For today’s MMA Odds and Ends, I’ll give my thoughts on the new fights announced over the weekend. Eddie Gordon vs. Antonio Carlos Junior, TUF Brazil 4 Finale A middleweight bout between Eddie Gordon and Antonio Carlos Junior is the latest addition to the TUF Brazil 4 Finale, which takes place June 27 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The whole card hasn’t been released yet, so it’s possible this bout could make the main card, but it’s more likely it’s a prelim. The first thing to point out about this matchup is that Carlos Junior will be dropping to middleweight after competing as a heavyweight and a light heavyweight in his first two UFC bouts. In his first fight, he dominated Vitor Miranda at heavyweight to win TUF Brazil 3. In his next outing, however, Pat Cummins dominated Carlos Junior so badly that he decided he’d had enough of 205lbs after just one fight and that he would be moving down. Like Carlos Junior, Gordon won TUF 19 with a TKO win over Dhiego Lima, but he’s since fallen on very hard times, losing via brutal head kick knockout to Josh Samman at UFC 181 and then losing a controversial split decision to Chris Dempsey at UFC on FOX 15. Gordon is a talented guy, but he appears to have regressed badly and at this point you have to question if he’s even UFC caliber anymore. As far as this matchup goes, it’s interesting, but I think you have to favor the Brazilian a bit. Obviously there’s some question marks with Carlos Junior dropping to 185lbs, but if he can make the weight safely he should be able to outwrestle Gordon, and who knows, maybe he can even knock him out on the feet. I’m not really confident in either guy here, but I do feel like Carlos Junior has some slight edges going into the matchup, and I believe he should be slightly favored heading into it. Nikita Krylov vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima, TUF Brazil 4 Finale Also of note: A light heavyweight contest between Nikita Krylov and Marcos Rogerio de Lima, which had been previously set for UFC Fight Night 69 in Berlin, has been moved to the TUF Brazil 4 Finale. I gave my thoughts on this matchup in a previous edition of the MMA Odds and Ends, and I don’t think too much changes with the locale change. I believe it’s a fight that can go either way, but I do slightly lean towards Krylov because of his youth advantage in the matchup.
