D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
The UFC’s occupation with “catchweight” fights continues with
Kimbo Slice meeting regular light-heavyweight
Houston Alexander at 215 pounds; Slice has already condemned the weight cut as taxing. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of heavyweights of every conceivable talent level for Slice to have a run at. Why put him on diuretics? Possible answer: Slice losing via hammering KO to Alexander can easily be explained as being out of his element. Not as easily explained: what he was doing there in the first place.
After fighting -- and beating -- names like
Sean Sherk,
Hermes Franca, and
Tyson Griffin,
Frankie Edgar could be only a round or two away from a shot at the 155-pound title. So why face largely-unknown
Matt Veach? If he turns him into a blood blister, he was supposed to; if Veach beats him, he’ll be knocked out of contention. There are few easy fights in the UFC, and the 11-0 Veach could be anvil-tough. The problem is, we don’t know -- which makes Edgar beating him a non-winning proposition.
Any 250 pound black belt with heavy hands, a low center of gravity, and a 13-4 career record is going to be a problem. But when it’s ever been time for
Roy Nelson to get people to stop obsessing over his holiday-ornament physique, he dropped the ball: he’s 0-3 against
Andrei Arlovski,
Jeff Monson, and (on an admittedly dubious decision)
Ben Rothwell, the three most accomplished opponents he’s faced. Whether or not he beats
Brendan Schaub Saturday, Nelson still owes the rankings a significant win.
A tough wrestler with surprising striking aptitude, Hamill has had experience in the ring Jones hasn’t yet matched: bouts with
Michael Bisping and
Rich Franklin and nearly three times the fights in the promotion. Hamill is largely being seen as a “step up” for Jones to step over -- but his ability to pull Jones into a close, ugly fight shouldn’t be discounted.
Yes. Pretty sure he does.
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