Before each UFC event, The Watch List identifies the intriguing prospects on the fight card and fills you in on some of the fighters flying under the radar you might want to keep an eye on.
This week’s edition is filled with international flavour with five fighters who hail from all over the globe.
Here are the guys who will step into the cage from outside the spotlight this weekend as the UFC returns to the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan for UFC on FUEL TV 8.
Watch UFC on Sportsnet: Silva vs. Stann on Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific. Also catch five live preliminary bouts starting at 7 p.m. ET on Sportsnet.ca
FIGHTERS TO WATCH:
Fighter: Mizuto Hirota
Record: 14-5
Opponent: Rani Yahya
A former champion in both World Victory Road Sengoku and Deep, Hirota makes his UFC debut in the featherweight ranks after last competing as a lightweight in Strikeforce, where he lost a questionable decision to Pat Healy in a bout that took place in Healy’s backyard.
Not literally, but you know what I mean. Right?
The 31-year-old Japanese veteran showed solid striking in his bout with Healy, and will have a definite advantage on the feet against Yahya, a former ADCC Submission Wrestling champion.
Hirota, who famously had his arm broken by Shinya Aoki when he refused to tap to a hammerlock on the 2009 Dream vs. Sengoku New Year’s Eve card, should also be more effective now that he’s dropped down to the 145-pound weight class. He was undersized against Healy, and should match up better with the competition in the featherweight ranks.
Fighter: Siyar Bahadurzada
Record: 21-4-1
Opponent: Dong Hyun Kim
It has been 10 months since the 28-year-old Afghan announced his presence in the UFC welterweight division with a 42-second, "hit you and walk away because we’re clearly done here" knockout win over Paulo Thiago in Sweden. Injuries scuttled a potential match-up with Thiago Alves (and then Chris Clements) last summer in Calgary, but "Siyar the Great" is finally set to return this weekend against the underrated Kim in Japan.
Bahadurzada has won seven straight heading into his showdown with "Stun Gun," all but one of which were stopped due to strikes. Kim is an excellent grappler with a strong judo base, and is big for the division, so the 28-year-old "Blackzilian" will undoubtedly be looking to maintain space, and keep this standing so he can unload with his heavy hands.
With another impressive finish, we could have yet another name to add into the mix at the top of the heap in the welterweight division.
Fighter: Brad Tavares
Record: 9-1
Opponent: Riki Fukuda
The 25-year-old Hawaiian has been mostly successful since transitioning into the UFC after being a member of Team Liddell on Season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter. Tavares has gone 4-1 including his win on the finale card, and enters Saturday’s contest on a two-fight winning streak.
His striking has always been his strong suit, and it continues to look sharper with each appearance as a result of his extensive work with Ray Sefo at Xtreme Couture. He puts his combinations together well, and has been the distance in four of his five UFC appearances, so we know conditioning isn’t an issue.
Tavares struggled with the grappling-heavy approach of Aaron Simpson when the two met at UFC 132, which resulted in the first and only loss of his young career. Fukuda presents some similar challenges this weekend, and offers Tavares the opportunity to show the improvements he’s made since losing to Simpson.
The middleweight division is in a state of flux right now, and while a win over Fukuda isn’t going to carry Tavares into contention, earning a third consecutive victory will move him up the ladder, and potentially get him off the preliminary portion of the fight card next time around.
Fighter: Alex Caceres
Record: 8-5
Opponent: Kyung Ho Kang
Coming off Season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter, I thought Caceres was more style than substance; a young fighter being given an opportunity because of his "Bruce Leeroy" persona and very little else. His first two UFC appearances did little to convince me otherwise, but since he’s moved down to bantamweight, the 24-year-old has been a pleasant surprise.
If not for being docked two points in his accidental strike-filled fight with Edwin Figueroa, Caceres would be 4-0 in the 135-pound ranks. He has since bounced back from that debatable loss with consecutive victories, submitting Damacio Page last summer in San Jose before earning a split decision win against Motonobu Tezuka in Macao.
Caceres is still young and relatively inexperienced, but you can see his potential. At 5-foot-10 with a 73-inch reach, he’s exceptionally tall and long for the division, which helps him in both the striking and grappling departments. In a way, he reminds me of Stefan Struve when he first entered the UFC; all knees and elbows and raw ability in need of time to figure it all out.
Struve has grown into a legitimate contender in the heavyweight division, and Caceres has the potential to do the same in the bantamweight ranks.
Fighter: Hyun Gyu Lim
Record: 10-3-1
Opponent: Marcelo Guimaraes
"The Ace" is a Korean Top Team teammate of UFC veterans Dongi Yang and Chan Sung Jung, who called his training partner "the best all-around fighter on the team" last year in an interview with BloodyElbow.com. Saturday, we’ll get the chance to see why "The Korean Zombie" was so high on his teammate, as Lim finally makes his UFC debut.
Originally scheduled to compete last November on the UFC Macao card, the former Road FC welterweight champion was declared "medically unfit to compete" by UFC doctors just prior to the event. Hopefully there are no such problems for the 28-year-old this time around, as he is an intriguing prospect.
Lim is 6-foot-2 with an 82-inch reach, which is only two inches shorter than Jon Jones, and two-and-a-half inches less than the light-heavyweight champion in the reach department. He’s won five straight heading into his first appearance in the UFC, and has nine finishes from his 10 career victories; though it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his high finishing rate against stiffer competition on the sport’s biggest stage.
Guimaraes was underwhelming his UFC debut last summer, earning a split decision win over Dan Stittgen in a bout most remembered for Guimaraes’ grunting as the two battled in the clinch along the cage. This feels like a showcase opportunity for Lim; here’s hoping he makes the most of it on Saturday.
