The July Death March, Show 3: 12 Precarious Ponderings For UFC: Mir vs Duffee
The UFC's four show march to glory continues with a special Wednesday night showcase in San Diego, California. This card has a lot to live up to as last year's July card on a Wednesday featured some of the gnarliest finishes and destruction demolitions of the year. This card was shaping up on paper to be my favorite show of the year but then we lost Al Iaquinta vs Gil Melendez. NOW it's just a really good night of fights on a Wednesday which is FAR from a bad thing as well. At the top of the bill we've got a heavyweight battle between Frank Mir taking on Todd Duffee in a battle of former TRT users (that's basically all they have in common besides being carbon based lifeforms) and we've got an undercard filled with big fights featuring some top guys. All in all, it should be a great night of fights and here are 12 things I'm pondering!
1- Ole pal TheAntiCool asked a good question that I suppose needs to be answered: what does the main event even mean in the long run? On paper, I suppose we're looking for answers about what's left of Frank Mir and what we could learn about Todd Duffee. Mir broke a losing streak that felt like it spanned five years while Duffee floats into our lives once a year to KO somebody and then abscond into our subconscious. If Mir wins, does it mean anything? Is a Frank Mir victory over Todd Duffee the sign of a continued renaissance? I 'unno. If Todd Duffee wins, is the door open for Duffee to finally make good on his upside and power? I 'unno. Perhaps we're thinking too deep on this. The heavyweight division is a collection of spare parts leftover from other sports and in most cases, other eras of MMA. Can we pretend to accurately know what anything at HW means? The answer is probably no...but maybe the answer doesn't even matter. Maybe we should just accept that this shit is fucking complicated and move on.
2- One thing which I WOULD like to see is to see Mir and Duffee engage in something beyond a sloppy slugfest. We know Mir has a "bad" chin, we know Duffee has power, we know Duffee can be KO'd and we know Mir can submit a guy. Let's see if Mir's wrestling has improved or if Duffee can go beyond a round or if he can grapple or SOMETHING other than a first round KO that says nothing about either guy.
3- Honest question: does a win by Frank Mir (combined with maybe one more win before the end of the year) make him the comeback fighter of the year?
4- The co-main on this card is good enough to be a headliner as Tony "El Cuycuy" Ferguson takes on Josh Thomson in an important fight between two top lightweights. Ferguson is seeking that one win which will put his stock over the top where as Thomson needs a win to avoid going 0-3 in the UFC at a time where the lightweight division is getting younger and more athletic. Perfectly fine matchmaking.
5- Thomson is going to absolutely need to up his aggressiveness if he wants a chance to win this fight. Otherwise he's going to get picked apart at a distance by El Cucuy who is a long striker with power in his hands and his legs. At the same time if Thomson can wrestle, he could potentially put El Cucuy on his back and grind him out. Ferguson has been at times susceptible to chasing submissions and giving up position.
6- If I had told you that Manny Gamburyan was 3-1-1 in his last 5 fights would you believe me? Cuz he totally is.
7- One of the guys who suffered from a long layoff is Masanori Kanehara. Think back to when Alex Caceres had given Urijah Faber hell for three rounds before getting submitted and then Masanori Kanehara got in there and beat the hell out of Caceres for a decision win. Now that win isn't as impressive and Kanehara's lost all of that momentum. He's got a chance to recoup his stock against ultra tough dude Rani Yahya.
8- This card has a lot of solid well put together bouts and should be a credit to Shelby and Silva. One fight I'm really gravitating towards is the Marion Reneau vs Holly Holm bout. That's two fighters with strengths in their respective games facing off. Can Holm outbox Reneau or can Marion submit Holly?
9- Good lord Matt Dwyer vs Alan Jouban is going to end with somebody face down innit?
10- Color me moderately curious to see who emerges from this Kevin Lee vs James Moontasri fight as the winner. Kevin Lee has had some clunkers but he gave Al Iaquinta hell with a torn ACL and his wrestling could trouble Moontasri. James Moontasri though is a whirlwind of violence who feasts on fighters who can't take him down or gas him out. Nice styles clash.
11- Sam Sicilia went from the first fight on FOX to the fucking prelim headliner. Life SUCKS sometimes. He's going to ice Meza pretty badly too.
12- Lyman Good is on the card so YAY AntiCool and the plebeians who like Lyman Good!
