A few new matchups were announced in the last 24 hours, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my thoughts on all of them. Chris Wade vs. Christos Giagos, UFC Fight Night 68 A lightweight contest between Chris Wade and Christos Giagos is the latest addition to UFC Fight Night 68, which takes place June 6 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. This fight will be on the prelims. This is a pretty good fight between two young, up-and-coming lightweights. Wade is 2-0 in the UFC with wins over Lipeng Zhang and Cain Carriozosa, while Giagos is 1-1 with a win over Jorge de Oliveira and a loss to Gilbert Burns. Both men are very solid grapplers so it will be interesting to see what happens if this fight hits the mat. Wade, who has the wrestling advantage, should dictate where this fight takes place and I expect him to be favored in this one, but Giagos is a solid prospect and could surprise. Yuta Sasaki vs. Taylor Lapilus, UFC Fight Night 69 A bantamweight bout between Yuta Sasaki and Taylor Lapilus has been added to UFC Fight Night 69, which takes place June 20 at O2 World in Berlin, Germany. It will be a part of the event’s prelims. Interesting matchmaking here. After smashing Roland Delorme in his UFC debut, Sasaki took a massive step back in his last fight, losing by submission to Leandro Issa. So it’s interesting that the UFC is matching him up with Lapilus, who is coming off of a lopsided win over Rocky Lee in his UFC debut. He is now moving down to 135lbs, where he could be quite dominant should the weight cut go well. I was high on Sasaki for a while, but after seeing how poorly he performed in his last fight I have some question marks about him now. Lapilus isn’t as good of a prospect as some think, but he’s pretty solid and he is improving, and I think he should win this fight. Look for him to be favored heading into this one. Lyoto Machida vs. Yoel Romero, TUF Brazil 4 Finale The main event for the TUF Brazil 4 has been finalized, and it’s a terrific five-round middleweight bout between Lyoto Machida and Yoel Romero. The event takes place June 27 at Ginasio do Ibirapuera and also features a welterweight contest between Rick Story and Erick Silva. This is a great fight. The UFC is really testing Romero here, and if he can beat a former UFC champion like Machida I expect him to be right in line for a title shot. Romero is actually catching Machida at a good time, as Machida is coming off of a devastating loss to Luke Rockhold. If Romero can implement a similar gameplan and take Machida down to the mat like Rockhold did, perhaps he can lay on top of him and land some heavy ground and pound, or maybe even get a submission. This is a good fight, and the outcome depends on how far Machida has fallen — and how good Romero truly is. If Machida is indeed shot and if Romero is the real deal, the Cuban could be looking at a stoppage win here. But if Machida returns to form and if Romero experiences some ring rust following his long layoff, Machida could pull out the win. It’s a tough one to call. I expect Machida to be the favorite, but I am leaning Romero right now based on how vulnerable Machida looked against Rockhold.
