Alonzo Menifield is a super athletic guy that’s in a division where being athletic will get him far. So far Menifield has shown great ability to defend takedowns, and eventually make his opponents pay with his hands. He does spend too much time in the clinch when his opponents go for takedowns, but he usually takes a calm and measured approach. I like Menifields hands, I like his cardio, and I like his takedown defense that I have seen so far. This guy is very green in his career, and he can be built up to be a stud in a few years.
This guy brings in a heavy wrestling attack. On the feet he is athletic enough to pull off head-kick knockouts, but he is too slow to pull it off against good opposition. His bread and butter seems to be the wrestling, but his top game is nothing to write home about. He can and will smother his opponents if they allow him to, but he's not the most active guy when in dominant positions. Anything can happen when a UFC contract is on the line, but this guy has not shown the excitement in his style that will woo the crowd. If he keeps on improving, he has the wrestling to be a force in the division in the future.
I think this is Menifields fight to lose. He is the better fighter at this point in both of their young careers, and he should be able to use the "sprawl and brawl" game-plan to get the job done. Boatwright is going to look to throw big shots, but he doesn't do a great job getting in range to land them. His main game-plan will to be to slow this fight down with a ton of grappling to wear Menifield down. Taking Menifield down has worked in the past, and if Menifield has not improved on his grappling defense then this could be a big upset for Boatwright. I just don't see Menifield not having the opportunity to land a good combination that will take Boatwright out of this fight. Alonzo Menifield by KO, Round 2.
This guy is a southpaw that throws very calculated shots. He mixes his striking up very well, attacking the body very often. He can get bum-rushed, and he covers up well, but he backs straight up into the fence. His chin and durability seems to be very good, and he should have a good future if he continues to improve from fight to fight.
Lally seems to be more of good talker than he is a good fighter. The man has a power, but he does not set any of his shots up very well. I've seen him get picked apart by rangier and lankier opponents. Theres room for a lot of improvement with this guy, and we shall see if he can put it all together when he's in the spotlight.
I see Curtis implementing his range with push kicks and straight punches. He's going to be the matador while Lally will try to lunge forward like a wild bull. If Curtis can circle off and not just back straight up into the cage, then he should be able to stay out of a considerable amount of danger. I've watched Lally get pieced up before by better strikers, and I think that's what we are going to see in this fight. Both are tough and durable guys, so this fight should take its time to play out. Chris Curtis by Decision.
There’s really not much to go off of since his fights have only lasted a few seconds each. From what I did see, this man does have some heavy hands, and he sets them up pretty well for someone that has no MMA background. There’s so many questions that I have about this guy that it’s impossible to be confident that he will win many fights until they are answered. We need to see someone try to take him down. We need to see him work off of his back. We need to see how his cardio is when he is actually in a good battle. And we need to see how his chin holds up once he gets cracked. If he can defend takedowns, and keep a good pace in his future fights, then this man will be a fun prospect to get behind in the lackluster Heavyweight division.
This guy is a former NFL player as well. He’s got a very tall and lean build to him that might give him an edge in his career. Once again, this man only has a few seconds of actual fight time in each of his fights. I really do not like the way he throws punches. They seem slow, and he leaves his chin straight up ready to be countered by someone that has the skill to do so. He has not faced that opponent yet. As I watched his career in chronological order, I noticed that he did look sharper in his most recent fights. He looked like he had more pop in his punches, and he wasn’t so labored with his movement. I think this could be another fun guy to watch if he improves a lot, but the same questions that I have for Greg Hardy have not been answered about Austin Lane. He’s very young in the game, and has a lot of potential to grow at the age of 30 in a division where most of the top fighters are close to 40.
I see this fight playing out just like their previous fights in their short careers. This will not last too long with these guys throwing heavy leather at each other. I see Austen Lane trying to throw kicks, but he might just get countered by throwing one. If Lane is successful with landing leg kicks then we will get to see how well Hardy can defend those kicks. There is a small margin for error in this fight, and I think Greg Hardy has better hands, and the heavier hands of the two. Should be a fun fight, unlike that CM Punk fight. Greg Hardy by KO, Round 1.
