Two new fights were added to UFC Fight Night 66, which takes place May 16 at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my quick thoughts on both matchups. Mark Munoz vs. Luke Barnatt A middleweight matchup between Mark Munoz and Luke Barnatt was added to the card. Munoz is coming off of a devastating submission loss to Roan Carneiro at UFC 184 and has lost his last three fights by stoppage, while Barnatt is coming off of two-straight losses himself and, like Munoz, is in a must-win position here if he wants to keep his job with the UFC. I don’t really like this matchup, and it’s mainly because I feel like Munoz should have retired immediately after the Carneiro fight. I know that a chokeout isn’t the same as a knockout, but it’s been hard watching Munoz lose in such brutal fashion over the last few years, and if he knew what was good for him, he would have called it quits after the Carneiro fight. Instead, because he so desperately wants on the Philippines card, he is taking another fight sooner than expected, and it’s a difficult matchup against a tall, young, hungry middleweight in Barnatt. I don’t think Barnatt is a great fighter, but he certainly has the skills and intangibles to be a force at middleweight, and I really think he beats Munoz. I think there’s a really good chance Barnatt even knocks Munoz out in devastating fashion, and either way, I expect “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” to retire after this fight. As far as a line goes, I personally feel like Barnatt should be the favorite here, but Munoz does get respect from the betting public so I guess it wouldn’t surprise me if he was favored, but I’ll be betting on Barnatt here and I’m hopeful we’ll get a good line on him. Royston Wee vs. Ning Guangyou A bantamweight bout between Royston Wee and TUF China winner Ning Guangyou will also take place at this card. I don’t really have a great read on this fight as I didn’t watch TUF China and have only really seen Guangyou’s fight at the finale, and with Wee he has a very limited body of work and while I’ve seen his UFC bouts, I still don’t feel like I have a great read on him. I’m not sure how the line will look for this one, but if I had to guess it’ll be around a Pick ’em.
