The UFC has added a women’s bantamweight bout to its upcoming UFC 159 card, and it’s a good one as former Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling Sara McMann meets German prospect Sheila Gaff in a three-round fight. German based GroundAndPound.de broke the news of the fight today, which takes place April 27 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Many are already pegging McMann, who is undefeated at 6-0 in her young MMA career thus far, as one of the few women who stand a legitimate shot at defeating UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Gaff, on the other hand, is a 23-year-old German fighter with a 10-4-1 record. She has won all 10 of her fights via stoppage, and nine of them came within the first two minutes of the first round. However, she is moving up from flyweight to fight McMann at bantamweight, which is going to be difficult for her. Expect McMann to open as a -250 favorite, with the comeback on Gaff being +200 or so. Trinaldo vs. Rio, Thiago vs. Benoist Added to UFC on FUEL TV 8 The UFC continued to add bouts to its upcoming Brazilian fight card as today TATAME.com reported that lightweights Francisco Trinaldo and Mike Rio, and welterweights Paulo Thiago and Lance Benoist will clash at the upcoming UFC on FX 8 event, which takes place May 16th at Jaragua Arena in Jargua do Sul, Brazil. Trinaldo vs. Rio is an interesting matchup between one of the best wrestlers in the division in Rio and one of the strongest and heaviest-handed punchers in the weight class in Trinaldo. Still, with the fight being in Brazil I see Trinaldo opening as a 2-to-1 favorite, with Rio being a slight underdog. As for Thiago vs. Benoist, there’s no doubt that Thiago is going to get a boost fighting in front of his Brazilian fans, but with losses in four of his last five fights he is a major fade at this point. As for Benoist, he has lost two in a row himself but keep in mind he nearly finished Sean Pierson in the third round of their UFC 152 fight and many thought he squeaked by Seth Baczynski at UFC on FX 3. Expect Thiago to open as the favorite with Benoist the underdog. MacDonald retires from MMA One of Canada’s mixed martial arts legends has retired, as Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald hung up the gloves today for good. James Brydon of Sportsnet.ca broke the news. MacDonald went 25-16 in his career, including a 6-8 mark in the UFC with three “Submission of the Night” and one “Knockout of the Night” awards to his credit. His most recent appearance came at UFC on Fuel TV 3, when he was knocked out by Tom Lawlor. MacDonald leaves the sport of MMA in the capacity of a fighter but don’t be surprised if you see the red-headed Canadian in the corner of fighters in the future as the submission wizard has a wealth of knowledge to teach the youngsters of the sport. Good career, Jason.
