Another day, another fight announcement by the UFC, this time for another upcoming summer fight card. I’ll give my thoughts on the new matchup in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Niko Price vs. Randy Brown, UFC Fight Night 133
A welterweight matchup between Niko Price and Randy Brown is the latest addition to UFC Fight Night 133, which goes down Saturday, July 14 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. Mark La Monica of Newsday broke the news.
Price (11-1, 1 NC) is 3-1, 1 NC in the UFC and in his last fight submitted George Sullivan. He also has a notable knockout win over Alan Jouban and a notable submission over Brandon Thatch with his lone career loss coming against the surging Vicente Luque. Price is one of the top welterweight prospects in the UFC right now and a few more big wins could push him into title contention. He was recently pulled from a fight against Belal Muhammad but is getting a quick turnaound here by the UFC to get him back in the cage.
Brown (10-2) is a solid 4-2 in the UFC and in his last fight he dominated Mickey Gall. Brown has a solid well-rounded game and has shown finishing ability in the UFC although his submission defense cost him in his loss to Michael Graves. Both Price and Brown are solid welterweights on the verge of breaking out and this is a great matchup that is going to push one guy further up the ladder and put the other back at the drawing board.
I kind of lean towards Price here for a pick just because I believe he has more of an ability to finish fights in the UFC but I certainly wouldn’t write off Brown either. As for odds, I’d expect a close Pick ’em type of odds here with perhaps a slight lean towards Brown who has traditionally gotten more respect from bettors.
