First and Worst: Week of May 25 – May 31, 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: Willie Gates vs. Darrell Montague, TUF 21 Finale

My pick for the best new fight announced this past week is a flyweight matchup between Willie Gates and Darrell Montague, which will take place July 12 at the TUF 21 Finale at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s expected to be on the preliminary card for the event, which takes place a day after UFC 189.

Neither guy is very well-known by fight fans, but this is going to be a very fun scrap between two gritty flyweights who love to throw down. Neither guy has a win in the UFC as of yet, but obviously that will change once they fight each other (barring, of course, an unlikely draw). But you have to look closer at their records to understand why they haven’t won yet.

In Gates’ case, he’s only fought once in the UFC, where he lost via third-round submission to John Moraga. However, he took that fight on short notice and was actually putting up a very good fight before gassing late and losing. “Whoop-Ass,” standing at 5’9, is one of the biggest flyweights in the UFC, and with his improvements from fight to fight, this is a guy who could soon break into the top 15 of the division.

As for Montague, he’s fought twice, losing to top contenders John Dodson and Kyoji Horiguchi. There is no shame in losing to either of those fighters, so even though his record isn’t looking good, he’s definitely a solid flyweight, one who before coming to the UFC was being touted as a future contender. Obviously that hasn’t been the case yet, but Montague is young enough and talented enough to turn things around.

I envision a very fun back-and-forth bout between these two fighters, one that has “Fight of the Night” written all over it. You may not be familiar with these fighters, but I am, and I’m telling you right now, don’t miss this fight come July.

TUF 21 Finale

• Willie Gates vs. Darrell Montague

Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.

Worst: Elizabeth Phillips vs. Jessamyn Duke, UFC on FOX 16

My pick for the worst new fight announced this past week is the upcoming women’s bantamweight matchup at UFC on FOX 16 between Elizabeth Phillips and Jessamyn Duke. The event takes place July 25 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois, and Phillips vs. Duke is expected to be on the Fight Pass prelims.

Boy, this is a bad fight between two ladies who do not belong in the UFC. In the case of Phillips, she’s 0-2 in the UFC with split decision losses to Milana Dudieva and Valerie Letourneau. She hasn’t shown any skills in her fights to make me believe she has much in the way of a bright future in MMA, and the only reason she is on the roster appears to be because she is friends with TUF 18 winner Julianna Peña.

As for Duke, she’s 1-2 in the UFC with a win over Peggy Morgan and losses to Bethe Correia and Leslie Smith, the latter of whom knocked her cold. She hasn’t fought in forever, and looked terrible the last time we did see her. The only reason she is still on the roster appears to be because of her affiliation to Ronda Rousey, and that’s not a good thing.

I’m expecting a really bad kickboxing match between these two, one that features a lot of cage clinching and general awfulness. I’m not sure why either fighter is still on the roster, but thankfully one won’t be after this fight is over and done with…I hope.

UFC on FOX 16