After this past weekend’s UFC Fight Night 73 event, we now have two weeks until the next major show, but that didn’t stop some pretty big fight announcements from taking place: Ross Pearson vs Paul Felder, UFC 191 Both men are coming off of decision losses, but it was Felder who actually had his stock rise in his defeat. Pearson was outgrappled and outpressured by Evan Dunham in a very ho-hum performance while Felder had an extremely entertaining “spinning shit” battle against Edson Barboza. Felder held his own with the top 10 UFC lightweight and landed some pretty good shots but it wasn’t enough. Now, Felder and Pearson have been matched against one another and it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Felder open the favorite. That being said, he’s currently -310 to Pearson’s +255 and that’s a bit surprising. Pearson is a solid vet with some big wins in his career and has faced much stiffer competition. I would have thought the line would be a bit closer, but the public hype is behind Felder, who’s flashier and is likely the more durable fighter. Anthony Hamilton vs. Derrick Lewis, UFC 192 This is a surprising winner vs loser match-up. Both Hamilton and Lewis are monstrous heavyweights, usually coming in at the 265 pound limit. Hamilton is on the heels of a decision victory over Daniel Omielanczuk this past April while Lewis was recently knocked out in the second round of his fight against Shawn Jordan in early June. Despite Hamilton having the momentum, I favor Lewis in this contest. Hamilton isn’t much of a striker and will need to outwrestle Lewis in this bout and I don’t know if he’ll be able to. Neither fighter has a great chin, but Lewis hits harder, particularly with his ground and pound and I see him picking up a TKO at some point.
