First and Worst: Week of April 13 – April 19, 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: Francisco Rivera vs. Alex Caceres, UFC Fight Night 68

My pick for the best new fight announced this past week is the upcoming bantamweight bout at UFC Fight Night 68 between Francisco Rivera and Alex Caceres. The event takes place June 6 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the fight will likely open up the main card, as it is an absolute barnburner of a fight on paper.

Even though both fighters are coming off of two straight losses, this is still a really fun, intriguing matchup. Rivera was quickly rising up the ranks as a bantamweight contender due to his flashy knockout, but after losing back-to-back fights to Urijah Faber and Takeya Mizugaki, he’s taken a step back in his career and desperately needs to get back in the win column. As for Caceres, he too was quickly rising up the 135l-pound ranks, but following losses to Faber and Masanori Kanehara, he too needs to get a win to turn his career around and once again get back in the ranks of bantamweight title contenders.

Both of these fighters prefer to stand and trade on the feet. Rivera offers more knockout power, especially with his hands, while Caceres prefers to use a volume attack that incorporates both his kicks and punches. Therefore, putting these two in the cage with one another will almost only certainly lead to a very exciting fight, one I have to give credit to UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby for booking.

This is a really fun fight on paper, one that makes a lot of sense as far as rankings go, and one that should absolutely open up the UFC Fight Night 68 main card. I’m looking forward to it — it’s going to be a good one.

UFC Fight Night 68

• Francisco Rivera vs. Alex Caceres

Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.

Worst: Derek Brunson vs. Krzysztof Jotko, UFC Fight Night 69

My pick for the worst new fight announced this past week is the upcoming middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night 69 between Derek Brunson and Krzysztof Jotko. The fight card is set to go down June 20 at O2 World in Berlin, Germany, and this fight will likely end up on the main card considering the majority of bouts announced for this event are lacking in name value.

I don’t like this matchup because it just doesn’t make sense. Brunson is 4-1 in the UFC with his lone loss coming to top contender Yoel Romero in a fight he was winning until gassing out late and getting finished. Since the loss to Romero, Brunson has looked great, knocking out Ed Herman in the first round at UFC on FOX 13 and defeating Lorenz Larkin by decision at UFC 177, to go along with his earlier UFC wins over Chris Leben and Brian Houston. For a guy who lost to Kendall Grove just three years ago, Brunson’s improvement, especially in the standup department, have been outstanding to watch, and as far as I’m concerned, he’s a bona fide top 20 middleweight, and mighty close to the top 15.

As for Jotko, he’s 2-1 in the UFC with wins over Tor Troeng and Bruno Santos and a loss to Magnus Cedenblad. Cedenblad is an underrated middleweight, and losing to him isn’t that bad, but it’s not good, either. And the two wins Jotko does have came over two fighters who aren’t even in the UFC anymore. So for him to go from beating a couple of Fight Pass fighters and losing to Cedenblad to fighting a guy like Brunson makes no sense, and it’s an opportunity I don’t think he deserves at all.

Stylistically, this fight doesn’t sound too enticing either. Both Brunson and Jotko are grinders, and although Brunson has really been showcasing his striking in recent bouts, Jotko is the kind of fighter that could bring Brunson’s old style back into play. And that doesn’t excite me at all. I’m not sure why UFC matchmaker Joe Silva booked this fight — maybe he knows something we don’t — but on paper it looks like a snoozer, and a snoozer that doesn’t even make sense.

UFC Fight Night 69