- Rafael Dos Anjou (16-6-0) vs. Anthony “The Assassin” Njokuani (16-6-0)
135- T.J. Dillashaw (6-1-0) vs. Vaughan Lee (12-7-1)
185- Karlos Vemola (10-2-0) vs. Francis “Limitless” Carmont (18-7-0)
170- Aaron “A-Train” Simpson (10-3-0) vs. Kenny Robertson (11-1-0)
205- James Te Huna (16-5-0) vs. Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran (14-7-0)
185- “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Mark Munoz (12-2-0) vs. “The All American” Chris Weidman (8-0-0)
WED. July 11th 5PM/8PM PTET
Viewings
Click ‘Like’ on the UFC’s Facebook page to view the free prelims. Main card is available on Fuel TV & en espanol on FOX Deportes
The winner likely moves 1 fight away from a title shot w/ pound-for-pound kingpin, Anderson Silva, granted that Silva sticks around the middleweight division or opts to move up to LHW following last Saturday night. Whether or not that happens, the belt will still be on the line despite who’s holding it & a win for either man tomorrow night puts him in title contention. Anthony told me to forward this to you. I guess he was having some difficulties getting it printed or something.
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