Despite the cancellation of a heavyweight championship rematch between current champion Fabricio Werdum and former champ Cain Velazquez, and the subsequent rebranding of UFC 196 on pay-per-view to UFC Fight Night 82 on Fox Sports, we still have top level heavyweights featured in the co-main event, on the NFL’s biggest weekend.
Jared Rosholt is ranked as the #12 heavyweight in the UFC. He is currently on a three-fight win streak, most recently besting Stefan Struve in a unanimous decision in November.
At 6’2” the 29-year-old has a two-inch advantage over his opponent, Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson, has five first-round finishes, and ten wins in his last 11 fights.
Rosholt was a three-time All American wrestler at Oklahoma State, and the school’s winningest heavyweight. His MMA record is 14-2.
Nelson is the UFC’s #11 heavyweight. At 20-12 with 13 KOs, the 39-year-old is in desperate need of a win – he has just one in his last six fights.
Big Country is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Renzo Gracie, but tends to favour his striking game, with his last 11 wins coming by KO or TKO. Nelson was The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 winner, is the former IFL heavyweight champ and an IFL Grand Prix champion.
Main event
Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson looks to improve from his ranking as the #8 welterweight with a win over #2 ranked, former division champ Johny ‘Bigg Rigg’ Hendricks.
Thompson is 6-1 in the UFC and 11-1 overall, his single stumble being Matt Brown by unanimous decision. Wonderboy also is an undefeated kickboxer, with a record of 57-0 including 40 KOs, and is a five-time world champion in the sport.
He is on a five-fight streak and owns UFC knock-outs of Daniel Stittgen, Chris Clements, Robert Whittaker, and most recently Jake Ellenberger, by spinning hook kick. Thompson will enjoy a six-inch reach advantage.
Hendricks is a four-time All American and two time D-1 champion wrestler at Oklahoma State, but Bigg Riggalso has KO power.
At 17-3 with eight KOs and five first-round finishes, Hendricks’ striking is powerful. To overcome the world-class striking of Thompson, not to mention that six-inch reach advantage, Hendricks will likely resort to his wrestling skills and take the fight to the mat.
A combined 19 first-round finishes
Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael ‘Feijao’ Cavalcante finished each of his 12 wins, with seven coming in the first round. Feijao has 11 KOs and one submission win, but is one of his last four. That win? A first-round TKO of Igor Pokrajac – what else would you expect?
Cavalcante’s most memorable career highlights came in Strikeforce when he KO’d Yoel Romero in the second, and a third-rounder over King Mo Lawal.
Ovince St Preux is 6’3” with an 80” reach, and has first-round finishes in 12 of his fights. OSP is also coming off a loss, by rear naked choke, to Glover Teixeira. Prior to that. St Preux had back-to-back first round KOs ove Patrick Cummins and Shogun Rua.
Look for a fast start to this match.
Top-ten flyweights battle
Joseph Benavidez is on a four-fight streak since losing his second attempt at dethroning champ Demetrious Johnson. Benavidez is 23-4, with six KO and nine submission wins.
All four losses have all come in title fights; in addition to the pair with ‘Mighty Mouse’ at 125, Benavidez also lost to current bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz twice, in title fights. He is currently ranked the #1 FW in the UFC.
Zach ‘Fun Size’ Makovsky is 3-2 in the UFC, with unanimous wins over Josh Sampo, Scott Jorgensen and Tim Elliot. He dropped a unanimous decision to John Dodson his last time out.
The former Drexel wrestling captain’s MMA record is 19-6, with one KO, six subs and 12 decision wins.
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