First and Worst: Week of October 6 – October 12, 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: KJ Noons vs. Daron Cruickshank, TUF 20 Finale

My pick for the best new fight announced this past week is an exciting lightweight bout at the TUF 20 Finale that pairs veteran strikers KJ Noons and Daron Cruickshank. The event is set for December 12 at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Noons vs. Cruickshank will likely lead off the evening’s televised main card.

I love this fight, and I’ll tell you why.

Neither Noons or Cruickshank are huge names, but they’re two fighters who I have enjoyed watching greatly over the years. I first saw Noons fight back in Elite XC. He was an up-and-coming prospect in the lightweight division with solid boxing fundamentals and vicious knockout power in both his hands. He is one of two men to TKO Nick Diaz in Diaz’ career, a win via cuts that won him the old Elite XC lightweight title. Noons had contract issues with Pro Elite and only defended his title once, and went on to achieve only decent success fighting in Strikeforce and DREAM, never reaching the full potential he showed early in his career.

When Strikeforce folded, Noons was picked up by the UFC and in his first fight was given Donald Cerrone, who absolutely slaughtered him at UFC 160. It was Noons’ third-straight loss, and the UFC could have cut him. But they kept him around, and he’s looked great since, beating George Sotiropoulos and Sam Stout in his last two outings to cement his position on the UFC roster. The fight against Stout in particular was super impressive, as he was the first man to knock Stout out, and coming off that win, I have high hopes for Noons going forward.

As for Cruickshank, he is a Score Fighting Series and King of the Cage veteran who came into the UFC via TUF. He lost in a giant upset on TUF to James Vick, but looking back that loss isn’t bad at all. Since then, Cruickshank has put together a very solid record in the Octagon, going 6-3 overall with three highlight-reel head kick knockouts over Erik Koch, Mike Rio, and Henry Martinez, and establishing himself as one of the most electrifying strikers in the UFC lightweight division. Cruickshank has flaws in his game, and his chin isn’t good, but boy is he fun to watch, and I love that the UFC keeps matching him up against fellow standup artists.

This fight between Noons and Cruickshank doesn’t mean much as far as the rankings go at 155 lbs — it’s just a fun, exciting fight that should leave the crowd entertained for 15 minutes or less. And during a slow fight announcement week, that’s enough for me to make it my pick for best new fight announcement.

TUF 20 Finale

• Daron Cruickshank vs. K.J. Noons

Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.

Worst: Garett Whiteley vs. David Michaud, UFC on FOX 13

My pick for the worst new fight announced this past week is the upcoming lightweight bout at UFC on FOX 13 between Garett Whiteley and David Michaud, which takes place December 13 at U.S. Airways Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. With both fighters coming off of unimpressive victories, there’s a good chance this bout will be the “curtain jerker” on the Fight Pass prelims.

No offence to the fighters, but neither should be in the UFC. Whiteley is 0-2 in the Octagon with two dominant losses to Alan Patrick and Vinc Pichel. He had a good record before he came to the UFC, but neither Patrick nor Pichel is a world beater and Whiteley wasn’t competitive with either guy. Maybe I’m being too hard on him, but it seems pretty clear Whiteley was just beating up on cans on the midwest regional circuit who artificially padded his record, and now that he’s in the UFC he’s proven he is not a very good fighter. After going winless in his first two fights and not looking good in either one, I have no idea why the UFC is giving him another shot.

That being said, Michaud isn’t any better. He appeared on TUF 16 — the worst season of TUF in years (and that’s saying a lot) — and couldn’t even make it past the elimination round to get into the house. Following TUF, Michaud picked up three wins on the regional circuit and that was enough for the UFC to call him up to the big leagues. But he had an awful showing against Jingliang Li at UFC 173. Following that loss I’m pretty surprised the UFC is giving him another chance, although to be fair to Michaud he is dropping a weight class for this fight against Whiteley, and he might be more competitive at 155 lbs.

Either way, I think this is a really bad fight (there, I said it) and of all the fights on the UFC calendar through the end of the year, this is the one I’m least anticipating.