A late injury to a fighter on next weekend’s UFC 225 card has led to a last-minute card change, and I’ll give my thoughts on the new fight in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Charles Oliveira vs. Clay Guida, UFC 225
An unfortunate injury to Bobby Green has forced him out of his UFC 225 matchup against Clay Guida, and stepping in on short notice is Charles Olivera. UFC 225 takes place Saturday, June 9 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois, and Oliveira vs. Guida is set for the Fight Pass portion of the stacked card. Oliveira (22-8, 1 NC) is one of the top submission artists in the UFC but he’s a bit of a glass cannon as he’s been prone to knockouts in his career so far. At just 28, Oliveira should be in his prime right now but he started fighting in the UFC at an early age and has taken a lot of damage in his career, including a vicious TKO loss to Paul Felder his last time out. Having said that, his submission game is incredibleand he’s never out of a fight just because of his ability to latch on to a fight-ending submission. Guida (34-17) has long beenone of the top gatekeepers ever in the lightweight division but hehas someone actually improved at age 36 as he’s coming off of back-to-back wins over Joe Lauzon and Erik Koch. Guida has been prone to submissions throughout his career but he sets a tremendous pace in his bouts with his wrestling, and with his improved striking is not an easy out right now. I view this as a really close fight beause of the stylistic matchup, but I slightly lean towards Guida because he has had a full training camp for this card. I would be really curious to see if Oliveira can ever make weight on short notice as we’ve seen him come in heavy many times in the past.
