Breakdown: UFC Fight Night 83

Breakdown: UFC Fight Night 83

 

            Cowboy VS Cowboy in the Welterweight Division will be the main event at UFC Fight Night 83 Sun February 21, 2016 at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburg, Pa. The event will air live at 9:00 PM ET with preliminary bouts preceding on Fox Sports 1.

Donald Cerrone has competed with the Lightweight Division’s top talent and holds a record of 28-7 with fifteen Submission and five KO/TKO wins. This fight he has moved up to the Welterweight division, originally slated to face Tim Means (pulled from competition due to anti-doping violation), now fights fellow LW Alex Oliveira at 170 lbs. Beside a history in LW division and nickname, the two also share the desire to fight often. The pair combined for nine fights in 2015, four for Cerrone (3-1) and Oliveira with one more (4-1).   

Cerrone’s last two losses have been to current LW Champion, Rafael dos Anjos, he dropped a Unanimous Decision 8/28/13 and was stopped by punches, in the opening 1:05, in his Title match with RDA December 19^th. Between the losses Cowboy had eight wins with five finishes (3KO/TKO). Following the loss Cerrone comes back in fast order to get back on that horse, looking to begin another win streak.

Alex Oliveira is riding a three fight win streak, including: a KO of Piotr Hallmann last time out 11/7/15 (3^rd 0:51) and a first round, rear-naked choke sub (2:51) win over KJ Noons 5/30/15. Cowboy made his UFC debut in 2015 and competed four times (3-1) in the LW division.

Two Top 15 Middleweights in Co-Main

            Derek Brunson is the UFC’s 13^th ranked MW and is on a three fight win streak, including back to back, first round, TKO wins over: Sam Alvey 8/8/15 (2:19) and Ed Herman 1/31/15 (0:36). Brunson is 5-1 in the UFC and 14-3 overall with six KO/TKO and four Sub wins. He takes on Thirty-seven year old, Roan Carneiro.

Carneiro is the #15 in the UFC with an MMA record of 20-9, with ten wins by submission. “Jucao” is on a six fight win streak including a first round rear-naked choke of Mark Munoz in his UFC debut 2/28/15.

Ranked Featherweights to Watch

            Number eight ranked Dennis “The Menace” Bermudez looks to end a two fight skid. Last time out he saw a fight he was winning slip away when power striker, Jeremy Stephens connected and ended his night thirty-two seconds into the third round by TKO in July. Prior to the two losses Bermudez ran off seven straight opponents, capped by a second round rear-naked choke sub (2:57) over Clay Guida in July of 2014. He takes on #12 Tatsuya Kawajiri.

The thirty-seven year old Kawajiri is 35-8-2 with twelve KO/TKO and ten by Sub. “Crusher” began his career in 2000 and has fought for: Shooto, Pride, Dream, K-1, Strikeforce, OneFC and now his fifth fight in the UFC (3-1). He won a pair of UD’s in 2015, Dennis Siver in June and Jason Knight in December.

Someone’s O Must Go

            Undefeated Bantamweights, Cody “No Love” Garbrandt 7-0 and Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes 5-0 will match styles to see who remains perfect. Of Garbrandt’s seven wins, six have come by way of KO/TKO, four of those in the first round. “No Love” TKO’d Marcus Brimmage in his UFC debut with only ten seconds remaining in the three round affair. Besides being a decorated High School Wrestler Garbrandt also collected an amateur boxing record of 32-1.

Augusto Mendes has finished each of his fights, four by sub and a single TKO. In fact “Tanquinho” has never seen the third round. The BJJ Black Belt is a two time No Gi world champion. His last three fights have been with Legacy Fighting Championship.

Diesel Returns to Middleweight Division

            Joe Riggs’ return to the UFC has been difficult, he’s gone 1-2 with the single win a disqualification of Ron Stallings for an illegal knee. Diesel is 41-16 with twenty KO/TKO and 10 Subs. In the nearly nine years between UFC appearances Riggs went 15-6, he takes on 22-10 Chris Camozzi.

At twenty-nine Camozzi will not only enjoy a four year youth advantage but also six inches in the reach category. Chris is 3-1 in his last four with two first round finishes.

Lightweights in Action

            The Ultimate Fighter 15 competitor, James Krause has sixteen first round finishes. At 22-7 with fourteen wins by submission and six by KO/TKO Krause looks to improve upon his 3-3 UFC record. Most recently he sub’d Daron Cruickshank by rear-naked choke 7/25/15 in the first 1:27.

Canadian, Shane “Shaolin” Campbell is 12-3 with 5 KO/TKO wins. In August Campbell out-pointed Elias Silverio to win by UD. Shaolin has won Pro titles in kickboxing and Muay Thai as well as MMA.