Another bout has been added to UFC Boise, and I’ll give my thoughts on it in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Eddie Wineland vs. Alejandro Perez, UFC Fight Night 133
A bantamweight bout between veteran Eddie Wineland and rising contender Alejandro Perez has been booked for UFC Fight Night 133, which goes down Saturday, July 14 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. The news of the bout was broken by MMADNA.nl. The main event of the evening is a five-round heavyweight bout between Junior dos Santos and Blagoi Ivanov.
Wineland (23-12-1) has been around forever but he’s somehow only 33 years old. The former WEC bantamweight champion lost his last fight to John Dodson via decision and hasn’t won a fight since knocking out Takeya Mizugaki in December 2010. Wineland also knocked out Frankie Saenz in 2016 but otherwise hasn’t won a fight since 2014. Though he was once a great fighter, it appears his best days are well behind him.
Perez (20-6-1) was the winner of TUF Latin America 2 and has gone on to have an excellent career in the UFC so far with a pristine 6-1-1 record. He is undefeated over his last six fights and is coming off of a brutal TKO win over Matthew Lopez in his last fight. At 28, the Mexican is in his prime and ready to contend for the bantamweight. A win over Wineland would do wonders for Perez’ career and I’m expecting him to show up for this fight.
This is excellent matchmaking on the UFC’s part as Wineland is one of the best gatekeepers in the bantamweight division and Perez is absolutely deserving of a chance to beat a name fighter and move himself into the top-15 at 135lbs. Though Wineland has fought the better competition throughout his career, you just can’t ignore how hot Perez has been, and I fully expect Perez to be the favorite heading into this one.
