The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is heading to Sydney, Australia for the fifth time in promotional history with UFC Fight Night 121: Werdum vs. Tybura. The 13-fight card is scheduled to kick off with preliminary action at 6:30 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass, with the prelims continuing at 8 p.m. on FOX Sports 1 and the main card getting underway on the same channel at 10 p.m. If interested in wagering on any bouts for these fight cards, all betting lines are made available at Several Bookmakers. These are my fighters to watch at UFC Fight Night 120 in Australia:
Jake Matthews
Matthews has stepped up to the UFC’s welterweight division, after a somewhat unsuccessful run at 155 pounds. Back to back losses to Kevin Lee and Andrew Holbrook prompted him to move up a division, and seeing other lightweights like Donald Cerrone and Jorge Masvidal having success in the weight class probably eased the decision. Heading into Saturday night’s bout in Sydney, Matthews will be facing Colorado-based fighter Bojan Velickovic, who is making a quick return to action following a unanimous decision loss to Darren Till. Matthews was a solid prospect at lightweight, so now the question is whether he will show promise at welterweight, and this fight should clear things up.
Will Brooks
Brooks is a former Bellator lightweight champion and he has had tough luck ever since moving over to the UFC. After picking up a razor-thin decision against Ross Pearson in his promotional debut, he lost to Alex Oliveira via third round TKO and was submitted by Charles Oliveira (no relation) in the first round of his next outing. Now coming off back to back defeats, I think Brooks has his back against the wall heading into this bout against veteran Nik Lentz. I expect to see a man possessed in Will Brooks, as he is in dire need of victory.
Tai Tuivasa
Tuivasa is an undefeated heavyweight prospect who is making his UFC debut here. He is a training partner of Mark Hunt and Tyson Pedro’s. In what is a razor thin division, all eyes will be on this potential heavyweight contender when he takes on Rashad Coulter, who is coming off a second round knockout against Chase Sherman in his Octagon debut, where he pocketed an extra $50,000 for ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. This is a good matchup for Tuivasa to be able to make a statement and some noise in the razor-thin division, so make sure you’re tuned into Fight Pass to see how this one unravels.
