A couple new bouts for the UFC’s first visit to Argentina this fall were announced over the weekend, and here they are along with my initial thoughts on them.
Jared Cannonier vs. Alessio Di Chirico, UFC Fight Night 140
A middleweight matchup featuring Jared Cannonier and Alessio Di Chirico will take place at UFC Fight Night 140, which takes place Saturday, November 17 at Estadio Luna Park in Beunos Aries, Argentina. The UFC confirmed the bout on the telecast for UFC 228. Cannonier (10-4) is just 3-4 overall in the UFC and is coming off of back-to-back losses to Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz. He’s been saying for a while now that he planned a move down to 185lbs and that’s exactly what he’s going to be doing for this fight, although it remains to be seen how he will perform in his new weight class. Di Chirico (12-2) is 3-2 overall in the UFC and is coming off of back-to-back wins over Julian Marquez and Oluwale Bamgbose. He might be the best Italian MMA fighter in the world right now. I like this matchup and think it’s a good opponent for Cannonier to make his middleweight debut against, but until I see him at his new weight class it’s hard to confidently pick him. Di Chirico has looked pretty good as of late and he should be a very game opponent for Cannonier in this bout. I could see Cannonier opening as the favorite just because he does get a lot of respect from bettors, and if that’s the case I would take a look at Di Chirico as an underdog.
Marlon Vera vs. Guida Cannetti, UFC Fight Night 140
Additionally, a bantamweight bout between Marlon Vera and Guido Cannetti has been added to UFC Fight Night 140. Vera (11-5-1) is 5-4 overall in the UFC and is coming off of a TKO win over Wuliji Buren that snapped his two-fight losing skid. Cannetti (8-3) is 2-2 overall in the UFC ans defeated Diego Rivas by decision in his last fight. Although Cannetti looked better than usual against Rivas and will have hometown advantage in this one being from Argentina, I still don’t think this guy is UFC caliber and at 38 I don’t see him improving much. Vera, on the other hand, is just 25 and he looks improved almost every time he gets out there. I lean towards Vera to get the win in this one and I’m expecting him to be the betting favorite.
