UFC 143 preview: Super fights for a super weekend
Roar Pro By ErinT, 3 Feb 2012 ErinT is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Carlos Condit, Mixed Martial Arts, UFC, UFC 143, ultimate fighting, Ultimate Fighting Championship
Another weekend and another UFC event. This time we focus back to the home of the promotion, Las Vegas, for the traditional Super Bowl weekend card.
This card has generally been one of the largest for the year, with a guaranteed title shot on the line.
Originally scheduled to have welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2) fight controversial fighter Nick Diaz (26-7 – 1 NC), the promotion was facing the prospect of being without a big fight when the champion was forced to pull out due to an ACL injury.
Instead, title prospect Carlos Condit (27-5) has stepped in to fight the powerful striker and BJJ specialist Diaz, with the winner receiving the interim welterweight belt with the chance to unify the title when St-Pierre returns to competition.
While Diaz goes into the bout as favourite, Condit is one not to be looked over as he is equally damaging in his striking as he is on the ground similar to Diaz himself.
Condit has successfully defended the World Extreme Championship (WEC) belt four times before the promotion ended, three via submission and one via TKO and has won fight bonuses in his last three UFC showings. In fact, Condit’s last fight against Dong Hyun Kim (15-1-1 – 1 NC) won fight of the night with a TKO from a flying knee and punches in the first round at 2:58.
This bout will be extremely close, and we can expect both fighters to lay it all out in the cage.
In the co-main we see a battle of heavyweights with fan favourite and The Ultimate Fighter 10 winner Roy “Big Country” Nelson (16-6) taking on ex-Strikeforce fighter Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1) in his return fight to the UFC. Werdum is best known for his triangle choke submission win over the idolised Russian MMA star Fedor Emelianeko (33-4 (1 NC))in June 2010.
While Werdum is coming into the cage 7 months after his loss in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix to Alistair Overeem (36-11 – 1 NC), Nelson has been fighting the best in the UFC business in Junior Dos Santos (14-1), Frank Mir (16-5) – both decision losses, and a win via TKO against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filiovic (27-10-2 – 1 NC). This experience will be a benefit to Nelson as he battles for his position within the top tier of heavyweights.
Expect Nelson to be a force in this fight, he has changed his diet since the Mir fight and looked fitter and more conditioned recently against “Cro Cop” Filiovic. He has a tough chin, and is more than comfortable to stand and bang, while not being fazed by being hit himself.
Look for Werdum to play out the fight on the ground, where his BJJ background (second degree black belt) gives him the upper hand against Nelson’s black belt. During this bout we can expect it to change direction numerous times; Nelson is a tough competitor and will use his weight to avoid the takedown. As long as he keeps the fight standing he will get the advantage and possible win over Werdum.
The fight to look out for on the card is between bantamweights Renan Barão (29-1 – 1 NC) and Scott Jorgensen. Barão received fight of the night honours from his last fight at UFC 138 against UK fighter Brad Pickett where Barão submitted Pickett by rear-naked choke at 4:08 in Round 1.
The matchup with an equally entertaining fighter such as Scott Jorgensen (13-4) allows this bout to be in fight of the night contention. Jorgensen recently fought veteran fighter Jeff Curran (33-14-1) to a unanimous decision at UFC 137 in October 2011, however turned on an incredible performance against Ken Stone at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale in June 2011 with a KO win at 4:01 in the first round.
Both fighters are similar in their striking ability and defence, so expect Barão to expose Jorgensen’s takedown defence and play the fight out on the ground.
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February 3rd 2012 @ 11:33pm
Sam Brown said | February 3rd 2012 @ 11:33pm | Report comment
Good round-up. Personally I’m really looking forward to this card. I think the main event is going to be a barn burner and while the rest of the card isn’t packed with stars it will include some very good fights. Main event is so hard to pick, they are both very well matched up.