By Dwight Wakabayashi
After a stint of dormancy, the UFC has started the ball rolling with a strong UFC 152 event and will follow it up quickly with this weekend’s UFC on FUEL TV 5 from Nottingham, England. This event has some sweet potential to gain some real momentum heading in to the last stretch of 2012. Stefan (Skyscraper) Struve will battle against the undefeated Stipe Miocic in the main event of the show.
In usual UFC fashion, the card is filled with home-grown fighting talent to get the fans amped and on the edge of their seats on Saturday. British MMA pioneer Michael Bisping can be proud of the fact that five of the six fights feature English fighters in bouts with real intrigue and meaning for the future fortunes in the UFC. John Hathaway vs. John Maguire goes even further and pits two countrymen against each other.
It is Britain’s night to shine in the world of mixed martial arts and let’s not forget, it is free event on TV.
Watch UFC Live: Struve vs. Miocic on all Sportsnet regional channels Saturday at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT. Also, watch the preliminary fights on sportsnet.ca starting at 1:45 p.m. ET / 10:45 a.m. PT.
Here is a preview of the six main card fights.
Che Mills (14-5) vs Duane Ludwig (21-13) – welterweight
Mills was on a five-fight winning streak before he ran into Rory MacDonald in April of this year. He will look to use his fast and powerful standup to land and land often on his veteran opponent. A bounce-back is needed to show that he is a fighter on his way up and not down in the division, and I think the home crowd will do wonders for Mills.
Ludwig is coming off a loss to Dan Hardy and gets another shot at taking out an English fighter in Mills. Him choosing to bang away with Hardy proved to be his undoing and I can’t imagine he will do exactly the same thing here. He has a very accomplished and dangerous striking game as well but I’m not sure he will want to use it exclusively. Ludwig lost to Josh Neer in his other fight this year and is creeping closer and closer to dropping down in status and out of the big fight picture.
John Hathaway (16-1) vs John Maguire (18-3) – welterweight
John Hathaway is quite a specimen at welterweight with his frame and bulk and he has only lost once in his entire career. He is coming off wins against Kris McCray and Pascal Krauss and has some other very big wins. He is a well-rounded fighter with good range and he has improved each time out and this weekend should be no different. If Hathaway can use his range to soften up his opponent, something should open up for him before the night is done.
John Maguire is only two fights into his UFC career but he is coming off a solid win over DaMarques Johnson and is ready for a step up to Hathaway. Maguire made his name in England by submitting people in the regional shows and he will look to do much of the same to his countryman here. I am not sure if he has the range on the feet to hang with Hathaway so he may be advised to take it to the floor quickly.
Paul Sass (13-0) vs Matt Wiman (14-6) – lightweight
Paul Sass is an extremely dangerous submission fighter with an undefeated 3-0 record in the UFC. Overall, he has finished 12 of 13 fights he has been in via submission with many coming via triangle or heel-hook. I can’t imagine he will want to stand with Wiman considering how strong a chin he has, so don’t blink on this one wherever it goes.
A fight with Matt Wiman is never a dull one and I always look forward to watching this guy scrap. He can throw a punch, he can take a punch and his ground game is scrappy and efficient. Wiman is always on the cusp of the big win and this is another chance for him to earn another notch in his belt by being the first to defeat Sass.
Brad Pickett (21-6) vs Yves Jabouin (18-7) – featherweight
Brad Pickett is a veteran fighter looking for that shot at the title and he is coming off a nice victory over Damacio Page. A follow up win over Jabouin would inch him closer and closer and this is really is a fight to stay one away from that shot at the title. Pickett can play it any way he wants to in the cage and has fought bigger fights than Jabouin. It is really his fight to lose and his ground game could be the trump card he has.
Yves Jabouin is a very crafty, quick and explosive fighter out of Canada who is coming of a very tough and well earned win over Jeff Hougland to give him a three-fight streak. He may not be the ultimate knockout threat but Jabouin has used his all-around skills to get himself in a very nice position in the featherweight division. A win over Pickett would be the biggest of his career and set himself up for a big next fight.
Dan Hardy (24-10) vs Amir Sadollah (6-3) – welterweight
Dan Hardy made his return to the win column in fine fashion in his last bout with a knockout over Duane Ludwig. Hardy was on his UFC deathbed with four losses in a row before that and it was nice to see the classy fighter persevere. I don’t believe he is out of the woods yet as a loss to Sadollah would do nothing to help his climb. Hardy is a true martial artist but he always likes to bang first and I think that is the way to win in this one.
Sadollah may turn out to be one of the biggest enigmas in UFC history with his hit and miss performances but he needs to get and keep a run going if he really wants to solidify his place. He only has nine fights in his young career but his game must evolve for him to be able to hang with Dan Hardy or higher in the division. He has very strong Muay Thai striking but he needs to stay busy at all times and cardio cannot be an issue or he will leave himself open to the knockout and really put his career in a tough spot.
Stefan Struve (24-5) vs Stipe Miocic (9-0) – heavyweight
Stefan Sruve has three wins in a row in his pocket and is just coming into his own in the UFC’s big man division. Struve’s last seven fights have all ended with a finish one way or the other and the big man goes for broke when he enters the Octagon. He showed against Lavar Johnson that he can throw on a submission quickly and he has shown time and time again that he is willing to stand and trade as well for our entertainment. Stopping Miocic would really put Struve on a collision course with one of the big names hanging out in the division.
Dangerous undefeated heavyweight Stipe Miocic will have to step up figuratively and literally when he faces Struve on Saturday night. This is the biggest fight he has had to date and it’s right on time. Recent wins over Shane del Rosario and Phil De Fries have been very efficient and impressive and Struve will test him in ways he hasn’t been tested before. I think Miocic’s power and aggression are for real, and this fight will be a war to remember.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a featured columnist with Bleacher Report UFC and regular contributor to sportsnet.ca’s MMA section.
