mma / Columns
411’s MMA Roundtable Preview: UFC 228
WELCOME:
The UFC returns to PPV with UFC 228, headlined by a welterweight title fight. UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is going for his fourth successful title defense as he takes on the undefeated Darren Till. This card lost the co-main when women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano was hospitalized on Friday, postponing her fight with number one contender Valentina Shevchenko. The rest of the main card sees featherweight prospect Zabit Magomedsharipov take on perennial can Brandon Davis, Jessica Andrade fights Karolina Kowalkiewicz for a probably strawweight title shot, and Abdul Razak Alhassan fights Niko Price in a bout designed to get the main card going with chaos and violence. Elsewhere on the card John Dodson battles Jimmie Rivera, Aljamain Sterling fights Cody Stamann in two excellent bantamweight fights.
THE STAFF:
Preliminary Card:
Welterweight Bout: Geoff Neal vs. Frank Camacho
Robert Winfree: Frank Camacho Decision
The staff picks Frank Camacho, 1-0.
Flyweight Bout: Jarred Brooks vs. Roberto Sanchez
Robert Winfree: Jarred Brooks, Decision
The staff picks Jarred Brooks, 1-0.
Bantamweight Bout: Irene Aldana vs. Lucie Pudilova
Robert Winfree: Irene Aldana, Decision
The staff picks Irene Aldana, 1-0.
Lightweight Bout: Jim Miller vs. Alex White
Jeffrey Harris: Alex White, TKO, Round 2
Robert Winfree: Jim Miller, Submission, Round 1
The staff calls it a draw, 1-1.
Welterweight Bout: Diego Sanchez vs. Craig White
Jeffrey Harris: Craig White, TKO, Round 1
Robert Winfree: Craig White, TKO, Round 1
The staff picks Craig White, 2-0.
Middleweight Bout: Charles Byrd vs. Darren Stewart
Jeffrey Harris: Charles Byrd, TKO, Round 2
Robert Winfree: Charles Byrd, Decision
The staff picks Charles Byrd, 2-0.
Bantamweight Bout: Jimmie Rivera vs. John Dodson
Jeffrey Harris: Jimmie Rivera, Decision
Robert Winfree: Jimmie Rivera, Decision
The staff picks Jimmie Rivera, 2-0.
Bantamweight Bout: Aljamain Sterling vs. Cody Stamann
Jeffrey Harris: Cody Stamann, Decision
Robert Winfree: Aljamain Sterling, Submission, Round 3
The staff calls it a draw, 1-1.
Strawweight Bout: Carla Esparza vs. Tatiana Suarez
Jeffrey Harris: Carla Esparza, Decision
Robert Winfree: Tatiana Suarez, Decision
The staff calls it a draw, 1-1.
THE MAIN CARD:
Welterweight Bout: Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Niko Price
Featherweight Bout: Daniel Straus vs. Henry Corrales
Jeffrey Harris: This fight gets the opening spot on the main pay-per-view card in the hopes it will produce an action-packed “hot” opener or a potential Fight of the Night performance. Both fighters have done fairly well lately. They’ve both won their last two and have winning records overall in the Octagon. I’m picking Niko Price here. He’s proven to have a very versatile and well-rounded game. He’s a very powerful and dangerous striker, and he picks up the win here. Regardless, this does have the makings of a fun brawl.
Winner: Niko Price, TKO, Round 2
Robert Winfree: This might seem like an odd choice on paper to open the main card, given that there’s several ranked fighters battling it out on the prelims. But this fight makes sense if you’ve seen both men fight, neither is necessarily great but they have action fights more often than not and it’s clear this fight is here to get the crowd hot. I’m going to laugh if this turns out to be one of those fights that’s great on paper but fizzles in practice. Either way I like Price, especially as the fight goes longer.
Winner: Niko Price, TKO, Round 2
The staff picks Niko Price, 2-0.
Bantamweight Bout: Jimmie Rivera vs. John Dodson
Jeffrey Harris: Jimmie Rivera, Decision
Robert Winfree: Jimmie Rivera, Decision
The staff picks Jimmie Rivera, 2-0.
Author’s Note: The bout order was changed on Friday after the cancellation of the title fight between Montano and Shevchenko, the staff were not asked to give detailed thoughts on this fight.
