First and Worst: Week of September 30 – October 6, 2013

By Adam Martin

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: Siyar Bahadurzada vs. John Howard, UFC 168

My pick for the best matchup announced this past week is the upcoming welterweight matchup between Siyar Bahadurzada and John Howard, which will take place at UFC 168.

I love this fight between these two powerful strikers, and I could see it producing the Knockout of the Night at the UFC 168 card, which is saying a lot, since that card looks fantastic on paper already.

In Bahadurzada, you have one of the most powerful strikers in the sport, but a fighter who has a very poor ground game, as we saw in his last fight against Dong Hyun Kim. That’s why I like that the UFC has elected to match him up with another striker in Howard, because hopefully this means we get to see Bahadurzada fight where he’s at his best, and that’s on his feet.

Sure, the fact the UFC is giving Bahadurzada another standup fighter instead of a grappler is a signal that they don’t view him as a contender at 170 pounds, but not everyone can win the title, and as long as they keep putting him in exciting fights, I’m ok with it.

As for Howard, I’m glad he made the drop back down to welterweight, as I believe this is the right weight class for him. All in all, a perfect matchup, and it makes UFC 168 look so much better.

UFC 168

• Siyar Bahadurzada vs. John Howard

Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.

Worst: Cody McKenzie vs. Sam Stout, UFC on FOX 9

My pick for the worst fight announced this past week is the upcoming lightweight bout between Cody McKenzie and Sam Stout, which has been set for the stacked UFC on FOX 9 card.

I just don’t understand the matchup.

McKenzie is one of the most one-dimensional fighters in the game, as all he has is decent BJJ and a great guillotine. That’s it. His striking is bad, he doesn’t take punishment well (see his fight against Chad Mendes), and he can be submitted himself. Yeah, he did show some improved wrestling against Leonard Garcia, but keep in mind that was Leonard Garcia, AND that fight was at featherweight, where he enjoyed a size advantage over his opposition.

Now that he’s moved back up to lightweight, I expect McKenzie to be a little more durable than at 145 where he cut a lot of weight, but I still think he’ll be the same flawed mixed martial artist he always was.

Obviously the UFC is putting this fight together because McKenzie has that crazy guillotine and Stout was submitted with the same choke against James Krause at UFC 161, but Krause is light years ahead of McKenzie in every facet of the game, and just because he was successful vs. Stout doesn’t mean McKenzie will be.

McKenzie has shown that he is susceptible to body shots, and Stout throws them with reckless abandon. So look for the Canadian to tee off on his American counterpart, get a TKO win to jump back into the winner’s circle, and prove that he’s still worthy of his UFC roster spot. As for McKenzie, don’t be surprised if he’s let go with a loss.