UFC Fight Night 132: Preview and Predictions
The UFC heads to Singapore this Saturday afternoon as UFC Fight Night 132 whets MMA fans appetites ahead of the monumental UFC 226 on July 7th.
In the main event of UFC: Singapore young meets old in the welterweight division as 26-year old Brummie Leon Edwards takes on veteran Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone.
Edwards is currently on a five-fight winning streak in the UFC and after recently receiving the #13 rank in the 170 lbs division, ‘Rocky’ will look to continue his ascendancy in a talent-stacked division by knocking off the #11 ranked ‘Cowboy’.
Elsewhere on the main card, there are all-ranked affairs in the light heavyweight and women’s flyweight divisions with two heavy hitters opening up the featured portion of the night. On the preliminary card, however, both Jake Matthews and Petr Yan will be showcased and they are fighters who fans should keep an eye out for.
Donald Cerrone (33-10, 1 NC) vs Leon Edwards (15-3)
After suffering three losses in a row in 2017, Donald Cerrone bounced back at the beginning of this year with a classic ‘Cowboy’ performance against Yancy Medeiros.
With Cerrone fighting as frequently as he does, his strengths and weaknesses have become apparent over the years with hindsight.
While offensively he remains an active kicker, an underrated grappler and happy to string combinations both on his own volition and on the counter, Cerrone has always struggled when he is attacked to the body or put on the backfoot consistently.
With Leon Edwards standing opposite Cerrone come fight night, however, the veteran should be buoyed by his foe’s characteristics.
Despite possessing a powerful body kick, Edwards’ output isn’t high enough to keep the pressure on Cerrone. Edwards does have impressive wrestling to his credit, perhaps the best out of any U.K fighter, but I doubt he has any tricks that Cerrone hasn’t seen before.
Outside of a thunderous body kick from ‘Rocky’, I can see ‘Cowboy’ racking up the rounds due to Edwards’ inactivity and maybe even scoring a finish on the feet along the way.
Pick: Donald Cerrone
Ovince Saint Preux (22-11) vs Tyson Pedro (7-1)
This either has the chance to be the fight of the night or a drab 15-minute affair filled with stalling against the cage.
Both OSP and Pedro are athletic light heavyweight contenders and share a lot of similarities in their skillsets. Both have big power, are very talented offensive grapplers and yet struggle when things aren’t going their way.
With OSP, you have a fighter with some of the most dangerous fight-ending kicks in the game and a submission ability that should keep everyone he faces alert.
In Tyson Pedro, though his striking arsenal isn’t quite as sharp as his opponents, it is improving with every outing and his submissions’ are just as nasty.
Ultimately, you could flip a coin concerning whether you favour OSP’s experience or Pedro’s youthful upsides but I’ll tentatively lean towards Pedro improving yet again and taking the fight to OSP.
Pick: Tyson Pedro
Jessica-Rose Clark (9-4, 1 NC) vs Jessica Eye (12-6, 1 NC)
In a similar conclusion to the OSP – Pedro fight, both Jessica Rose-Clark and Jessica Eye share a lot of similarities. Both are tidy boxers and both know how to score takedowns to either steal rounds or cement them in their favour.
In another similar conclusion, this match-up again pits one more experienced fighter against a less seasoned one.
In the end and to essentially plagiarise myself, I’ll favour the more inexperienced fighter here in Rose-Clark to use her mobility and improving skillset to get the job done.
Pick: Jessica Rose-Clark
Li Jingliang (14-5) vs Daichi Abe (6-1)
This should be a fun opener.
With Li Jingliang being the aggressor in pretty much all of his fights and Abe more than happy to sit on the counter, this fight should resemble the bull and the matador metaphor.
While Jingliang is perhaps a bit lucky to still be in the UFC with his eye-gouging antics in his last bout, I think ‘The Leech’ over three rounds will be able to make better use of his power than Abe and by piling on the pressure, the Chinese fighter should forge enough opportunities for himself in the stand-up.
Pick: Li Jingliang
(Last Predictions: 3/5, Total: 55/86, 64% Success Rate)
(2017: 60% Success Rate)