This Saturday, the UFC Bantamweight Championship will be on the line as UFC champion Dominick Cruz defends his title against Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in Washington D.C. on free television courtesy of the Verses Network.
Dominick Cruz will be defending his championship for the fifth time since winning the 135 pound title back in August of 2010, and will be facing arguably the fastest competitor to ever step foot inside the octagon in Demetrious Johnson.
Demetrious Johnson has looked unstoppable inside of the cage and is currently on a four fight winning streak over world class competition. His last two fights in particular were enough to earn him a title opportunity as he defeated the world renown Norifumi “Kid” Yamamato and former WEC Bantamweight champion Miguel Torres.
Johnson is currently heading into his fight with Cruz as the underdog, but the underdog role is something Johnson has been playing his entire life. Standing at only 5'3, Johnson is considerably smaller than most opponents he has to face and Saturday will be no different as Johnson will be giving up five inches to the 5'8 champion Dominick Cruz.
To make up for his lack of height, Johnson possesses another tool to help him inside of the octagon, his speed. Johnson's quickness is his main weapon and he uses it to his full advantage. Opponents who normally obtain world class wrestling are unable to stop Johnson's shot mainly because they do not see it coming. Both Yamamato and Torres were essentially hopeless as Johnson's speed baffled and confused them both en route to unanimous decision losses.
While Johnson has the upper hand in quickness, Dominick Cruz will be his greatest challenge to date. No slouch in the speed category, Cruz is the champion for a reason and could possibly possess the best footwork in all of mixed martial arts. Cruz' fighting style is one of movement and constant motion, and all of his opponents to date have been unable to figure out how to stop him.
In his last fight, Dominick Cruz was able to successfully defend his Bantamweight championship against the only man to ever defeat him, Urijah Faber in the main event of UFC 132. In a potential fight of the year candidate, Cruz showed exactly why he is the champion and put forth a gritty performance using his crazy footwork to put on a show en route to a unanimous decision victory avenging the only loss on his mixed martial arts record.
Saturday night, expect fireworks and do not blink when these two bantamweights collide together inside of the octagon. The 135 pound division is without a doubt the most exciting division of the UFC due to the nonstop action throughout the duration of the fight. There is never a dull moment or a stoppage of action when a fight within this division takes place and Saturday night the two best representatives of the division will fight for championship gold.
In the Co-Main Event of the evening, two heavyweights in desperate need of a win will face off as Pat Barry will compete against Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve. Both of these men are coming off devastating knockout losses which stopped all previous momentum they had gained inside of the stacked Heavyweight division.
For Pat Barry, his setback was the worst as he was the victim of arguably the greatest MMA come from behind victory of all time in his last fight against Cheick Kongo. With Kongo seemingly knocked unconscious, Barry swung wildly, putting his guard down for a split second and was caught with a stiff hook and uppercut knocking him out cold. The fight was catastrophic for Barry as he seemingly was well on his way to a victory and advancing his stock in a crowded heavyweight scene. However, his brief lapse in judgement pushed him further down the ladder, causing his stock to plummet as well.
Stefan Struve is in the same boat as Barry, and his latest loss also pushed him towards the back end of the line in terms of relative heavyweight fighters competing in the UFC. Before his last loss, the 6'11 Dutchmen had back to back TKO victories, one earning him the knock out of the night award. Struve was well on his way to elevating himself into the upper echelon of heavyweights before crumbling to the superman punch of Travis Browne back in May.
Both Pat Barry and Stefan Struve could quite possibly be fighting for their careers in the UFC on Saturday. With the recent addition of Alistair Overeem to the UFC heavyweight division, two consecutive losses inside the octagon could potentially result in being cut by the UFC and unemployment. With this possible stipulation on the line, I expect both warriors to leave it all inside of the cage with hopes of getting back to their winning ways.
Saturday night is a great night for mixed martial arts enthusiasts as the UFC has once again delivered with an incredible fight card for its fans. The Bantamweight Championship fight is the first title bout the UFC has put on free television since 2007 at UFC 75 when Quinton “Rampage” Jackson defeated Dan Henderson in a Light Heavyweight Championship contest. With the recent groundbreaking announcement of the UFC partnering with FOX, the UFC is unquestionably looking to gain more fan support in their quest to become mainstream. Their decision to go with Dominick Cruz and Demetrious Johnson was an excellent selection to showcase not only their newest division but also two of the greatest athletes competing in the sport of mixed martial arts today.
No comments:
Post a Comment