Below you’ll find our predictions for all the fights on tomorrow’s UFC On Fuel TV 5 event from Nottingham, England.
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Main Card:
Stipe Miocic vs. Stefan Struve
This should be an interesting battle between two of the most promising heavyweights in the division. Miocic has the wrestling advantage here, but Struve’s very dangerous off his back with submissions so he’s going to be taking a big risk if he does try to implement his preferred ground and pound strategy.
On the feet both fighters are capable, but I don’t feel Miocic wields the same power as the likes of Travis Browne and Junior Dos Santos did when they KO’d the Dutch striker. On the other hand Struve’s height and reach advantage will pose a problem for Miocic and this could prove to be a long, drawn out stand-up battle if that’s how the choose to proceed.
I think Miocic will try to get Struve down though, and I suspect that’ll result in him being caught in a submission.
Stefan Struve to win by submission in Rd2.
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Dan Hardy vs. Amir Sadollah
It’d be somewhat of a surprise if this fight didn’t end up being fought on the feet. Hardy’s got the bigger power here and relatively sound boxing skills, while Sadollah favors a kickboxing style, often stringing together nice combinations of punches followed by a kick to finish – an effective style for him given that he’s not heavy-handed and so relies on the cumulative effect of his strikes to make his mark.
My feeling is that Hardy has the edge here. It might take him a while, but I see him eventually finding a home for one of his trademark counter-hooks to claim a stoppage win.
Dan Hardy to win by TKO in Rd2.
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Brad Pickett vs. Yves Jabouin
On paper you could be forgiven for thinking that this will just be a stand-up war between the man nick-named “One-Punch” and Jabouin who has a flashy kickboxing style.
While both men do like to throw down and may indulge in that in the beginning, I think it’s Pickett’s advantage in the ground game that could be the key to this fight. He’s got a solid top game and very good submissions, and I think he can get the Canadian to tap out.
Brad Pickett to win by submission in Rd3
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Paul Sass vs. Matt Wiman
So far Sass has made a career out of pulling guard on his opponent and locking in his extremely effective triangle submissions. Impressive stuff, but Wiman’s a crafty customer and I’m not so sure he’s going to fall into that trap.
Wiman does like to beat his opponents up with ground and pound, but he’s also effective on the feet, certainly more so than Sass, and I think he’ll steer clear of the submissions and post a decision win here.
Matt Wiman to win by decision.
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John Hathaway vs. John Maguire
Hathaway’s momentum seems to have slowed down a bit recently, while Maguire is just starting to get noticed with his all-action style and effective ‘gypsy jui-jitsu’ style.
I think Hathway’s the more well-rounded fighter though and he’ll use his wrestling advantage to keep this fight standing and use his height and reach advantage to keep Maguire on the end of his straight punches for the duration of the fight.
John Hathaway to win by decision.
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Duane Ludwig vs. Che Mills
The kicks and punches should be flying for as long as this one lasts as these two are muay-thai specialists.
Several years ago I’d have given the nod to Ludwig here, but the 34 year-old’s been around a long time, has taken a lot of punishment, including being knocked out by Dan Hardy in his last UFC outing, and I think Mills, a younger, hungrier, hard-hitting fighter with a 6″ reach advantage will get the better of him tomorrow night.
Che Mills to win by TKO in Rd2.
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Prelims:
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Jimi Manuwa
Akira Corassani vs. Andy Ogle
Brad Tavares vs. Tom Watson
DaMarques Johnson vs. Gunnar Nelson
Robbie Peralta vs. Jason Young
