A few new matchups were announced over the weekend, and for Monday morning’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll tell you what they were and give my quick thoughts on them. Walt Harris vs. Soa Palelei, UFC Fight Night 55 Due to an injury to Daniel Omielanczuk, the heavyweight bout between he and Soa Palelei at UFC Fight Night 55 was scrapped, but instead of taking Palelei off the card, the UFC called up Walt Harris from Titan FC and the big man will make his return to the Octagon on November 8 at Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia. Palelei will have the size advantage in this fight as well as the wrestling advantage, and with his knockout power he could definitely catch Harris and put him away. That being said, Harris is a solid striker and in his last fight showed he still has good power with a knockout win over DJ Linderman. This is a close fight to call and I think Palelei will end up being favored, but I actually think Harris can pull it off and I believe he could be a dog to keep an eye out for. Tim Means vs. Marcio Alexandre Jr., UFC Fight Night 58 A welterweight bout between Tim Means and TUF Brazil 3’s Marcio Alexandre Jr. has been added to UFC Fight Night 58, which takes place December 20 at Ginasio Jose Correa in Barueri, Brazil. Alexandre Jr. was a finalist on TUF Brazil. He is a very deadly striker and the majority of his wins have come by knockout. While he usually holds the striking advantage in his bouts, I’m not sure if that’s the case here. I believe Means is one of the more technically-sound kickboxers at 170lbs and he has a lot of power, too. He also has a lot more experience against a higher-level of competition. While Alexandre Jr. may get some love from the betting public, I do like Means here, and I believe he deserves to enter the fight as the favorite. Ildemar Alcantara vs. Richardson Moreira, UFC 183 And finally, a middleweight bout between Ildemar Alcantara and Richardson Moreira has been added to UFC 183, which takes place January 31 at an unannounced venue in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alcantara is moving up from welterweight to 185lbs for this fight, while Moreira is moving down from heavyweight to 185lbs, which makes the bout intriguing. Alcantara flamed out at 170lbs, getting absolutely decimated by Kenny Robertson in his last fight. Moreira, likewise, was plastered in his last fight, getting knocked out in 20 seconds by Marcos Rogerio de Lima. I don’t think either of these fighters has a bright future in the UFC, and the loser of this bout will most likely be cut. While Moreira will have the size advantage here, he has really bad cardio and I think Alcantara is going to look better at middleweight as I felt he was too drained from the weight cut at 170lbs. This will be a close fight in the betting odds, but I believe Alcantara should be ever-so-slightly favored here.
