First and Worst is an ongoing series for MMARatings.net, where every week Adam will make his pick for the best and worst newly-announced fight of the past week (Monday to Sunday). If you’d like to see any additions to this series, hit him up on Twitter @MMAdamMartin.
First: Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks, UFC 167
My pick for the best fight announced this past week is the upcoming UFC welterweight title match between champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Johny Hendricks, which is the main event of the UFC’s 20th anniversary show this November, UFC 167. The fight between St-Pierre and Hendricks has been brewing for over a year now, and finally the fans will get to see these two go to war to determine who is truly the #1 welterweight fighter on the planet.
This is an extremely intriguing matchup because, while St-Pierre has taken down all of his recent opponents at will, Hendricks is one of the top wrestlers in the division, and if he can keep the fight standing, there’s no doubt he has the power in his left hand to shut St-Pierre’s lights off and end his long reign as the champion.
It’s a very difficult fight to predict a winner for because both of these fighters are exceptionally well-rounded and many of their strengths are similar, so it will be interesting to see how those dynamics play out in the cage. Ultimately, I believe the fight will come down to whether or not Hendricks can knock St-Pierre out in the first or second rounds, because if he can’t do that, he’s shown questionable cardio in the past, and there’s no one better prepared for five-round fights than St-Pierre.
I won’t make a prediction for the winner just yet, but I will confidently say that this is going to be one of the most exciting fights of 2013 when it finally goes down, and November 16 can’t come soon enough.
Worst: Nandor Guelmino vs. Derrick Lewis, UFC Fight Night 27
My pick for the worst fight announcement of the past week is the upcoming heavyweight bout at UFC Fight Night 27 between former Strikeforce fighter Nandor Guelmino and Derrick Lewis, who will be making his UFC debut. This will likely be the opening fight for the UFC’s next card in Indiana, and there’s a very good reason for that — it’s that neither of these fighters belong in the UFC.
I know that the heavyweight division in the UFC – and in MMA, in general – is lacking in talent, but Guelmino isn’t UFC worthy at all, and Lewis, even if he beats Guelmino, is likely never going to get more than a few fights inside the Octagon. Although I’m not totally against giving Lewis a shot to prove himself, this signing really did come out of nowhere, and I’m curious as to the exact reasons why the UFC signed Lewis, who is a Bellator washout, coming off a win over a nobody with a 12-7 record.
I don’t really know what to make of this matchup. I guess it could provide a fun and exciting knockout – the heavyweights are always good for that — but I think it’s just as likely it could be three rounds of straight-up boringness, and if that’s the case, the UFC is going to be criticized for signing either of these two to contracts. It’s a head scratcher matchup, to say the least.
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UFC 167: St. Pierre vs. Hendricks is due to take place on November 16, 2013 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 167 will be.
UFC Fight Night 27: Kampmann vs. Condit 2 is due to take place on August 28, 2013 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC Fight Night 27 will be.
