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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
Demetrious Johnson defends his UFC Flyweight title against John Dodson this Saturday the 26th on UFC on FOX 6. I'm incredibly excited to see this fight because I know it's going to deliver. If you've never seen either of these guys fight you should definitely tune in and watch. The whole card should be very interesting.
There's several preliminary fights that will be shown on FX before the main card on FOX. Clay Guida makes his featherweight debut against Hatsu Hioki, T.J. Grant fights Matt Wiman at lightweight, and Ryan Bader fights Vladimir Matyushenko at light heavyweight. There's three other fights as well on FX that hopefully deliver as well.
On the main card Eric Koch fights Ricardo Lamas in a featherweight battle. Both guys are angling for an eventual title shot as both are riding win streaks, four fights for Koch and three fights for Lamas. Koch was actually supposed to get a title shot at featherweight champ Jose Aldo but got injured and had to be replaced. I think Koch takes a decision victory here.
Anthony Pettis fights Donald Cerrone at lightweight. This would be my most anticipated fight if not for Johnson vs. Dodson. If Pettis beats Cerrone it's going to be harder and harder to deny him a title shot. Pettis is a very exciting fighter, as evidenced by his nickname of Showtime. Cerrone is good in his own right, but I don't think he's on the level of the elite in the division. Still, it's not going to be an easy fight by any means, and a win over Cerrone will look very good on the resume of Pettis. I think Pettis gets the TKO stoppage in the second round here.
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will make his final appearance in the UFC against Glover Teixeira in a light heavyweight fight. Teixeira has won an amazing 17 fights in a row. I know most of the names he beat aren't well-known, but 17 in a row is great no matter what. It speaks to his consistency. Rampage is a shell of his former self, but he's still fairly decent. I'm not writing off Rampage as quickly as I might be tempted to, but I think Glover is going to make a big statement here with a TKO in the first round. I think Glover gets an early takedown and then ground-and-pounds his way to the biggest win of his career. It's smart of the UFC to use the remaining star power Rampage has as a way to try to bring more eyes to this event.
The main event is the Flyweight Title fight between champion Demetrious Johnson and challenger John Dodson. Honestly, I think this is going to be a Fight of the Year candidate. The speed of this fight is going to be amazing. Both guys are well-rounded and it'll be interesting to see the chess match these two engage in. I can see this fight going either way, and no outcome will surprise me. I can easily see this going all 5 rounds, but I think Dodson gets the TKO in the 3rd round. Dodson is so dynamic, he's probably the best athlete that's ever set foot in the octagon. The grace and dexterity that he displays in his post-fight celebrations is more athletic than the vast majority of other fighters period, let alone what the man can actually do inside the cage.
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Bellator 85 was last week, and there was some damn fine action, mainly in the two title fights. The other fights were just kind of there. Pat Curran defended his featherweight title against Patricio "Pitbull" Friere. It went all five rounds and Curran won a split decision victory. I personally would have given Curran four rounds and Pitbull one, but at least Curran still won. You could argue that Pitbull won two rounds, but that still would give Curran the win. This fight was really good, Bellator has some legit fighters on their roster.
Speaking of legit fighters, Michael Chandler defended his lightweight title against Rick Hawn. Chandler got the rear-naked choke to finish the fight in the second round. Chandler is the real deal, folks. Hawn is no slouch with his takedown defense and Chandler made him look like he didn't know what he was doing. Chandler took him down and made it look easy, that's what good fighters do.
I would encourage anyone who didn't watch Bellator 85 to give them a try next time, I think you'll find yourself enjoying some good MMA action.
Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com
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