About 10 minutes before this article was to be posted, the news officially broke that Fedor Emelianenko, the greatest heavyweight to ever compete in MMA, will be joining the UFC. Rumors are out there that Emelianenko may make his UFC debut at UFC 193 in Australia, in an effort to help Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm break the attendance record Dana White spoke about on Friday evening. I will speak more on this topic in tomorrow’s article, but for today all the MMA fanboy in me has to say is: FEDOR!!! The stacked UFC 194 card received another addition on Monday, as a pair of ranked 115lb fighters were added to the undercard of the event. Fifth-ranked Tecia Torres will look to secure her third consecutive UFC win, and improve her pro record to 7-0 against former Invicta FC atomweight champion Michelle Waterson (ranked 11th). After stumbling on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ against the top two wrestlers on the show (Carla Esparza and Randa Markos), Torres has looked every bit the fighter many thought she was heading into the show by winning wide decisions over Angela Magana and Angela Hill. Another victory over Waterson would likely secure Torres’ spot as the next strawweight title contender. Waterson made her debut in the UFC back in July, and rebounded from losing her Invicta title with a third-round submission against Magana. ‘The Karate Hottie’ had previously defeated former UFC title challenger Jessica Penne to win the atomweight title, so despite moving up a weight class to join the UFC, she is quite capable of competing at 115. While she has a few more names to jump to get herself to a UFC title shot, the strawweight division is as wide open as any at the moment, and a win over Torres would be a huge step for her. Torres will open the favorite in this bout, but the size of the line will depend on what the public sentiment is on the fight as we move towards December. Personally, I think this is a bad matchup for Waterson, who — despite being smaller — will be the slower fighter on the feet and an inferior wrestler. She does have a tricky guard, if Torres decides to use her wrestling here, but that’s probably her best avenue to victory, which is never something you want to bet on. If I can get Torres anywhere near -200, that would probably be worth a play. Just this morning, the UFC announced another fight for the UFC on Fox 17 card, which is quickly being overrun by cast members from TUF 21. This is a good one however, as show winner Kamaru Usman welcomes Leon Edwards to Florida for a welterweight contest. Usman has just one blemish in his MMA career, using his elite wrestling and vicious ground-and-pound to secure the majority of his victories. He did flash a bit of submission game in his TUF finale win however, which is a nice sign of his evolution. Britain’s Edwards has suffered two losses in his career (although one was via DQ), but he takes a very different approach, using his striking whenever possible to sting his opponents. The style clash is interesting here, but I have nothing to suggest that Edwards can stop the takedowns of Usman, or threaten from his back, so I’ll side with the hometown guy in this one. Now, let’s get to the really important news for the day: Conor McGregor got a new hideous tattoo! I heard rumours that the recently crowned pretend featherweight champion wanted to branch out and perhaps get a good looking tattoo this time around, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it, so another ugly one it was. To be fair, I haven’t actually seen the tattoo, but looking at McGregor’s other choices of what to put on his body, I have to assume that this one is up there with Alan Belcher’s Johnny Cash, or Joe Riggs’ Diesel belly tattoo. And that is what makes the MMA world spin.
