Resurrection Fighting Alliance is on quite the roll lately. The fighters who emerged victorious from the main events in their sixth through twelfth events have all signed with the UFC, and in total they have sent nine alumni to the UFC since the start of 2013. The flyweights headlining RFA 14 hope to continue that tradition, but they aren’t the type of prospects who are likely to receive a phone call from Sean Shelby the day after getting their hand raised on Friday night. For the time being, Matt Manzanares (6-2) and Junior Maranhao (9-2) will have to be satisfied with picking up the organization’s vacant flyweight title with a victory. Manzanares is best known to MMA fans for his decision loss to Zach Makovsky back in November. He showcased solid striking in that bout, but was unable to keep up with Makovsky’s wrestling and top control, despite having a solid guard of his own. There should be no issues with him getting outwrestled against Maranhao, who also prefers to supplement a dynamic striking game with some sneaky submissions. Both fighters bring an aggressive style to the cage and as a result have all of their professional wins by stoppage. In contrast both have lost two bouts, one by decision and one by submission. Perhaps despite both men favoring their striking it could be the submission game that produces a finish in this bout. The co-main event features a pair of fighters who are also highly touted prospects. Raoni Barcelos (7-0) is another Nova Uniao product who looks to join his teammates at the highest level. His defeat of UFC and WEC veteran Tyler Toner at RFA 11 had to open eyes, and he looks to continue the trend here against Mark Dickman (8-1). Each is dangerous with a variety of strikes and likes to throw leather, but Barcelos will have the advantage if this hits the mat. The trend of young fighters trying to prove themselves continues with a bout between Jeimeson Saudino (7-2) and Tyler Voth (5-1) in the bantamweight division. Saudino dropped his last fight to Ray Borg – who proved how good he is last week at Legacy FC 30 – while Voth’s only defeat has come to UFC veteran Josh Ferguson, so both of these guys have been in with high-level competition. Former RFA welterweight title challenger Alan Jouban (7-2) looks to rebound from his loss against Mike Rhodes in a title bout last October against Armando Montoya Jr. (8-3). Jouban will look to keep this on the feet and add to his five career TKOs, while Montoya should be in a hurry to get this to the mat in search of his seventh submission victory. Rounding out the main card of RFA 14, which can be seen on AXS TV starting at 10pm ET, Tyler Toner (15-6) takes on Daniel Aguilar (9-3) in the featherweight division, while the opening bout should get things off to a good start in the women’s flyweight division as Jocelyn Lybarger (2-1) goes head-to-head with Rosa Acevedo (1-0). MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for the top two fights of Resurrection Fighting Alliance 14 at Several Bookmakers today. ——————– MAIN CARD (AXS TV, 10pm ET) Matt Manzanares -245 Junior Maranhao +175 Raoni Barcelos -315 Mark Dickman +235 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: The first battle for Junior Maranhao will be making weight, as I don’t believe he has ever fought at 125 before. Once he actually gets in the cage his biggest obstacle will be Matt Manzanares’ speed advantage. Despite having a massive height and reach advantage here, Maranhao will likely be the one getting tagged more on the feet. While Maranhao will be more dangerous in the clinch with his knees and I think the ground game is pretty much a wash, I favor Manzanares to keep this at range and outpoint the Brazilian for the better part of five rounds, and perhaps even hurt him and get a finish. The short notice, weight cut and travel are all factors going against Maranhao, but he’s still liable to get some action from the public which could bring Manzanares into playable territory. The co-main event should be a bit clearer. Raoni Barcelos is touted as one of the best prospects in MMA today, and based on the fighters he trains with, it’s no surprise. While he’s no Aldo or Barao on the feet, he does have good hands and solid leg kicks. If a fighter threatens him too much on the feet, he also has excellent timing on his takedowns and a good positional top game to go with it. Dickman is far more of a challenge than the line suggests, as he has a solid wrestling background and dangerous striking from the southpaw stance, but Barcelos will likely be able to put his leg kicks to good use and get the fight to the mat if he really needs to in order to take this one. Barcelos isn’t someone I’m interesting in playing however, especially if the line increases as I imagine it will. In fact, Dickman could be worth a flier if Barcelos gets bet up like in his last bout.