Rico DiSciullo trains with Mark Dellagrotte in Boston. That camp has some very underrated up and coming fighters as of late. It was very hard to see any recent footage on Rico, so it’s hard to tell if he has improved from the fights that I was able to see from him (which I’m sure he has). He seems like a scrappy fighter that can outwork his opponents everywhere. He might get taken down, but he will reverse you and will go for the finish whether it’s a submission or with punches. On the feet, I did not get to see much of how he strikes, but there wasn’t anything that I did not like from what I saw. He attacks at a high volume, and had decent enough defense for me to believe he could improve to a good fighter. Plus he’s training with Dellagrotte, so he should have some good fundamentals on the feet. That’s all I got on Rico DiSciullo, and it’s a shame. The kid looks to have potential and I would’ve liked to of seen his previous fights.
Montel Jackson looks to be a well groomed up and comer. He’s very cool, calm, and collected when striking from his southpaw stance. He likes to mix in leg, and body kicks with his rear power leg. He also throws a nice calculated straight left down the pipe. Defensively he evades his opponents punches very well, and counters off of their forward movement. Jackson has an excellent clinch game as well. He’ll hit you with powerful knees and elbows effortlessly. His takedown defense has held up so far against very subpar competition, and he has destroyed two of his opponents with those “Travis Brown elbows” when defending takedowns. He seems to have good top control on the ground, but he almost got caught in two arm-bars in one of his fights. That’s pretty concerning. The level of competition that he has faced so far is very low level. I think he has a great future ahead of him, but he needs time to groom after this fight whether he wins or loses.
The odds highly suggest that Montel Jackson should get the win Tuesday night. Even though I did not get to see much tape on Rico DiSciullo, I think Rico can make this fight very ugly and close. Jackson has been fighting very low level guys, but he has shown tremendous fundamentals in his fights. The problem that I have with Montel being such a big favorite is the fact that we have not seen him get pushed as a fighter. Rico is that kind of guy that will fight back. Early in the fight I see Jackson having success everywhere this fight takes place, but as the fight goes on Rico should be able to make this fight into a brawl. When things don’t go Jackson’s way, I wonder how he will deal with things. I’m going to go with the scrappy underdog to get the job done. The winner of this might not get the contract, but they will be close to joining the UFC very soon. Rico DiSciullo by Decision.
This man is a monster. He should probably be fighting at 170, but he is a scary man to stand across none-the-less. He is very cautious, but once he does start throwing he will throw 5 to 6 huge bombs at a time. He’s seems like the kind of guy that will either get the knockout in the first 7 minutes of the fight, or he will gas out and his opponents can take over. He can be kept at range and could get picked apart from the outside. He has never won a fight that has gone past the first round.
As far as his future goes, he is just a fun guy to watch. Very small for the Middleweight division, and I would like to see him eventually go down to 170 if he wants to have a serious chance at climbing the ranks. He has been training at Jackson/Wink for the last year, and ever since he made the move, he went from being flat-footed to having good footwork. Improvement from fight to fight is a good sign, but I’d like to see a lot more than heavy and wild punches if I’m going to think highly of this guy’s chances of climbing the ranks.
Kevin Holland has very similar mannerisms as Jon Jones with his offense and defense on the feet. Very lanky for his division, and likes to throw a lot of side-kicks to the legs and body to keep his distance. When he has the chance, he likes to get ahold of the clinch and try to work for takedowns. From what I have seen, his takedowns from the clinch have not been very successful thus far in his career. He does extremely well on the ground against grapplers. He is good at using his length to reverse positions, good at defending submissions, and has great top control once he gets on top.
Kevin Holland seems to be a true martial artist. He’s always competing in Jiu Jitsu tournaments, and Muay Thai fights to this day. I do think he needs to work on keeping his hands up to defend incoming punches a lot better than he does, but he has shown to have a great chin. He seems to be improving fight to fight as a martial artist, and if he stays on this course he should have a good future in his MMA career.
I think this fight is in favor of the more well-rounded martial artist Kevin Holland, but you cannot count Will Santiago out of this fight. Santiago has one path to victory, and that is to throw heavy leather to get the KO. Holland needs to be extra cautious when exchanging on the feet, and he needs to use his huge reach advantage to keep the distance. If Holland isn’t sharp and gets lazy with one of his side kicks, I can see Santiago walking right threw a kick to land a huge overhand right that will end the night. The longer this fight goes, I see Holland having the advantage, and if Holland can get this fight to the mat, the fight should be considered over. Kevin Holland by TKO, Round 2.