Daniel Kendricks’s UFC 149 Preview

Daniel Kendrick" />

Generally, long win streaks are synonomous with the those who are considered the very best in that athletes sport: Lance Armstrong’s 7 consecutive Tour de France titles; Tiger Wood’s 4 consecutive consecutive Majors wins; Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak. These are the feats of world champions & perhaps after tomorrow night, we’ll have one in the form of Renan Barao and one who’ll leave tomorrow night as the next viable contender for p4p king, Anderson Silva’s middleweight crown. Hector Lombard relinquished his Bellator MW title in search of UFC gold and begins that quest tomorrow evening in Calgary. If longstanding winning streaks are indeed indicative of a fighter’s superiority then Barao & Lombard are in an elite class of a select few. The question that hinders the validation of the streaks is who has the competition been? Before that can be answered, there’s a series of well matched brawls to satisfy the appetite before the streaks continue or come to a screeching halt. Here we go with UFC 149!

Doing his thing in front of his homecrowd, “The Menace” brings his striking pedigree into the cage against former D1 wrestler, Matthew Riddle. Clements, who’s won all of his fights by KO with the exception of 1 fight, looks to continue that trend by avoiding Riddle’s strong ground-n-pound preference by using his striking seed advantage to try to put the finishing touches on the Texas native who’s nearly entire MMA pro career has taken place in the Octagon. If Clements can’t use his “menacing” standup to nuetralize the wrestling of Riddle, it’s most likely not going to be a pleasant homecoming for “The Menace.”

“Bad Boy” vx. the Okie. All personal bias aside since Head is from this writer’s homestate & city (and uses my youngest brother as a sparring partner from time-to-time, in fact), Ebersole not only poses a big experience advantage, but is riding an 11 fight winning streak into his showdown with the OKC native. Wrestling looks to be an area of heavy favoritism for the “Bad Boy,” but not only that, he also possesses what appears to be a granite chin, having never been KO’d in his pro career; a definite attribute that will be paramount against a mixed martial artist with the family boxing pedigree that Head comes from. He’ll need to call on every bit of his experience in his relative disciplines to bring down a stout standup beast/grappler like James Head. Not only does Head train his jiu jitsu under one of the most decorated practitioners in the world (Rafael Lovato, Jr.), but he’s from a family of boxers and is, in fact, the boxing trainer at the celebrated jiu jitsu academy that bears the submission master’s namesake. Experience always is a factor, of course, but the advantage could very well go to Head given that he has the edge in the standing game as well as training under a more prestigious submission teacher, but the grueling world of wrestling can never be counted out and Ebersole indefinitely possesses the “leg up” in that aspect & could very well use that to grind out a ground domination against his lesser experienced adversary. If he can’t implement ground ‘n’ pound domination, it could very well spell disaster in the form of his first career KO victimization against the product of “Tornado Alley.”

Kickin’ off the main card with former HW kickboxer & UFC veteran, Cheick Kongo and the former LSU football national champion along with Greg Jackson product, Shawn Jordan. In what looks to be a “youth vs. experience” throwdown, Jordan really takes a step up in competition in trying to earn his UFC stripes against a super seasoned & always game opponent in Kongo. Coming off his loss to iron jaw’d Samoan Mark Hunt, Kongo brings a considerable reach, physique, & experience edge into this contest of yet another classic matchup of striker vs. grappler. Kongo looks like a chiseled comic book character, while Jordan carries around some excess weight which is usually indicative of the much larger window of weight allowance which is the HW division, but he brings the one weapon to battle that is the recurring Achilles’ Heel to Kongo’s MMA game and that is wrestling and although he comes in carrying a weight advantage, if Jordan can’t utilize his grappling edge over the former kickboxer, he’s likely to learn a lesson in “Pain 101” from the much deeper striking pedigree of the Wolf’s Lair product.

Winning streaks are the story coming into this card & the second most impressive of the two on this billing is held by former Bellator middleweight champion, Hector Lombard. Not only is he looking to continue his 24 fight win streak and secure a title shot with Anderson Silva, he’s also making his UFC debut as one of the most anticipated Octagon entrees since Alistair Overeem’s UFC entrance last year. Lombard brings a storied career into the UFC as rich, if not richer than the likes of other promotion defectors such as ‘Shogun’ Rua, Akiyama, ‘Kid’ Yamamato, & Mirko ‘Crocop’. He’s a 4th degree black belt jukokan, former Judo Olympian, BJJ black belt, an aggresive striker reminiscent of a Pride Wanderlei Silva, & the former Bellator middleweight champion.

