UFC Fight Night : Diaz vs Neer

Omaha, NE - 17/09/2008

The UFC’s string of fantastic Fight Night line ups continues this Wednesday. TUF 5 winner Nate Diaz takes on Josh Neer. Diaz has been on a tear up in the UFC, and is looking to continue an unbeaten streak he kicked off when he beat Manny Gamburyan to win the fifth season on The Ultimate Fighter. Neer is looking to firmly establish himself in the lightweight division by taking his record beyond 3-3 inside the Octagon. Having already lost to Nick Diaz, Nate’s brother, Neer must overcome the Diaz curse to obtain his 4th win in the UFC.

The second fight comes in the shape of TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig vs perennial fight of the night contender Clay “The Carpenter” Guida. Clay Guida will be definitely looking to put on a good show and taking the win, as despite his exciting style and fan favouritism, he still only has about a 57% success rate in the UFC. He should be feeling quietly confident coming off a first round KO victory over Sammy Schiava at UFN: Florian vs Lauzon.

The next fight is one of mirror images. Both Ed Herman and Alan Belcher are mid 20s, both are VERY athletic, both coming off a loss at UFC 83 and both men stand at 3-3 in the UFC. Both men have solid grappling skills, however their last win each came from a KO. Belchers last win came via one of an appalling cut delivered to Kalib Starnes UFC 77.

Houston Alexander will be looking to redeem himself against Eric Schafer following his brutal highlight reel KO loss to James Irvin at UFN 13. Schafer, who returns to the Octagon after almost a year away from the UFC, will be looking to bring his UFC record to 2-2. With Alexander’s phenomenal punching power and Schafer’s excellent ground game, this promises to be a classic match up.

Joe Vedepo makes his UFC debut against Italian pugilist Alessio Sakara. Sakara is well known for his stand up style, however since Vedepo is well known in the MMA community for his heavy hands and stone chin, Sakara may want to utilise his black belt in BJJ. Sakara has the potential to be a good, well rounded, successful fighter, but with a UFC record of 3 wins out of 7 matches, has not yet shown his full potential.

Ryan Jensen makes his UFC debut against a tough first opponent in Wilson Gouveia. However with a professional MMA record of 13-4 compared to Gouveia’s 10-5, Jensen has the edge in experience, and is not likely to be intimidated by the game Brazillian.

The well conditioned Australian Brad Morris may be conscious about taking this fight to the ground to implement his effective ground and pound tactics. His opponent, Jason Brilz is a good wrestler with an effective submissions arsenal.

Drew McFedries is a proficient stand up fighter, and trains with Pat Miletich. Mike Massenzio is a strong wrestler, with multiple grapplers quest championships and a blue belt in BJJ. McFedries will be looking to sprawl and brawl to avoid Massenzio’s ground game.

Dan Miller only has 1 loss in his professional MMA career and according to former UFC Heavy-weight champ Bas Rutten has the “tightest guillotine [he’s] ever seen”. Rob Kimmons has had one fight in the UFC, beating Rob Yundt by triangle choke, and has an 88% success rate in his MMA career.