First and Worst: April 20 – April 26, 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: Tim Means vs. Matt Brown, UFC 189

My pick for the best upcoming fight is the welterweight bout at UFC 189 between Tim Means and Matt Brown. The card takes place July 11 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Means vs. Brown is expected to open up the main card on pay-per-view.

Fans are already view this scrap as a surefire “Fight of the Night” contender on a stacked UFC 189 card, and I agree with this. This is just fantastic matchmaking by Joe Silva. Means and Brown are two of the most violent, deadly, and exciting strikers not only in the welterweight division, but in the UFC in general. Both men are constantly involved in fights the fans love, and so putting them together at this point in time only makes sense.

For Means, it’s a chance to get a win over a top-10 opponent in Brown and emerge as an elite welterweight contender. Means has won four straight fights and is 4-1 overall since returning to the UFC as a welterweight, with the lone loss being a controversial unanimous decision defeat to Neil Magny. After struggling as a lightweight in his first UFC run back in 2012-2013, Means looks like a completely different fighter at 170 lbs, and has quietly racked up a nice little win streak that includes three finishes in his last four outings and five finishes in his last seven fights, including his time in Legacy FC.

For Brown, on the other hand, defeating Means would snap his two-fight losing skid and reignite interest in him as a welterweight contender. Brown is still one of the best 170-pounders in the world despite his recent run of losses, but he absolutely needs to snap his losing streak against Means if he’s to still be taken seriously as a title contender. While Brown will no doubt enter the fight as the favorite, he is in no way a lock to win this match, one that he needs to win if he wants to avoid the dreaded three-fight losing streak.

With so much on the line for both men in a fight between two fighters with similar styles, there is just no chance this can be a boring fight. This is going to be a good one, and fight fans will be in for a treat this summer when the bout goes down.

UFC 189

• Tim Means vs. Matt Brown

Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.

Worst: Danny Castillo vs. Rustam Khabilov, UFC on FOX 16

My pick for the worst new fight announced this past week is the upcoming lightweight bout at UFC on FOX 16 between Danny Castillo and Rustam Khabilov. The event takes place July 25 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois, and Castillo vs. Khabilov is expected to be a preliminary bout.

The UFC tried to make this fight already, and it was supposed to go down at UFC 182, but it was scratched due to Khabilov not being able to obtain a visa in time for the bout. Instead, Castillo fought Paul Felder and looked terrible, getting brutally knocked out by a spinning back fist, while Khabilov was moved to UFC Fight Night 61, where he lost a split decision to Adriano Martins in a terrible fight.

With both men coming off of bad losses, this is just not a fight I’m interested in seeing at this point in time. To be completely honest, it wasn’t a fight that really excited me the first time it was announced, and now that both men are coming off of dismal performances, clearly it’s not any better now.

I guess the fight makes sense as a way to get both fighters a chance to beat an opponent coming off of a loss and stick around the UFC, but on paper it’s just not an exciting fight, and I’m not really looking forward to it.