Four new UFC bouts will take place this summer. Here they are, along with my thoughts on each. Steve Kennedy vs. Peter Sobotta, UFC Fight Night 69 Due to an injury to Sergio Moraes, Peter Sobotta will now meet UFC newcomer Steve Kennedy at UFC Fight Night 69, which goes down June 20 at O2 World in Berlin, Germany. Kennedy is an Australian fighter and he has won seven fights in a row to get his shot in the Octagon. He actually has close to 30 MMA fights so he is a veteran of the sport even though he is not well known by fans. He’s a pretty well-round fighter and it will be interesting to see what he can bring to the UFC welterweight division. As for Sobotta, he had a tremendous return to the UFC last year, defeating Pawel Pawlak via dominant decision, but he has not fought since. He is the more talented fighter of the pair, though, and he is fighting in his backyard here, so I fully expect him to be the favorite heading into this fight, but I wouldn’t completely count out Kennedy from winning — it’s just a shame he didn’t have a longer training camp to prepare for this bout. George Sullivan vs. Marcio Alexandre Jr., TUF 21 Finale A welterweight bout between George Sullivan and Marcio Alexandre Jr. is the latest addition to the TUF 21 Finale, which takes place July 12 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The interesting thing about this fight is that both men are coming off of a loss to Tim Means, with Sullivan tapping out to Means at UFC on FOX 15 and Alexandre Jr. losing a split decision to Means at UFC Fight Night 58. MMA math doesn’t work, obviously, but it’s interesting the UFC is matching these guys up when there are so many other welterweights they could have been fighting instead. It makes you wonder why they are doing it. As far as the fight goes, Sullivan is going to look to take Alexandre Jr. down while the Brazilian will look to keep this fight upright and outstrike the American on the feet. I have a feeling Sullivan is going to find a bit more success with his gameplan, and I believe he’ll be able to squeak out a decision here. Alexandre Jr. seems to get some respect from bettors, so look for relatively competitive odds, with a slight lean towards Sullivan. Warlley Alves vs. Nordine Taleb, UFC 190 TUF Brazil winner Warlley Alves’ next assignment will come against TUF Nations alum Nordine Taleb at UFC 190, which is set for August 1 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The UFC is really taking their time with Alves, and I’m not exactly sure why. Sure, he should have beaten Alan Jouban more decisively, but hey, he still picked up the win there, and that’s a big win. I thought the TUF Brazil winner would get a bigger step up in competition than a guy like Taleb who, while a solid grinder, doesn’t exactly have the star potential that Alves has if he Brazilian fights to his best capabilities. Taleb is a good fighter, but Alves is someone who I truly believe can be a star in the sport. It won’t be easy, but I do believe Alves wins this fight, and I think he’ll be a decent-sized favorite heading into it considering the location of the bout. Hugo Viana vs. Guido Cannetti, UFC 190 In addition to Alves vs. Taleb, another bout has been added to UFC 190, and it’s an exciting bantamweight clash between Hugo Viana and Guido Cannetti. Viana hasn’t competed since losing by TKO to Aljamain Sterling last summer, but the guy is a very solid fighter and despite that loss still has decent potential in the bantamweight division. As for Cannetti, he was submitted by Henry Briones at UFC 180 in his promotional debut after competing on TUF Latin America. I like Viana here. He hasn’t been very active, but as long as he doesn’t show extreme signs of ring rust he should be able to work over Cannetti here and probably win by knockout. Look for the Brazilian to enter the fight as the favorite.
