UFC 179 Date: October 25, 2014 Arena: Maracanazinho Gymnasium City: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Featherweight bout: Andre “Touchy” Fili (-130) vs Felipe Arantes (+110) Fight Breakdown: Kicking things off for the UFC 179 preliminary card on FOX Sports 1 will be a featherweight scrap between a pair of talented strikers in the form of Team Alpha Male’s Andre “Touchy” Fili and the Brazilian, Felipe Arantes. The betting odds for this bout are at a near coin-flip, with “Touchy” being -130 ($130 to win $100) and Arantes being +110 ($100 to win $110) at Several Bookmakerss. Andre “Touchy” Fili (13-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is coming off a third round guillotine submission loss at the hands of Max Holloway at UFC 172 six months ago and will be looking to bounce back into the win column on Saturday night. “Touchy” is aggressive on the feet and enjoys a good brawl, often willing to take two in order to land one. He has a nice kicking game, working solid leg kicks and body kicks, not to mention a solid head kick. He does a good job of setting up his head kicks. Fili is very fast and does a great job of striking from range, as well from inside the pocket. He dishes out a high volume of strikes and is quite effective with them. He is brutal with his knees and loves to implement them in his striking attack. The 24-year old has a good uppercut, works a nice jab and puts together some solid combinations on the feet. He has an effective straight right, as well as a hard overhand right. His takedown defense is average at best, but when taken down, he is pretty good at finding his way back to his feet. Also, he has an excellent guard and is dangerous off his back, as he constantly threatens with submission attempts, and is very good at scoring reversals. The Team Alpha Male product good wrestling skills, as well as a solid submission game. As far as his ground and pound goes, he is very relentless. His main weakness, as evident in his last bout against Holloway, is his cardio, and I believe he will be at a disadvantage in that department against the Brazilian, Arantes. Felipe Arantes (16-6-1-2 NC MMA, 3-2-1 UFC) successfully bounced back into the win column at UFC Fight Night 36 eight months ago with a unanimous decision victory over Maximo Blanco, and he will be looking to extend that streak to 2-0 when he squares off against “Touchy” this Saturday night in his native Brazil. Though he currently resides in the United States, specifically New Jersey, all seven of the Brazilian’s Octagon appearances have been on Brazil cards. The 26 year old is a talented Tae Kwon Do and Muay Thai fighter who likes to use all of his limbs and has a variety of tools in his striking arsenal. He is dangerous from top position on the mat, as he likes to work a brutal ground and pound attack, which was evident with this first round TKO victory over fellow Brazilian Godofredy Pepey over a year ago. Arantes has very good takedown defense and a solid base, as he has been training in Judo since childhood. He also holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, so he is well-versed on the mat, owning four career wins by way of tapout. One of the best things he has going for him is his conditioning, which is an area I feel he will have an edge over his opponent Fili in this bout. I believe he will be able to go a full three rounds of action without fatigue setting in, and expect him to do so this Saturday night. Gabe’s Thoughts: This fight could be closely contested on the feet, though I give a slight advantage to Arantes there. I think he will find success in keeping the fight on the feet and edging Fili there. I think the first round could go either way, but I think the Brazilian will manage to win rounds two and three for a unanimous decision victory on the judges’ scorecards. I think Arantes should be a -170 favorite in this match-up, so at slight underdog odds, I like him for a play here. Gabe’s Call: Arantes by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Felipe Arantes (+110) 3u to win 3.3u
