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: Matt Grice vs. Jeremy Larsen, UFC 166
My pick for the best fight announced in the last seven days is the 145-pound fight booked for UFC 166 between Matt Grice and Jeremy Larsen, a fight that will likely see the loser get released. Now, you may find it strange I listed a fight between two guys who are coming off of losses as the best fight of the week but as the old cliché goes, styles make fights, and Grice and Larsen match up very well stylistically.
Both men are coming off of FOTN performances, Grice in a disputed split decision loss to Dennis Bermudez at UFC 157, and Larsen a third-round KO loss to Lucas Martins at UFC on FX 8. But after each guy lost his respective bout, the UFC came out in support of each and said each would get another shot in the Octagon, and here we are now.
UFC 166 is stacked, but in my opinion Grice vs. Larsen will be a dark horse FOTN candidate, and I can’t wait for it.
Worst: Charles Oliveira vs. Estevan Payan, UFC 166
My pick for the worst fight announced this past week is the upcoming featherweight fight at UFC 166 between Charles Oliveira and Estevan Payan, a fight I believe was booked to get Oliveira a win on his resume.
Oliveira is coming off of a close decision loss to Frankie Edgar at UFC 162, while Payan was dominated by Jeremy Stephens at UFC 160, so I don’t understand why the UFC felt the need to match these two up, aside from gifting Oliveira a cheap win.
Look for Oliveira to get this fight to the ground and absolutely dominate him there, so there is a chance this fight features the Submission of the Night at UFC 166. However, when it comes in a fight between one guy ranked near the top 15 of the division, and one guy on the verge of getting cut, what does it really mean?
Not much, in my opinion, and that’s why I don’t like this fight booking.
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UFC 166: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos III is due to take place on October 19, 2013 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 166 will be.
