The UFC turns up the heat as they travel to Mexico this weekend for UFC Fight Night 78 (aka the TUF Latin America 2 finale) and it’s only fitting that a number of fighters competing on the card find themselves on the hot seat.
For some it’s a matter of earning a win for job security, while for others it’s about taking advantage of an opportunity and catapulting themselves up the rankings in their respective divisions.
Here are five fighters on the “hot seat” at the event.
Kelvin Gastelum
Some might be surprised to see the promising 24-year-old on this list, but his main event fight against Neil Magny is a high risk, low reward scenario. For starters, if Gastelum ever wants to prove he’s a contender in the 170-pound division he needs to beat the scale first. He’s missed weight twice during his UFC tenure and irritated UFC boss Dana White so much that he was forced to move back up to middleweight for his last fight. The other factor is his opponent. Gastelum was initially slated to take on fan favourite Matt Brown in one of the best welterweight matchups on paper we’ve seen this year. Unfortunately, Brown is injured and had to pull out of the bout. Facing Magny is step down in competition and not the type of opponent that will propel Gastelum up the welterweight ladder. In addition to all of this, Gastleum – of Mexican decent – is headlining this event in Monterrey. A loss to Magny would be a huge setback in his young career. While Magny isn’t a household name, he’s played the role of spoiler countless times, including his last fight against Erik Silva where he won a dominant unanimous decision. A win for Gastelum would put him back in the driver’s seat towards a big name fight in the division, but a loss would be devastating.
Henry Cejudo
Cejudo takes on Jussier Formiga in a fight that will likely determine the next opponent for champion Demetrious Johnson. Like Gastelum, Cejudo has also had his issues making weight. His fight at UFC 177 was cancelled due to medical issues following a weight cut, but he silenced his critics in his last two flyweight bouts, making weight and earning two straight wins. While the Arizona native is a heavy favourite going into the matchup, Formiga has proven to be a dangerous opponent. The Brazilian has only lost to top contenders Joseph Benavidez, John Dodson and Ian McCall. He also holds wins over former Bellator bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky and former WEC title challenger Scott Jorgenson. Cejudo, who also has ties to Mexico, has a tremendous opportunity to earn a win in front of the Mexican audience and cement himself as a superstar in the Latin American market. Make no mistake about it, all the pressure is on him in this flyweight encounter.
Ricardo Lamas
If Lamas ever wants to be considered a contender in the UFC’s featherweight division again, he’ll need to earn an impressive performance in his co-main event fight with Diego Sanchez. Fans last saw Lamas in the cage suffering the third knockout loss of his career, this time at the hands of Chad Mendes in April. It was a somewhat surprising outcome as many pundits felt that fight would be a showcase of two of the top featherweights in the division, rather than a one-sided beating. Lamas is a sizeable 7-to-1 favourite in this fight and should undoubtedly win this matchup. However, earning an impressive stoppage victory is a different story as Sanchez has only been finished once in his career – losing to B.J. Penn via TKO (doctor’s stoppage due to a cut) back at UFC 107. Sanchez also tends to sway the judges with his fan-friendly style. Just ask Ross Pearson. Anything short of a finish or dominant decision would be considered a disappointment for the 33-year-old Lamas, who desperately needs to prove he’s still a legitimate contender at 145 pounds.
Diego Sanchez
While Lamas needs to win his fight impressively, Sanchez might need a victory just to keep his job with the UFC. The only remaining member from the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter still competing in the Octagon, Sanchez hasn’t competed since June of 2014. When he steps into the cage on Saturday night it will be the fourth weight class he’s competed in, having previously fought at middleweight, welterweight, lightweight and now featherweight. The Jackson/Winkeljohn product may be 3-3 in his last six fights, but those three victories were all controversial decisions that ended out working in the favour of the TUF 1 winner. Add in the fact that the 32-fight veteran has taken an extraordinary amount of damage throughout his career and this may be one of the last times we see “The Nightmare” compete in the UFC. The saving grace for Sanchez has always been his durability, but this might be the fight where it finally catches up to him. With all that said, if Sanchez is able to emerge victorious it’s possible he may have found new life at featherweight.
Scott Jorgensen
Jorgensen takes on TUF Latin America winner Alejandro Perez in a classic veteran vs. prospect matchup. Despite always fighting tough opposition like Urijah Faber, Renan Barao, Eddie Wineland, Zach Makovsky and Jussier Formiga, the 33-year-old is 2-8 in his last 10 bouts. This is a must-win fight if we’ve ever seen one and it would almost seem impossible to keep the WEC veteran around if he suffers another loss. Jorgensen is 4-7 in his UFC career and will be looking to avoid three straight losses for the second time in his career. Still, if he can silence the Mexican crowd by earning a win over a recent TUF champ, he would certainly prove that he has more gas left in the tank then we thought.
