The UFC announced a few new key matchups over the weekend, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my initial thoughts on all of them. Dustin Poirier vs. Akira Corassani, TUF Nations Finale The first fight I want to talk about is a featherweight fight between Dustin Poirier and Akira Corassani, which takes place at the TUF Nations Finale. It’s a fight that makes very little sense as far as the rankings go, and it’s likely to be quite one sided when he ultimately goes down. I think Poirier is going to win the fight in devastating fashion and I think a -500 line on him is fair here, if not too low. Although Corassani is better than most believe, he is not in Poirier’s class and this should be a one-sided fight. Costas Philippou vs. Lorenz Larkin, UFC Fight Night 40 A middleweight bout between Costas Phillipou and Lorenz Larkin was added to UFC Fight Night 40, and this should be a very entertaining bout between two strikers when it goes down this May. Although both men are coming off of losses, to Luke Rockhold and Brad Tavares respectively, I still believe in both guys and think each still has the potential to pick up some more wins and do some more damage in the Octagon. This is a Pick ’em fight in my eyes, with a slight lean to Philippou based on the lack of activity shown by Larkin in some of his bouts. Michael Chiesa vs. Francisco Trinaldo, UFC 173 A lightweight bout between TUF Live winner Michael Chiesa and TUF Brazil’s Francisco Trinaldo was added to UFC 173. This should be a really good fight between these two middle-of-the-pack 155ers, and the winner is likely to break through into the top 25 of the division. Although I do like Trinaldo’s game, I think Chiesa is a pretty bad matchup for him because he has better cardio, more heart, and also a tremendous chin. I’m thinking Chiesa opens a favorite in the -185 range for this matchup, but he’s never gotten much respect from the betting public so the line could be lower. Katsunori Kikuno vs. Tony Ferguson, UFC 173 And finally, a lightweight bout between Katsunori Kikuno and Tony Ferguson was announced for UFC 173. This is a fun fight between two 155ers on win streaks and it should be a good bout when it finally goes down in May. Although Kikuno is a very solid fighter, I have to lean Ferguson in this fight and I’m assuming he’ll be around 2-to-1 in the matchup.
