The Injury bug has affected another card being promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. This time, it is UFC Fight Night 28 from the Mineirinho Arena in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. A featherweight fight that was supposed to see Felipe Arantes (an injury replacement for Godofredo Pepey) fight Sam Sicilia will now see Arantes take on Jungle Fight featherweight champion, Edimilson Souza.
The 28-year-old Souza has a 13-3 professional mixed martial arts record and has won his last seven fights. The wins may not have been against top-tier competition like he will see in the UFC, but all seven have come in exciting fashion. All seven wins have come via KO or TKO and most have come in the first round. He has solid and powerful hands that could pose an issue for Arantes.
Arantes best chance at winning this fight is using his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu experience. All three of the losses on Souza’s record have come via submission and Arantes has won quite a few fights in his career that way.
It’s always interesting to see how a fight will turn out when it features a promotional newcomer. Souza doesn’t have all the acclaim or hype of other fighters getting the call to the UFC, but he has done enough to get there. Now, the fun part of seeing how he handles the pressure will kick in. No matter what happens when these two men fight, it should be an exciting fight and one I can see ending in the first round.
UFC Fight Night 28 will take place on September 4, 2013 and feature the main event of Glover Teixeira vs. Ryan Bader.
