UFC Fight Night 60 Date: 02/14/15 Arena: 1STBank Center City: Broomfield CO Lightweight bout: Kevin Lee (-155) vs Michel Prazeres (+135) Fight Breakdown: The UFC Fight Night 60 main card will feature a 155 pound contest between Michigan’s Kevin “The Motown Phenom” Lee and Brazil’s Michel “Trator” Prazeres, with Lee being favored to win at -155 ($155 to win $100) and Brazeres being a betting underdog at +135 ($100 to win $135) at Several Bookmakerss. Kevin Lee (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) suffered his first professional mixed martial arts defeat by unanimous decision against Al Iaquinta in his promotional debut, but has since successfully bounced back with a pair of decision victories of his own against Jesse Ronson and Jon Tuck, respectively. Now he looks to extend his winning streak to three in a row against the Brazilian on Saturday night in Colorado. “The Motown Phenom” is a talented wrestler who holds notable career victories over Bellator veteran JP Reese and current BAMMA lightweight champion Mansour Barnaoui. He has solid wrestling and is quite effective with both the single and double-leg takedowns. He makes excellent transitions on the mat, doing a great job advancing from position to position. Lee is a good boxer who is light on his feet. He has a solid lead jab, a nice uppercut, and throws a heavy overhand right. He has a good high kick, and also works kicks to the body really well. That said, Lee mainly uses his striking to set up his takedowns. He likes to get his opponents up against the cage, where he does damage with his knees, and when he decides to take the fight down to the mat, he employs a solid ground and pound attack. The 22-year old has decent striking defense, good submission defense, and great takedown defense. He works a great front choke, which he has finished a couple of his recent opponents with. For this bout, Lee left Triumph MMA in Grand Rapids, MI and moved to Las Vegas, NV, making Xtreme Couture his new home. He is durable fighter who generally does a good job of listening to his coaches when inside the cage. It will be interesting to see the strides he has made since switching camps, and if he has the same chemistry with the his current coaches as he did with his coaches back in Michigan. Michel Prazeres (18-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) scored an upset victory over Mairbek Taisumov in his last outing at UFC Fight Night 38 nearly a year ago, dominating the Chechnyan fighter for all three rounds of action to pick up a very unexpected one-sided victory on the judges’ scorecards. The victory put the Brazilian on a two-fight winning streak, which he will be looking to extend to three in a row against Lee this Saturday night. Prazeres is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and is very skilled in the submission game, owning eight of his 18 professional mixed martial arts victories by way of tapout. He works pretty good takedowns, especially his single leg and body lock takedowns. He really goes after the takedowns, and is relentless in his efforts to cash in on them. The Brazilian is not a skilled striker by any stretch of the imagination, so he relies on his grappling to win fights. He has a decent overhand right, and does pack power in his hands, but he has a lot of holes in his striking and it will be interesting to see how much improvement he has made in the department during his extended absence from the cage. Prazeres will likely look to take this fight to the mat from the get-go, where he will look to initiate his offensive submission game. He is very strong and likes to control opponents on the mat, using his high level jiu-jitsu and incredible strength. The Brazilian remains active on the mat, as he constantly searches for submission opportunities, especially chokes. He is a tough fighter who possesses great heart. The biggest question marks concerning Prazeres heading into this bout would be his chin and cardio. He has never been finished in his professional mixed martial arts career, but his chin remain a question mark, nonetheless, as I have yet to see it really get put to a test. Prazeres was never a cardio-machine to begin with, and fighting in high-altitude Broomfield, CO following a near year-long layoff, I consider it a big question mark and think the answer to it could result in his first defeat by way of finish. Gabe’s Thoughts: As long as there is no first round finish, and I can’t really imagine there being one, I think Prazeres is going to fade in either round two or three, where Lee will ultimately stop him with strikes, handing the Brazilian his first T/KO loss, while scoring the first T/KO victory for Lee. That said, if a finish fails to come and this fight hits the judges’ scorecards for a decision, I think Lee takes the nod more often than not. Between the two lightweights looking to move their winning streaks to three, I think Lee has the better chance of making that happen this Saturday night, and at his current betting price of -155, I think he’s worth a small play. Gabe’s Call: Lee by T/KO (punches, 1:32 round 3) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Kevin Lee (-155) 1.86u to win 1.2u
