The UFC yesterday revealed a number of new fight matchups for upcoming cards, in particular the UFC Fight Night 34 event. For today’s Odds and Ends, I’ve gathered all the fight announcements and will give my quick thoughts on all of them. Max Holloway vs. Will Chope, UFC Fight Night 34 I really like this fight between Holloway and Chope, two of the biggest featherweights on the planet. Although Holloway has the UFC experience, I think the 6’4″ Chope is a serious prospect, and after seeing how poor Holloway performed against Conor McGregor in his last outing, don’t be surprised if Chope can pull off the upset in this one. Dustin Kimura vs. Jon Delos Reyes, UFC Fight Night 34 This is a solid bantamweight bout, and it’s a fight I can see Reyes winning as I believe Kimura’s padded record was exposed in his last fight against Mitch Gagnon at UFC 165 and I’m not so sure if he’s as good as we all think he is. Kimura will open as the favorite but Reyes can win this fight. David Galera vs. Royston Wee, UFC Fight Night 34 I don’t know much about these two new UFC bantamweights, but there seems to be a lot of hype behind Wee, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him open as the favorite here and get bet up by the public. Darren Uyenoyama vs. Alp Ozkilic, UFC on FOX 9 After an injury to John Moraga, Ozkilic will fight Uyenoyama on short notice at UFC on FOX 9. Although Uyenoyama has the UFC experience and the name, I think that Ozkilic is a serious flyweight prospect and I will be looking to make a play on him in this spot if he is at a good price. Garrett Whiteley vs. Vinc Pichel, UFC Fight Night 35 Whiteley and Pichel are both coming off of KO losses and both will need a win to stick around in the UFC. For this fight, I favor Whiteley slightly, if only because Pichel has been out with a neck injury for over a year as a result of a slam from Rustam Khabilov at the TUF 16 Finale. Yoel Romero vs. Derek Brunson, UFC Fight Night 35 This middleweight bout should be explosive and exciting, but I have to favor Romero here, as I believe he has the much better striking of the two and I think if this fight stays standing he’ll be able to eat more shots than Brunson will, as I believe Romero has the better chin. Viscardi Andrade vs. Nicholas Musoke, UFC Fight Night 36 And finally, a welterweight bout between Andrade and Musoke was added to UFC Fight Night 36 in Brazil. Both of these fighters impressed with stoppage wins in their UFC debut, but for this particular matchup I’m leaning towards Musoke coming in to Brazil and beat the hometown fighter in Andrade, as I feel he is the more well-rounded mixed martial artist.
