A couple of new fights were added to UFC 229, plus an injury replacement bout was added to UFC Fight Night 137, and I’ll give my thoughts on these three new bouts in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Luis Henrique vs. Ryan Spann, UFC Fight Night 137
A light heavyweight bout between Luis Henrique and short-notice replacement Ryan Spann goes down at UFC Fight Night 137, set for Saturday, September 22 at Ginasio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Spann is taking the fight on short notice replacing the injured Mark Godbeer. The report of the fight came from Combate. Henrique (10-4, 1 NC) is a poor 2-3 overall in the UFC and is coming off of back-to-back losses to Marcin Tybura and Arjan Bhullar. Spann (14-5) is on a four-fight win streak and most recently won his fight on the Contender Series. Despite taking this fight on short notice, expect Spann to be a heavy favorite to win the bout.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Ray Borg, UFC 229
An exciting flyweight matchup between Joseph Benavidez and Ray Borg is headed to UFC 229, which goes down Saturday, October 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout was confirmed by Damon Martin of MMAnytt.com. Benavidez (25-5) had his six-fight win streak snapped in a split decision defeat to Sergio Pettis in his last fight. However, he beat Henry Cejudo in his fight prior to that and considering Cejudo just beat Demetrious Johnson, Benavidez’ long-time rival, this actually bodes well for Benavidez potentially getting another title shot. Of course, he needs to go out there and defeat Borg and that won’t be an easy task. Borg (11-3) had his three-fight win streak snapped by Johnson in his last fight but overall he has been very impressive in the UFC. Borg is nine years younger than Benavidez in this matchup and that youth advantage could come into play kind of like how it did in the Pettis fight. Still, I have to believe Benavidez opens as the favorite here. He’s just much more proven in the UFC and despite losing a razor-thin decision to Pettis, I’m not ready to write him off as a flyweight contender just yet. (Also, it’s strange that the UFC put Borg on the same card as Conor McGregor considering what happened back at UFC 223 in April. You’d think the UFC would want to keep them apart).
Yana Kunitsyaka vs. Lina Lansberg, UFC 229
As well, a women’s bantamweight bout between former Cris Cyborg victims Yana Kunitskaya and Lina Lansberg is set for UFC 229. That’s according to a report from Kimura.se. Kunitskaya (10-4, 1 NC) was knocked out by Cyborg in her UFC debut but will be moving down to 135lbs after making her Octagon debut at featherweight. Overall she is 1-2, 1 NC in her last four bouts. Lansberg (8-3) is 2-2 in the UFC and beat Gina Mazany by decision in her last fight. I’m not super high on either of these two fighrers but I do believe we have seen more out of Lansberg inside the Octagon and I expect her to be favored to win this fight.
