UFC 164 comes to Milwaukee, which is Algonquin for “the good land”, to deliver a very, very stacked night of fights for the oft-forgotten state of Wisconsin. The main card is deep, and the prelims have some good action from Facebook to the main event on FOX Sports 1, so let’s dive in. The main event of the prelims on FOX Sports 1 is a good one between two grizzled vets of the sport. Jamie Varner (21-7-1-2) looks to follow up his split-decision victory over Melvin Guillard last year at UFC 155. It’s been eight long months since Varner has stepped into the Octagon, and even in his sole losing effort against Joe Lauzon, he was part of one of the best fights of 2012. Gleison Tibau (27-9) has been in the UFC battling it out for what seems like forever, getting his first fight at UFC 65. Both of these men are willing to throw down and mix it up, while Tibau holds the advantage in the submission department, Varner may be able to bait him into a brawl which may work out well for the 28-year-old veteran who has 9 submission victories and 9 knockouts. The X factor is Varner’s wrestling, while not spectacular, could serve to wear out the notoriously muscular Tibau and gas him in to deep waters. This should be an exciting fight though, which is why they put it in the prelims main event. There’s a good chance of that “anything can happen” factor. Tibau brings that to a lot of his fights. The flyweights are up next, with green-haired Louis Gaudinot (6-2) bringing his exciting style to the Octagon to face Tim Elliot (9-3-1). Gaudinot showed off his capabilities on TUF 14, while Tim Elliot made his UFC debut by facing TUF 14 winner John Dodson as a late replacement at UFC on FOX: Diaz vs. Miller. Both men lost their proper UFC debuts, Gaudinot to Johny Bedford in a wild brawl, but both also bounced back with good wins. Gaudinot choked out John Lineker at UFC on FOX: Diaz vs. Miller, and Eliot took out Jared Papazian late last year at the TUF: Carwin vs. Nelson finale. Gaudinot will be giving up 4 inches of height to Elliot, which could make the night very long for him if Elliot plays his cards right and peppers him from a distance, but Gaudinot is good at getting inside and making fights knock-down drag-out brawls, so Elliot may look to his good takedown skills to nullify Gaudinot’s offense. It’s funny, Elliot seriously could be a weight class or two bigger than Gaudinot. The welterweights step into the cage with Pascal Krauss (11-1) facing Korean Top Team member Hyun Gyu Lim (11-3-1). Lim had an awesome debut for the UFC earlier in the year, knocking out Marcelo Guimareas at UFC on FUEL TV: Silva vs. Stann, and this matchup with the Duke Roufus trained Pascal Krauss (mere miles from his gym, I should add) should produce sparks. This fight should be a brutal one, with both of these men being touted as vicious finishers. Krauss is 2-1 in the UFC, with his loss coming to John Hathaway, but has won two decisions over Mike Stumpf and Mark Scanlon, which marred his record of finishing every opponent, 7 by submission, that he faced before entering the UFC. Krauss isn’t merely a submission specialist, however. He’s got good striking, as all Roufus students have, and he’s an overall tough dude. Lim is riding a wave of hype with 6 first round knockouts, amassing 8 total knockouts in his career, so this one should be interesting. Lim definitely has the size advantage, more so in thickness than height, Lim holds a 1 inch advantage over Krauss, but if Lim wants this to go to the ground, Krauss will have a hard time stopping it. The RoufusSport invasion continues in Milwaukee, as Chico Camus (12-4) hopes to move back into the winning column after dropping a loss to Dustin Kimura after grinding Dustin Pague into dust at UFC 150. He isn’t as flashy as his gym-mates, and he plays it a bit more safe, but Camus knows how to win. His opponent is Kyung Ho Kang (11-6) who was touted as a submission specialist, but lost his debut to Alex Caceres at UFC on FUEL TV: Silva vs. Stann, but this Judoka got a free pass when Caceres failed his post fight drug test. Hopefully he’s dealt with his gas tank issues in the time between fights, as he was deadly against Caceres early, but faded down the stretch. Kang is a deadly submission specialist, so the question is how good is Camus’ takedown defense and submission defense? We’ll find out Saturday night.
