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Thursday, December 8, 2016

UFC 206 Breakdown


                The Number Two ranked Featherweight, Max Blessed Holloway celebrated his Twenty-fifth birthday on Sunday and the Hawaiian hopes to end his week by wearing the Interim FW Belt home from UFC 206 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Holloway’s last lost was to stripped FW Champion, Connor McGregor, but that was over three years ago, an eternity in a young fighter’s career, at UFC Fight Night 26 (8/17/13). Since, Blessed has torn through the division, racking up nine consecutive wins against the UFC’s top Featherweights (4KO/TKO, 2Subs). In his last fight, Holloway earned a Unanimous Decision over Number Three ranked FW, Ricardo Lamas at UFC 199 (6/4/16). Blessed is revered for his versatile striking: kicks, knees and punches and his length, at 5’11” he’s tall and long for 145lbs. 16-3 Holloway faces former Lightweight Champion, Anthony Showtime Pettis.

               
Milwaukee’s Anthony Pettis wants to add another trophy to his, already packed list of achievements. The last WEC LW Champ and former UFC LW champ is also the only MMA athlete to appear on Wheaties cereal box. A flashy striker with superb BJJ, Pettis has finished sixteen of his nineteen wins (7 TKO/KO, 9 by Sub). After losing his LW belt to Rafael dos Anjos (3/14/15) and a pair more to top lightweights, Eddie Alvarez (1/17/16) and Edson Barboza (4/23/16) Pettis made the decision to drop down ten pounds to the Featherweight class to face Charles Oliveira, Submitting the BJJ Black Belt with a Third Round Guillotine-Choke (1:49) in August. Like opponent, Holloway, Showtime prefers the finish, he is 3-5 in fights that see the judges’ scorecards.

               
Donald Cowboy Cerrone has finished his last three fights at 170lbs. Following his second loss to former LW Champ, Rafael dos Anjos, Cerrone decided the weight cut was holding him back and moved up to the Welterweight Division. Cowboy is a fan-favorite for his laid back attitude coupled with his remarkable work ethic and toughness. He is known to take fights on short notice and is one of the promotion’s most active fighters, fighting in his fourth fight of the year. A tradition the Thirty-three year old has kept up each year since 2013. Last fight #5 ranked, Cerrone stopped Rick Story by TKO (2nd 2:02) at UFC 202. He faces 20-15 Matt The Immortal Brown in Toronto, due to Kelvin Gastelum’s weight woes at UFC 205 (for more on that, check out my article: ). Cerrone owns twenty-three finishes, sixteen by Submission, a fate Brown has fallen to ten times in his career.  

               
Thirty-five year old, Matt Brown is looking to bounce back from a pair of losses in 2016. He submitted Tim Means with a First Round, Guillotine-Choke (4:44) in his last win at UFC 189 (7/11/15). The Immortal has only been to decision six times (2-4) in his thirty-five career fights. Brown went on a 7-0 run with six TKO/KO wins, from 2012-2014. Brown is a fan favorite for his head-down, move forward style. A cast-member on Season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter, losing to winner Amir Sadollah in the quarter-final round in the TUF House. The Ohioan won his UFC debut at the TUF 7 Finale (6/21/08) by Second Round TKO (3:40) of Matt Arroyo.

                In the Featherweight Division #11 The Korean Superboy Doo Ho Choi
gets his hands on a top ten FW, when he faces #4 Cub Swanson.  Twenty-five year old, Doo Ho Choi’s only career loss came in just his third fight back in 2010. Since he has won twelve straight with ten KO/TKO stoppages. Choi has collected eight straight TKO/KO including three First Rounders in the UFC: Thiago Tavares (7/8/16) KO 2:42, Sam Sicilia (11/18/15) KO 1:33, and Juan Manuel Puig (11/22/14) TKO 0:18. The South Korean hopes to advance into the top 10 with a win over Swanson.

               
23-7 Cub Swanson has been the gate keeper to the FW division’s top tier. 8-2 in his last ten bouts, Swanson’s only losses are to Max Holloway (4/18/15) and Frankie Edgar (11/22/14). A pro since 2004, he has only lost by TKO once in his career. Winner of his last two, Swanson looks to dig his heals into the divisions’ top five and hold the surging Choi at bay.  http://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/12/gastelum-gets-no-favors.htmlhttp://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/12/gastelum-gets-no-favors.htmlhttp://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/12/gastelum-gets-no-favors.htmlhttp://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/12/gastelum-gets-no-favors.html

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