You’d be forgiven for thinking that last weekend was the UFC’s blowout event to end 2015.
With three cards on the same weekend, each stacked with phenomenal fights, it’s not hard to see why UFC on FOX’s Fight Night card has gone somewhat overlooked. However, with MMA being the gift that keeps on giving, here is the preview for the UFC on Fox 17: Dos Anjos vs. Cerrone 2 prelims.
Headlining the preliminary fights are featherweights Charles Oliveira (#7) and Myles Jury (#9).
Both men are coming off of losses, but both to phenomenal opponents. Oliveira was last seen losing to Max Holloway (although through injury stoppage), and Jury dropped a unanimous decision to Lightweight title challenger Donald Cerrone.
Previous to his most recent loss, Jury was on a 15 fight win streak, including victories over Diego Sanchez and Takanori Gomi. After being bested by Cerrone, the 27-year old has decided to drop to featherweight, in an attempt to test his mettle at a lower weight class.
“I was hell on wheels at 155,” Jury told MMA Fighting earlier this year. “At [145], nobody is gonna beat me. I just want to get this first fight, get the cut down and go through that process. After that, I’ll be able to take on anybody.”
For Oliveira, the fight is a way to get back on track after his bizarre loss to Holloway. Before that fight, he had most recently beaten Nik Lentz and Jeremy Stephens (by submission and decision respectively).
Despite being the younger fighter, Oliveira is more experienced, with 11 more fights on his record than Jury, with some of those coming against big names (Cerrone, Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson).
The fight is an interesting one, and what could really play a factor here is the weight cut. Jury is dropping to 145 lbs for the first time in his career, and it’s on him to negotiate that correctly. We’ve seen Oliveira struggle with his own cut before, and now in a post-IV ban sport, it’ll be interesting to see how much of a factor the weight will play.
That being said, Oliveira has the superior grappling (12 of his 20 career victories come by submission), and has sufficient wrestling to get this to the ground. The fights relatively even, but could certainly be decided on the ground.
In the prelim co-main event, we have American grinders Nate Marquardt and C.B. Dolloway facing off.
For Marquardt, it’s arguable that a loss could see this being his last contest in the UFC. At 36, time is not on his side, and his most recent performances (5 losses out of his last 6) haven’t been great. Most recently, he lost to Kelvin Gastelum by a corner stoppage.
C.B. Dolloway isn’t exactly flying either, losing a high profile fight to Lyoto Machida in just over a minute and then to Michael Bisping in April, but the younger man still has power in his right hand and good wrestling.
We’ll most likely see Marquardt struggle here.
One fight to keep a look out for is Josh Samman vs. Tamdan McCrory.
Both men are noted finishers, with each only having one decision victory in their careers. Samman is a semi-finalist on season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter, and comes in on a four fight win streak (2 KO’s and 2 submissions).
McCrory is making a return to the UFC, after fighting in Bellator for his 2 most previous victories after a five year lay off from the sport.
The two are very evenly matched, both with good submissions and good knockout power. It could go either way, but Samman may have the edge in fighting superior competition most recently.
The odds for the UFC on Fox 17 Prelims are as follows:
Oliveira vs Jury
+100 / -120
Dollaway vs Marquardt
-355 / +290
Kaufman vs Shevchenko
-220 / +185
Samman vs McCrory
-170 / +145
Lentz vs Castillo
-120 / +100
Miller vs Alers
+120 / -140
