First and Worst: Week of January 5 – January 11, 2015

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: Luke Rockhold vs. Lyoto Machida, UFC on FOX 15

My pick for the best new fight announced this past week is the upcoming five-round middleweight main event at UFC on FOX 15 between top-ranked contenders Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold. The card takes place April 18 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and the winner of the bout is expected to be on the short list for the next UFC middleweight title shot.

I’ve been calling on the UFC to make this fight for a while, and it’s because this is just a phenomenal matchup, plain and simple. Both Rockhold and Machida are elite middleweight fighters, two of the most well-rounded fighters on the entire UFC roster, and a fight between these two is going to be nothing short of incredible. Both men are truly at the top of their game right now, with Rockhold coming off of an impressive submission over Michael Bisping and Machida coming off of a brutal knockout win over CB Dollaway, and it only makes sense to match these two up and see who the better man is.

As far as styles go, this is about as close to a Pick ’em as you can get in MMA. Both fighters are good everywhere. They both have excellent striking, knockout power, great submissions, great wrestling, solid cardio, and good chins. Usually I have a good idea of who is going to win a fight, but I honestly have no idea about this one. I could see it really going either way, and that’s not a bad thing at all. It’s just great matchmaking all around.

With middleweight bouts like Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort, Nick Diaz vs. Anderson Silva, Jacare Souza vs. Yoel Romero, and Rockhold vs. Machida, there will be no shortage of middleweight contenders in 2015, and right now this one of the most exciting divisions in the UFC by far. And if Joe Silva keeps booking high-quality fights like Machida vs. Rockhold, I can guarantee this is going to be a good year for the fans.

UFC on Fox 15

• Lyoto Machida vs. Luke Rockhold

Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.

Worst: Aljamain Sterling vs. Manny Gamburyan, UFC on FOX 15

My pick for the worst new fight announced this past week also takes place at UFC on FOX 15, and it’s a three-round bantamweight bout between top prospect Aljamain Sterling and veteran Manny Gamburyan. The bout is expected to be on the televised prelims, and it could even be the main event of the prelims if the UFC really wants to give Sterling a push.

I don’t like this fight because it’s just a squash match, plain and simple. Sterling is arguably the best prospect right now at 135 lbs, which says a lot considering some of the fighters coming up in the division, and I fully expect him to style on Gamburyan, a tough veteran but more so a gatekeeper than anything else. I know that Gamburyan is coming off of a surprising victory over Cody Gibson at UFC 178, but it was one of those situations where he was losing the entire fight and then found a way to snatch his opponent’s neck and choke him out at the last second. I can’t say it was a fluke because Gamburyan does have good grappling, but let’s just say how it happened was very surprising.

As for Sterling, he’s looked nothing but phenomenal in his two UFC wins, styling on both the aforementioned Gibson and Hugo Viana en route to two dominant victories. With his wrestling, his athleticism, his cardio, and his ability to learn on the fly and improve from fight to fight, I really think Sterling has all the makings of a future bantamweight title contender, and I think Gamburyan is just the next guy in his way on his path to the top of the division.

I know on paper some might think this is a good passing-of-the-torch fight, and I have no doubt that’s what the bout is intended to accomplish. However, I just feel like Sterling should be past gatekeepers like Gamburyan at this point. He should be fighting guys in the top 15 like Bryan Caraway instead, as he looks to continue to move towards the top of his weight class and towards an inevitable collision with UFC Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw.