This summer’s stacked UFC 226 card continues to look better and better with the addition of a fun lightweight bout, and I’ll give my thoughts on that new fight in today’s MMA Odds and Ends.
Lando Vannata vs. Drakkar Klose, UFC 226
A lightweight battle between Lando Vannat and Drakkar Klose is set for UFC 226, which goes down Saturday, July 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout was first reported by Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Vannata (9-2-1) won the first eight fights of his MMA career only to get signed by the UFC and lost to top contender Tony Ferguson in a back-and-forth fight that was nothing short of a memorable debut. Vannata followed that up with a brilliant highlight-reel KO over John Makdessi but since then is winless as he lost a decision to David Teymur and drew with Bobby Green. Even though his 1-2-1 UFC record is nothing special, don’t forget Vannata has won either Performance of the Night or Fight of the Night in all four of his UFC bouts, which is incredible. Win or lose, he is one very exciting fighter. Klose (8-1-1) is similar in that he was undefeated in his first seven MMA fights only to see success in his first two UFC fights with decision wins over Marc Diakese and Devin Powell. He follwed that up with a stinker of a decision loss to Teymur and needs to have a good performance here against Vannta in order to show the UFC that was just an off night for him. This should be a pretty competitive fight between two guys who match up pretty well with one another in most aspects of MMA. I have to give a slight lean towards Vannata due to some of his past impressive performances in the UFC as we know he’s capable of greatness. But Klose does have a style that may be able to neutralize Vannata here and if Vannata comes out at an over-inflated number it might be worthwhile to take a stab at Klose.
