Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will be live from Jaragua do Sul, Brazil on Saturday, Feb. 8th, 2014 with UFC Fight Night 35, and it will be headlined by a middleweight contest between the Brazilian Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida and the Armenian Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi. The winner of the bout will be a likely number one contender for the UFC middleweight title. Machida is coming off a very impressive first round knockout victory over “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Mark Munoz in what was his middleweight debut, after having competed in the light heavyweight division through the entirety of his career. He put Munoz out with a well-timed head kick, making an immediate impact in the UFC’s middleweight division. Mousasi has been competing in the light heavyweight division for most of his career, where, much like Machida, he never needed to cut weight in order to make 205 pounds. He will now be dropping down to middleweight for this match-up against Machida, who he has been asking to fight for a very long time, as he considers him to be one of the best fighters in all of mixed martial arts, and certainly one of the best in his division. UFC matchmaker Joe Silva did an excellent job pitting these two Octagon warriors against each other, as fight fans can’t wait to see this battle. There is already lots of talk about it on MMA forums, social media networks, and amongst MMA fans everywhere. “My cousins and I were talking about this fight yesterday, we’re Mousasi fans, we’re really looking forward to this. We were saying we wish we could save up and fly to Brazil for the fight,” says Karo Abrahamian, a fight fan from Los Angeles, C.A. “The Dreamcatcher” will be in enemy territory, as he steps inside the UFC’s Octagon to square-off against the Brazilian in front of his fellow countrymen. He will be in a very loud and hostile environment, but I don’t think that will faze him. Mousasi seems to have the superpower of being able to remain calm and collected, regardless of the situation. “The dude is like a zombie robot, always looks like he just woke up from a nap and doesn’t care about the fight, but goes in there and destroys his opponents,” says Eddie Tran, a Radio Shack employee from Silver Lake, C.A. “The Dragon” is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and with a drop down to middleweight, he looks to become the champion in his new home at 185 pounds. Coming off a knockout victory over Munoz, a win over Mousasi will surely get him there. “Machida is going to dominate the fight, every single round. I don’t see how he loses,” says Joey Iocolano, a fight fan from Tampa, F.L. That is in fact the public perception, as odds-makers have the Brazilian as a 3-to-1 betting favorite over the Armenian. However, not everybody agrees with those odds. “No way, man, that fight is a coin-flip. Mousasi could take it, wouldn’t surprise me at all. If I had to bet, I would bet on Mousasi,” says Tran. While Machida is coming off a knockout win in his middleweight debut, Mousasi is coming off a long layoff, following knee surgery. “The Dreamcatcher” is now healthy, training harder than ever and will be ready to face “The Dragon” on his home turf. Fight fans everywhere now look ahead to UFC Fight Night 35 for a potential Fight of the Night-caliber match-up where surely anything could happen.
