UFC 171 Date: March 15, 2014 Arena: American Airlines Center City: Dallas, TX Light Heavyweight bout: Ovince St. Preux (-400) vs Nikita Krylov (+310) Fight Breakdown: Getting the action going for the UFC 171 main card on Pay Per View will be a light heavyweight bout between the Haitian Ovince St. Preux and the Ukrainian Nikita Krylov. OSP is the favorite in this contest at -400 ($400 to win $100), while Krylov is the underdog at +310 ($100 to win $310) at Several Bookmakerss. OVINCE ST. PREUX (14-5 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is coming off a very impressive first round knockout victory over Cody Donovan. He ended up in Donovan’s guard, from which point he nailed down a number of powerful punches to knock him out cold. What OSP did in that fight was prove exactly how dangerous he is from the top position. He is one fighter that no light heavyweight wants to risk pulling guard on, as one of his punches from the top could be enough to call it a night. You may have heard about one punch turning a black belt into a brown belt, but with St. Preux, one punch could turn a black belt into a white belt. He is most dangerous from the top position, and employing his ground and pound attack is his single most favorite part of fighting. The 30-year old possesses incredible power in his hands, as is evident by the fact that half of his professional mixed martial arts careers have come by way of T/KO. After consecutive failed attempts at playing football professionally, OSP found mixed martial arts, and immediately fell in love. The former Tennesse Volunteer is a phenomenal athlete and is continuously improving as a fighter. His main flaw would be in his striking game, as he is a striker who lacks knowledge and experience in the department. He is not a technical striker by any stretch of the imagination, and while he is very powerful, he often makes the mistake of packing all of his power behind every punch he throws, which results in him getting tired more quickly than he should. The Strikeforce veteran also has a bad tendency of keeping his chin up while striking, which could spell for trouble against the Ukrainian in Krylov. He has a great sprawl and solid takedown defense. St. Preux is currently enjoying a three-fight winning streak, and has sandwiched 11 wins around a lone decision loss to “The Armenian Assassin” in Gegard Mousasi. He is constantly improving in every aspect of the sport, even his cardio. He has not gone 15 minutes since the Mousasi bout, but I expect him to be prepared for a hard three rounds, should the fight go the distance. NIKITA “AL CAPONE” KRYLOV (16-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is coming off a first round TKO victory over Walt “Big Ticket” Harris at UFC on FOX 10 over a month ago. The loss followed a dreadful promotional debut, where he lost via third round TKO to Soa “The Hulk” Palelei. He lost the fight simply because he was completely gassed and had absolutely nothing more left to offer. The Ukrainian did a good job at bouncing back from his awful debut with that upset win over Harris, dropping the former basketball player with a head kick and following him to the mat with strikes. Krylov is a talented submission artist and his resume reflects that sentiment, as 10 of his 15 career victories have come by way of tapout. While he has a solid offensive submission game, his defensive grappling could use a lot of work. His submission defense certainly is not poor, but it clearly is not great. The 21-year old has a solid kicking game and he likes to push forward. He has great takedowns and good top control, not to mention excellent transitions. Krylov is known mainly for his submission game, but he began his martial arts career with Karate and was initially a pure striker. After learning all the different aspects of mixed martial arts and developing a solid all-around game, including his aforementioned submission game, he went on a tear on the European regional circuit and made enough noise to earn himself a call from Joe Silva. However, his promotional debut proved he perhaps is not UFC-caliber, mainly because of his atrocious cardio. His win over Harris impressed many, but it happened almost immediately after the opening bell, so on Saturday night, we will see if it was or was not a fluke. Fight Prediction: I could see Krylov catching OSP with a strike or sub and ending the fight, but much more often than not, I think the Haitian gets the Ukrainian down and rains his fists until the referee is forced to step in and call off the action. Gabe’s Pick: OSP by TKO (punches, 2:26 round 1) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Ovince St. Preux (-400) parlayed with Hector Lombard (-195) for -112 3.6u to win 3.2u
