First and Worst: Week of February 3 – February 9, 2014

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: Donald Cerrone vs. Edson Barboza, UFC on FOX 11

My pick for the best new fight announced this past week is the upcoming lightweight bout at UFC on FOX 11 between Donald Cerrone and Edson Barboza. This has the potential to be an epic slugfest between two of the best kickboxers in the division, and I’m very happy the UFC decided to book this fight, one which I called for in a recent edition of Fight Fixin’.

I just think this has the potential to be an amazing fight — potentially a “Fight of the Year” candidate — between two ultra-aggressive fighters who are both on win streaks. Both fighters have been putting on amazing shows in their recent victories, so putting them both in the cage with one another can only lead to great things.

Besides being stylistically a great match, this fight also makes sense from a rankings perspective, as both men are currently ranked in about the top 15 of the division. Cerrone is currently holding a top-10 spot and Barboza is looking to break into the upper echelon, so this fight gives Barboza an opportunity to do that while it gives Cerrone a chance to prove he’s still one of the very best the division has to offer.

UFC on FOX 11 is going to be an epic card if it stays intact, and this fight should steal the show this April in Orlando, Florida. I can’t wait.

UFC on Fox 11

• Edson Barboza vs. Donald Cerrone

Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.

Worst: Tim Boetsch vs. Luke Rockhold, UFC 172

My pick for the worst new fight announced this past week is a middleweight bout between Tim Boetsch and Luke Rockhold. The bout, which was originally scheduled for UFC 166 before Rockhold pulled out with an injury, will take place at UFC 172, and it will likely be a main-card matchup.

While this fight once made sense, it no longer does, and I’m pretty surprised this is the direction the UFC went with considering how many pieces are moving around in the UFC middleweight division at this point. When the fight was originally booked at UFC 166, Boetsch was coming off a bad loss to Mark Munoz and Rockhold was coming off a brutal KO loss to Vitor Belfort. With Boetsch having a high rank in the division based on his KO of Yushin Okami a few years ago, the UFC was banking on having Rockhold fight him, win, and re-establish himself as one of the top middleweights in the division.

Instead, Rockhold got hurt and Boetsch fought CB Dollaway. Although “The Barbarian” was awarded the judges’ decision, the decision was universally panned by the MMA world and Boetsch was lucky to get back in the win column. As for Rockhold, he absolutely obliterated Costas Philippou in his return bout at UFC Fight Night 35, and with that destruction, it was thought he’d earn a top-five opponent.

Instead, the UFC is taking the time to build Rockhold back up again by feeding Boetsch to him in what looks to be a mismatch. Don’t get me wrong – Boetsch is a tough guy with a lot of heart and underrated knockout power. But he’s on the downside of his career, while Rockhold is on the way up. And so from afar, this matchup just looks like the UFC trying to get their up-and-coming star another win.

The fight will likely provide an exciting finish from Rockhold’s end, but I still don’t like this matchmaking, and wish the UFC gave both fighters other opponents.