Though will this be a factor against the very unreliable Tim Elliot? Elliot is spoken about most in terms of his odd stand-up game. He has a very long frame like Smolka which makes him a nightmare for those extension and lock type submissions.
His previous fight was a first round armbar victory. It’s an interesting very brief fight against Nate Williams and well worth the watch. Royval however gained their flyweight title…in a sub 30 second arm bar victory. Royval, like Kenney earlier in the card, has come from the LFA. This could be a corker.įrom one interesting fight between little men we beget another.
On the feet Smolka is definitely the more rangy and I think the more powerful man but likely the slower. I believe Smolka has the better submission set-ups and attacks but Kenney the better wrestling and both are a nightmare in the scramble. Both men are superb grapplers both on top and from the bottom. Kenney came from the feeder organisation LFA, another feather in the cap for the UFC from a call up. When I think the whole world awoke to Kenney and his grappling skills was when he took on Manny Bermudez on short notice and Manny weight in closer to Featherweight than Bantamweight. I didn’t pay much attention to Kenney when he beat Ray Borg which is a bit of a disservice to both men, especially Kenney who beat a Borg who came in over the weight limit. Soon to be standing opposite him is Casey Kenney. Even though he has improved dramatically I don’t think he’ll ever become the sort of fighter to be consistent enough to make it in to the top ten but he is good enough to beat most opponents on a good day. Smolka’s total lack of defense in his early part of his career has evolved into a more rounded pressure fighting game. He then got his life together and went on a three fight stoppage streak outside the UFC, made the move up to Bantamweight, and now has two stoppage wins in his last three fights in the organisation again. This is part of, including the quality of opponent, why he went on a four fight loss streak before being cut by the UFC. His struggles with alcohol are well documented. Despite his constant attacking style on the ground he has always been just as attacking on the feet and has a string of KOs to his name too. I think it will be a decision win most likely as Morales has a hell of a dome on him and Guiterrez has few submission wins.Īt one point Louis Smolka was second only to Du Bronx as the most exciting grappler, win or lose, in the UFC. For me this is an obvious win for Guiterrez as the more active, pressuring, powerful and experienced fighter. Guiterrez on the other hand is broad shouldered, strong and stocky at featherweight, but still taller than Morales. Morales appeared to me to be a very slightly built Bantamweight with a Joe Lauzon-esque unathletic body. This fight is taking place at featherweight which is interesting. He is the more experienced of the two fighters though with the same number of UFC bouts. Chris Guiterrez on the other hand I think has a little spark of something about him, though perhaps not much. Enjoying playing the outside and countering I think he’s a victim of inactivity and never going first.
My distinct memory of him is looking like a deer in the headlights when he got completely out fought by Song Yadong. You can perhaps tell that I do not rate him very highly. Morales has gone 1-2 in the UFC so far and his win came over the distinctly average, brother of Firas, Aiemann Zahabi.
Wmma 3 rules foot stomps full#
It is neither good or not good, full of talent but little of it ranked. Trying to tease a general feeling about this card has been difficult. If the co-main event and recent cards will tell you anything it is that Heavyweights do not fear the coronavirus. The rest of the card is a bit of a hodge-podge with some interesting match-ups but very little top 15 talent. Due to his being a constant fixture in other fighter’s corners, something that implies an interest in the success of others, he has been available to make himself available all the time. He has built a reputation of saying he will fight anyone anywhere and at any time. Burns on the other hand has brought non-stop excitement even in his decision victories. In fighting he has been chronically inactive and clearly has attempted to duck opponents at every opportunity. He is clearly vain from his constant griping about the UFC treating him differently for being black and then for his assumptions about having talent as a rapper in some Emperor’s New Bars type fiction. If we were to describe the two men in the main event of this card, as a whole rather than on accomplishments in the sport, how different would they appear? In Woodley, the former champ, we have a man that is followed continually by accusations of being the most boring champion in the sports history.