Never one to give a newbie a freebie, matchmaker Joe Silva has Lombard proving he’s worth all the hype by tossing him to a hungry lion known as “The Barbarian.” Tim Boetsch is a former 4X state champion wrestler out of Lincolville, Maine who used to compete at light heavyweight, but has found a definite home in the middleweight division with wins over highly regarded contenders such as Yushin Okami, Kendall Grove, & Nick Ring. On paper, the contest looks like a clean sweep for Lombard, but a heavy handed deeply pedigreed wrestler like Boetsch is to never be counted out. If Boetsh does have any bad matchup characteristics, they’re not physically represented by Lombard so this looks to add up to a fan pleasing spectacle that’ll likely boil down to a battle of attrition if Lombard comes in too aggressive, especially since a bulky muscular frame such as he displays can be suspect to early fatigue. Also, factor in the experience aspect & it swings back the other way in favor for Lombard. He’s been in far more fights with a higher caliber roster of opponents, for the most part, & many of those are of international experience including his Olympic judo background, so performing in unchartered territory in front of a packed crowd is nothing foreign to the Cuban aggressor. Kept in a methodical setting, the contest will undoubtebly favor the former Bellator champion, but don’t rule out the possibility of Lombard getting caught by one of Boetsch’s bombs if he gets a little too out of control with his aggression as he’s been known to do from time to time. Having said that, Lombard should be the favorite to win, despite being the “new kid on the block” & quite possibly the next knight to try to dethrone the pound-for-pound king & champion, Anderson .

The story of the long-standing winning streaks continues and climaxes into what is hopefully an explosive, beginning to end, knock down/drag out affair between former longtime WEC featherweight champ “The California Kid” Uriah Faber & Renan Barao. A rubbermatch with Bantamweight champ, Dominick Cruz was underway following stints as opposing coaches on the Ultimate Fighter, but with an ACL injury sidelining the champ, 29 fight win streak Brazilian star Renan Barao fills the void against the always fan popular, “California Kid.” Like so many of his countrymen, Barao carries the lethal combination of a highl level ground game along with a loaded standup arsenal (which is most likely attributed to the fact that he trains with featherweight champ & striking beast, Jose Aldo, among other reasons). Along with his BJJ black belt & strong striking status, Barao hasn’t lost since his pro debut. He’s also coming off of a unanimous decision win over Scott Jorgenson; an opponent who’ll test the will of any opponent in case anyone has any doubts of Barao’s durability & fortitude. Suffice to say, he’s a nightmare matchup for pretty much anyone….however, Uriah Faber isn’t just anyone.

“The California Kid” has, time & again, fought his way back into title contention since losing his longtime WEC featheweight crown to Mike Brown back in November of 2008, rematching Brown to no avail & once again challenging for the title to top 3 p4p stallion, Jose Aldo, Jr. Another title challenge came up short for Faber against one-time defeated foe and current bantamweight champ, Dominick Cruz last July. Once again, back on the horse & challenging for the interim title this go-around following Cruz’s injury, here goes the former WEC poster boy going for championship gold again; a tall task, but then again it’s never been a laydown contest for Faber, as it rarely is anyway with the loaded lower weight classes. Uriah will have to push the pace with his cardio both with his wrestling and footwork. Getting into a striking match might not be the brightest of ideas considering how well that worked for him when he tried standing with a superior striker when he fought Aldo. Faber has fared very well, however, against some of the best BJJ practioners in the world and has, in fact, submitted a few so the operative avenue of attack should be for him to try to force a ground battle. Otherwise, Faber could end up being victim #30 on the impressive winning streak of Renan Barao.

FACEBOOK RealCombatMediaCOM

Follow Real Combat Media MMA on TWITTER @REALCOMBATMEDIA

Add us to your circle on GOOGLE PLUS Real Combat Media

ENJOY & SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EXCLUSIVE FIGHTER INTERVIEWS ON REAL COMBAT MEDIA YOU TUBE

JOIN OUR BOXING & MMA DISCUSSION FORUMS : REAL COMBAT MEDIA FORUMS