Two of the most legendary fighters in the UFC have been booked for a year-end card in what may be the final fights of their storied careers, and I’ll give my thoughts on these new matchups in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Mark Hunt vs. Justin Willis, UFC Fight Night 141
A heavyweight bout between Mark Hunt and Justin Willis has been added to UFC Fight Night 141, which is set for Saturday, December 1 at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia. The news of the bout was reported by Ariel Helwani of ESPN. Hunt (13-13-1, 1 NC) is a legend of the heavyweight division but his latest defeat, a quick submission loss to Alexey Oleinik, was not a good sign for the 44-year-old New Zealander. Hunt has lost three of his last four fights with his lone win since 2016 coming against Derrick Lewis last year. The win over Lewis shows that Hunt still has some pop in his punches but his takedown defense, submission defense and chin are all huge concerns at this point of his career. Willis (7-1) is 3-0 so far in the UFC and most recently defeated Chase Sherman by decision. Willis has terrific wrestling but he needs to work on his striking and being able to put his opponents away as two of his three UFC wins have come by decision over low-caliber opponents. This is a tough one to call. On one hand, Hunt has way more experience and has the skillset to win if he fights to the best of his abilities, but he’s so old that it’s hard to bank on him coming through anymore. Willis has underperformed a bit so far in the UFC but a win over Hunt would shoot him up the heayweight ranks. I’d still favor Hunt slightly just based on his striking advantage, but it’s a tough fight to call due to the style matchup.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Tyson Pedro, UFC Fight Night 141
A light heavyweight bout between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Tyson Pedro is also set for UFC Fight Night 141 according to a report from ESPN. Shogun (25-11) is coming off of a devastating KO loss to Anthony Smith back at UFC Hamburg in July that called for many fans and media to speculate on possible retirement. Shogun is one of the greatest fighters of all time but he has taken quite a bit of damage in recent fights and appears to have slowed down quite a bit. Pedro (7-2) is coming off of a submission defeat to Ovince Saint-Preux and is a disappointing 3-2 overall in the UFC after starting off his career undefeated. Even though Pedro has been a big disappointment as of late, he should still be able to find a way to beat Shogun here based on his youth advantage. But Pedro hasn’t been very trustworthy in his recent fights, and it might be better to just take a pass on this one entirely, depending of course on the line. If I had to guess, Pedro will be listed as a short favorite by the oddsmakers, though it’s anyone’s guess how the public will shift things.
