Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: UFC 181 preview and the UFC's new uniform deal
Dec 3, 2014 - 12:45:57 PM HYDEN BLOG: UFC 181 preview and the UFC's new uniform deal

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

We didn't have any big MMA events this past week, so there's no The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly this time. What I do have, though, is a UFC 181 preview.

UFC 181 is one of the better UFC events in a while. It features not just one, but two, title fights. I'll get to those in a second, but there's a few other fights on the card I want to see.

Travis Browne looks to rebound from his horrible performance against current Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum in April as he takes on Brendan Schaub. There's a very real chance that this is a total dud stinkfest, but I'll stay positive and think about the best possible scenario for this fight. Browne has several first round stoppages and I think he gets another one here. Schaub has several first round stoppages of his own, but his recent history includes getting knocked out early in a couple of fights. I think we get that here, and Browne gets another first round stoppage.

The other non-main event fight I want to see isn't on the main card, but it's a fight involving a guy who's been on numerous main cards. Urijah Faber takes on Francisco Rivera in the final fight on the televised undercard before the pay-per-view. Faber basically beats everyone except the champions, and there's no reason to think anything different will happen here. The main reason I want to watch this is because I like watching Faber fight. I think Faber gets Rivera down and submits him in the second round. The UFC is hoping that Faber can attract more eyes and maybe lead to some more PPV buys. That's possible, but I don't think this card should need any such tactics.

If the UFC actually knew how to promote their fighters better, this card would sell like crazy. You've got the rematch to one of the best fights of this year in UFC Welterweight Champion Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler. I don't expect this fight to live up to their first one, just because it's unfair to expect something like that, but I do think it'll be a very good fight. It's going to be like a chess match as these guys try to replicate what worked in the first fight, but also change things up to try to keep the other off-balance. This is a very interesting fight to me, as I want to see what Hendricks looks like as he returns from injury.

As for a prediction, I think that Hendricks retains his title with a fourth round TKO. Lawler is a very game fighter, but I think Hendricks is just that little bit better. A Lawler win wouldn't surprise me, but I think Hendricks is favored for a reason. It should be a close fight, and an entertaining one, but I think Hendricks will come out looking to make a statement. He won't want to be overlooked when we're talking about who are the best fighters in the UFC.

That's the fight the UFC is advertising as the bigger deal, but the other main event is one I'm much more excited for. UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis defends Gilbert Melendez. Pettis hasn't fought in fifteen months, thanks to his injury problems and the UFC's stupefying insistence on having their champions and other big name stars coach seasons of The Ultimate Fighter. For a guy like Pettis, with his injury history, this is all wasted time, but now we finally get to watch one of the most exciting fighters in the world do his thing. Pettis is so entertaining to watch that you would think the UFC would rush him into as many fights as they could.

Melendez hasn't fought in essentially the same amount of time that Pettis hasn't. It's been about fourteen months since he last fought so, for that reason, I don't think rust plays a factor here. I think both guys will fight through any rust they have and it won't be much of an issue.

As for the fight, Pettis is such an explosive guy that I won't be that surprised if he finishes Melendez in the first round. I think that's highly unlikely because Melendez is such a tough guy, but the possibility does exist. Melendez had several finishes early in his career, but he's become more of a grinder lately. I think that plays into Pettis somewhat, because Pettis can finish you out of nowhere. Melendez could control Pettis for three full rounds, but then make one mistake and the fight's over. I think Pettis is just too good to let hang around. Melendez needs to go for the finish. I think Pettis gets the TKO finish in the third round.

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The UFC recently announced that the long-rumored uniform is finally happening in July 2015. Reebok will provide the uniforms and the fighters will get paid based on their ranking. This brings up a multitude of questions, which will hopefully be answered in time. One thing the UFC absolutely has to do is clarify their rankings system. They need to be completely transparent, since this will directly impact the fighters. I'll refrain from making further comments until we learn more about this deal, but I'm hopeful that the UFC is being truthful when they say the fighters will reap the most benefits of this deal. I hope this means that guys on the low end make more money, but I can't help but wonder about existing sponsors. How many of these companies are going to continue to sponsor a fighter if he's not wearing their logo? Of course, this is true in most other sports as well, but they also have unions in place to fight for the rights of the athletes. There's still a lot to find out about this deal so I'm cautiously optimistic right now.

Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at hydenfrank@gmail.com