UFC on FUEL 5: 'Struve vs Miocic'

[wandshogun09]

It's changed again. It's not Rich Attonito now it's DaMarques Johnson stepping in to fight Gunnar Nelson. That's actually a better fight. Can't wait for that one.

[Magnum Milano]

It's changed again. It's not Rich Attonito now it's DaMarques Johnson stepping in to fight Gunnar Nelson. That's actually a better fight. Can't wait for that one.

Yeah, just seen the fights changed again, although it's getting into must win territory for Johnson. I've enjoyed his past two fights against Maguire and Swick, but a loss for him here and he'll move to 0-3 in his last three.

 

Cheers for that article Wand, and I think Hardy will handle Sadollah quite comfortably.

[David]

Cheers for that article Wand, and I think Hardy will handle Sadollah quite comfortably.

We can certainly hope so I guess. I'm also hoping for wins for Watson, Pickett, Hathaway, Ogle and Manuwa.

[wandshogun09]

The Brits have some tough match ups on this one. Even the debuting Watson and Manuwa have solid opposition.

 

Manuwa has a lot of hype around him and I hope he goes on to great things but if you look at the guys he's beat a lot have losing records. Kingsbu is a big step up from his opponents so far.

 

Also Sass is getting a step up in Wiman. Ogle vs Akira is a toss up for me. Hathaway vs Maguire should be an interesting all UK fight.

 

I fancy Hardy fairly comfortably on points but you never know with Sadollah. He's got decent BJJ znd he's a busy striker. I could see him possibly nicking a couple of rounds just on being busier. Should be a good fight.

 

It's a great card. Full of interesting match ups which aren't easy to call.

[wandshogun09]

Who's everyone fancy to win the main event then?

 

I like Miocic in this one. He's the better striker despite giving up reach, he's a Golden Gloves boxer with power in his hands and Struve has been known to get into ill advised slugfests.

 

You'd have to give Struve the edge in BJJ but I think he'll struggle getting the takedown given his lack of wrestling and Stipe having a Div 1 background.

 

Just a bit of a bad style for Struve for me. I like both but I'm rooting for Struve. Just see it ending badly for him.

 

I'm going with a Miocic 2nd round KO/TKO in a really exciting fight.

[wandshogun09]

Struve vs Miocic 'In Focus'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpfcXx2P1UY

 

No countdown for this obviously being a FUEL show but this is a nice little 7 minute preview piece done by FUEL for the main event. It's different than the usual stuff but I like it.

 

Been surprisingly little hype online for the Hardy vs Sadollah and Pickett vs Jabouin fights. I expect both to turn out to be excellent on the night but you'd think there'd be more stuff online. Interviews and things like that. Especially given Hardy's personality and the show being in his hometown.

[Egg Shen]

i don't think there'll be a bad fight on the card.

 

I'm fancying Struve in the main event, i always sleep on Miocic because he sort of comes and goes with little hype or fuss so i may be overlooking him but i fancy Struve to pull it out, the big fucker's been coming into his own as of late.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Every time Struve starts to get on a roll, he suffers a vicious highlight reel KO, so I'm kind of wary of backing him here. Miocic is a very heavy striker, if I was Struve I'd utilise the Lavar gameplan and get it to the ground by any means necessary. I think the "old" Struve (feels strange to say with how young he is, but this'll be his 11th UFC fight) would have made it a WAR with Lavar, but he went straight to his strength, so I think he's maturing as a fighter.

 

Hardy will want to put on a show in his hometown, but I think Amir will want to slow things down and grind out a decision. It's funny, I know who Amir is and I've seen his fights, but none of them resonate with me, so I'm typecasting him as a grinder for the time being. But again, it's playing to strengths. Hardy is a great striker and a suspect grappler, the smart thing to do for Amir would be to take his striking away. Hopefully Hardy has improved his TDD, I'd like to see him go on a roll- he's one Brit I like

 

Pickett vs Jabouin and Ludwig vs Mills could be wars, with the former being a more well rounded display and the latter being a slugfest. I'll pick the Pickett fight for FOTN.

 

Looking at this card now, starting to get keen for it. The next two shows haven't been promoted that well, with the advertising at 152 being focused on 153 (rightfully so, but they could have chucked in a couple of Fuel/FX ads in there).

