First and Worst: Week of May 12 – May 18, 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: Dennis Bermudez vs. Clay Guida, UFC on FOX 12

My pick for the best new fight announced this past week is the upcoming featherweight fight at UFC on FOX 12 between Dennis Bermudez and Clay Guida. This is excellent matchmaking, as it gives Bermudez the chance to finally fight a top 10 fighter after a six-fight win streak full of lower-ranked opponents, while for Guida it allows him to retain his spot among the elite if he can take out one of the hottest fighters in the division.

What I like most about this fight is that both Bermudez and Guida have been using their brute strength to win fights as of late, and now that both are going up against each other and that skill is likely to be neutralized, it will be interesting to see who can make the necessary adjustments and show off the other parts of his game, and who can’t. And who knows, maybe both men are going to stand and bang to the crowd’s delight, and we’ll get to see another Guida war in the vein of his fight with Diego Sanchez.

Regardless of the way the fight plays out, I will say this: I’m often critical of UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby’s bookings because a lot of the time he pits fighters ranked in the upper echelon of the division against unranked fighters for no apparent reason, but in this particular case, I can’t make that complaint. This is just a solid fight between two solid featherweights, and it’s going to be a lot of fun when these two open up the UFC on FOX 12 card later this summer in San Jose.

UFC on Fox 12

• Dennis Bermudez vs. Clay Guida

Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.

Worst: Gian Villante vs. Sean O’Connell, UFC Fight Night 43

My pick for the worst new fight announced this past week is the upcoming light heavyweight bout at UFC Fight Night 43 between Gian Villante and Sean O’Connell, who is stepping up on about six weeks’ notice for an injured Anthony Perosh.

This is essentially a fight between two of the lowest-ranked light heavyweights on the roster and doesn’t seem too intriguing. It was originally booked for the New Zealand card to give Perosh, who is from Australia, a winnable fight against Villante, who is very beatable, but now that he’s hurt, the fight seems misplaced on this card.

Not only that, but I feel the UFC is rushing both Villante and O’Connell back too soon to the Octagon after both fighters’ last respective outings. It was in March at UFC Fight Night 38 when Villante was absolutely beaten down by Fabio Maldonado, and as for O’Connell, he was brutally knocked out by Ryan Jimmo just over a month ago at the TUF Nations Finale. So I’m surprised the UFC didn’t give more time to each fighter to prepare for their next fights; it seems to me that they are making this fight now so they can cut one from the roster.

I am expecting a finish here in this fight either way, but I don’t think it will be too impressive, and all it will do is show who is deserving of fighting the other bottom feeders in the UFC light heavyweight division, not show who is actually a future threat for the title.