We are five months into 2016 and the UFC’s calendar continues to fill up. Here are my thoughts on some recently booked match-ups… Fight: Holly Holm vs Valentina Shevchenko Card: UFC on FOX 20 When: July 23, 2016 Where: Chicago, IL Thoughts: This women’s bantamweight match-up was just announced as the five round headliner for July’s UFC on FOX in Chicago, which will have Glover Teixeira vs Anthony Johnson as the co-main event and Gilbert Melendez vs Edson Barboza as the featured bout. Headlining what is already shaping up to be an incredibly stacked card, I think Holm vs Shevchenko is an exellent pairing and a fight I certainly look forward to seeing take place. I believe they are amongst the top three best strikers in the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division (the other being Germaine de Randamie) and I am very interested in seeing how a striking battle between the two plays out. I think this has the potential of being a very fun fight, but at he very least, it will be a chess-match between two very skilled strikers. Fight: Louis Smolka vs Ben Nguyen Card: UFC Fight Night 91 When: July 13, 2016 Where: Sioux Falls, SD Thoughts: I think this is going to be a very fun fight in the UFC’s flyweight division and a likely ‘Fight of the Night’ candidate. Smolka and Nguyen are amongst the most entertaining flyweights in the division and both are enjoying nice winning streaks at the moment. A win in his match-up would be big for either fighter and it could put them one more away from a title shot. Heck, considering how bad thing have been looking in the razor-thin division, it would come as no surprise to see the winner of this bout pushed into an early title shot, a la Ali Bagautinov, Kyoji Horiguchi and Henry Cejudo. Fight: TJ Dillashaw vs Raphael Assuncao II Card: UFC 200 When: July 9, 2016 Where: Las Vegas, NV Thoughts: I don’t hate this fight. I think it makes sense, but I would have prefered to see Assuncao get a warm up fight to shake off the cage rust following his extended injury layoff. Dillashaw is coming off a competitive five round title fight and is in great shape, while Assuncao will certainly have some rust to shake off. I imagine if Assuncao loses, he will blame it on the cage rust, which would probably be obvious and make sense, and he would want a rubbermatch with Dillashaw. Again, this is a rematch I was interested in seeing, just not yet. Fight: Thiago Tavares vs Doo Ho Choi Card: TUF 23 FInale When: July 8, 2016 Where: Las Vegas, NV Thoughts: “The Korean Superboy” is 2-0 inside the Octagon with a pair of TKO wins over Juan Manuel Puig and Sam Sicilia and he aims to make it three in a row against the veteran Tavares, who will undoubtedly be stiffest test of his professional mixed martial arts career. Tavares, coming off a quick guillotine choke submission of Clay Guida in his most recent Octagon outing will hope to make it two in a row by taking out Choi. This is a tough match-up for the Korean fighter, who I have become a big fan of, and a very big jump in competition, so it will answer a lot of questions about him and let us know where he really belongs in the division. Fight: Alan Jouban vs Nordine Taleb Card: UFC Fight Night 90 When: July 7, 2016 Where: Las Vegas, NV Thoughts: I love this fight. This shoud be an entertaining striking battle for however long it lasts. A definite contender for the evening’s ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus. Rest assured, nobody will be taking a bathroom break during this one.