[wandshogun09]

Every time Struve starts to get on a roll, he suffers a vicious highlight reel KO, so I'm kind of wary of backing him here. Miocic is a very heavy striker, if I was Struve I'd utilise the Lavar gameplan and get it to the ground by any means necessary. I think the "old" Struve (feels strange to say with how young he is, but this'll be his 11th UFC fight) would have made it a WAR with Lavar, but he went straight to his strength, so I think he's maturing as a fighter.

 

Yeah Struve fought smart with Lavar. Problem with this fight is Stipe is a very strong wrestler so I'm not sure Struve will be able to put him on his back. His BJJ advantage becomes a non factor in that case. And on the feet, although Struve has the reach advantage he rarely uses it.

 

Stipe for me is the better striker for sure in this fight. He doesn't seem to have massively powerful hands like a JDS or Shane Carwin but he makes up for it with good boxing and accuracy.

 

As much as I root for Struve I just don't see a clear path for him here.

 

Hardy will want to put on a show in his hometown, but I think Amir will want to slow things down and grind out a decision. It's funny, I know who Amir is and I've seen his fights, but none of them resonate with me, so I'm typecasting him as a grinder for the time being.

 

Amir's primarily a striker as well so I don't see a grinding out type of fight here. Amir's got solid Muay Thai technique, he's trained a lot in Holland and I think Thailand on his striking and has a good chin. He just lacks the kind of power to finish a lot of the time and Hardy does have a good enough chin on him where you'd think he should be able to take what Amir dishes out.

 

It should be an exciting style fight. I would say Amir holds a bit of an advantage in submissions but it will most likely be a striking match. I'd actually say Amir is probably slightly slicker with his combos and more varied with his attacks. But I think Hardy will sense that Amir lacks power and he'll be able to win through by landing more hurtful strikes like elbows and hooks.

 

I think it will be more competitive than a lot are predicting but Hardy will take a points win.

 

I usually predict what will get FOTN but this card is full of likely candidates to be honest. Hardy/Amir, Pickett/Jabouin, Sass/Wiman, Ludwig/Mills and Gunnar/DaMarques are probably my frontrunners. So yeah, half the card

[Egg Shen]

anyone know what time the prelims will start on facebook? I'm sure i read 5pm somewhere but i can't remember where.

 

The show isn't actually on live (is it?) so im assuming there's gonna be a bit of a gap between the prelims ending and the show starting on ESPN.

 

** EDIT **

 

according to UFC.com (shoulda looked there first) the prelims start at 6pm BST, so that means they'll probably run straight into the EPSN broadcast which is good news.

[bono]

Tv coverage starts at 9pm on espn here.

[David]

A wee bit of info for any fans who are Nottingham-based;

 

This is your chance to meet Ross Pearson, Michael Kuiper and Alexander Gustafson, who will be at the store from 6.00pm to meet fans and sign copies of the UFC Best Of Collection 2009-2011 DVD.

 

HMV Nottingham, Victoria Centre.

[jimufctna24]

It has not sunk in that I am attending this yet, on paper it looks a stronger card than 138 that I also attended.

 

Main Event I see Stipe winning, Struve has not yet learnt to use he is reach as well as he should, Stipe has decent boxing and as mentioned Struve biggest threat is through his submissions like armbars and triangles, as Stipe is the better wrestler he can dictate where the fight goes and take away Struves most powerful weapons.

[wandshogun09]

It does look stronger than 138 to me as well. There were a few really fun fights on 138 but pretty much every fight on Saturday looks fantastic. I loved 138 but if these fights on Saturday deliver like they should then this could be a sleeper in the Card Of The Year conversation.

[Bus Surfer]

I'm looking forward to it. It's a nice feeling when we get a show live that we can watch at a sensible hour of the day with a beer in hand. I always look forward to the UK shows purely because of it. I fancy Miocic in the main but I'd love to see Struve win, but I don't see him fighting smart and getting into a slugfest like he usually does. The rest of the card should produce some very easy on the eye fights from top to bottom. We get the debuts of Watson and Manuwa, and the crowd will be red hot as usual, which always gives it a great feel overall.

 

Roll on Saturday.