Featherweight Bout: Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Brandon Davis
Jeffrey Harris: Zabit Magomedsharipov was originally supposed to face Yair Rodriguez here, who was forced to withdraw due to injury. Now he faces Brandon Davis, a product from the Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series. It’s hard to pick Davis here, and this all but looks like a gimme fight for Magomedsharipov, who is a definite prospect that UFC looks to be pushing right now, who is 3-0 in the UFC and building a name for himself. A win here wouldn’t be a huge win, but it’s one I think Magomedsharipov secures to continue his surge upwards. He’s going to destroy Brandon Davis and easily secure a victory.
Winner: Zabit Magomedsharipov, Submission, Round 1
Robert Winfree: If Magomedsharipov doesn’t beat the breaks off of this guy inside of two rounds we need to seriously re-evaluate Magomedsharipov’s current abilities. Brandon Davis is in the UFC based on his appearing on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series despite being just 1-2 in the UFC and his only being over another Contender Series guy who’s probably not UFC caliber. Magomedsharipov should steamroll this fight.
Winner: Zabit Magomedsharipov, Submission, Round 2
The staff picks Zabit Magomedsharipov, 2-0.
Strawweight Bout: Jessica Andrade vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Jeffrey Harris: The winner of this fight will very likely become the next title contender for Thug Rose Namajunas. This a fantastic fight for the women’s strawweight division. However, I think Jessica Andrade’s well-rounded skills and grappling abilities give her a considerable edge over Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Kowalkiewicz is a great fighter and kickboxer, but she won’t be able to stop the takedowns and grappling attempts by Andrade. Kowalkiewicz has fallen prey to superior grapplers before, such as Claudia Gadelha.
Winner: Jessica Andrade, Submission, Round 2
Robert Winfree: In a fair and merit based world this fight is for the next strawweight title shot, but we don’t live in that world so don’t be too surprised if the winner here gets pushed to the side if a juicier option presents itself. Kowalkiewicz has a tough task in front of her here, this is a bad match up for her. Andrade is a small tank built around forward pressure, hammering hooks to the body and head, incredible physical strength, and under appreciated grappling. The biggest knock on Andrade is foot work, she got led around by the nose during her title fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk but has soundly bested every other strawweight put in front of her. Kowalkiewicz has a good kick boxing back ground and solid knees in the clinch, but she doesn’t move as well as you need to against Andrade, and her grappling seems to be a liability. I expect Anrade to push this one, get the clinch, get Kowalkiewicz down, and either pound her out or choke her out.
Winner: Jessica Andrade, Submission, Round 2
The staff picks Jessica Andrade, 2-0.
UFC Welterweight Championship Bout: Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till
Jeffrey Harris: A lot of people are talking about Darren Till’s size and being bigger than Tyron Woodley. That’s definitely a factor, but Woodley is often smaller and shorter than his opponents, and he’s managed to remain welterweight champion. To be perfectly honest, this title shot seems way premature and way too early for Darren Till. In his last fight, he won a close decision against Stephen Thompson. Not only that, he failed to make weight, which has become a major point of contention going into this fight. It sounds like it’s a major struggle for him just to make weight. Not only that, Till has never dealt with the type of fighter and challenge that Woodley brings to the table. He’s a tough, grinding wrestler with some heavy hands. Not only that, Woodley has a pretty good knack for making exciting fighters look bad and chase him and fail to engage with him for long fights. People might be hoping for or expecting a Till victory and for Till’s legend in the sport to take off. Instead, I’m expecting Woodley to win a decision and secure another title defense.
Winner: Tyron Woodley, Decision
Robert Winfree: I’m torn on this fight, largely because I can easily see a path to victory for both men. For Till it’s largely based on Woodley’s documented habit of putting himself on the fence and looking to either counter or drive you across the cage with a double leg. Against the fence is precisely where Till wants you, where he can bounce in and out of distance, snipe you with a long left hand or pick at you with leg kicks until he hurts you and then swarm. He tends to carry his chin high and counters might work against him, but all in all Woodley tends to put himself exactly where Till wants you to be. On the other hand we have a fighter in Till who has never faced a strong wrestler in the UFC, and while Woodley hasn’t wrestled much over his last four or so fights he is an excellent one. It’s easy for me to see Woodley bait Till into committing his weight and then double legging him over and over again en route to a boring decision. I’m essentially flipping a coin here, but given Till’s unproven wrestling I feel better picking Woodley to continue his run of worst fights ever.
Winner: Tyron Woodley, Decision
The staff picks Tyron Woodley, 2-0.
Remember to join 411’s coverage of UFC 228!
