There was a time when MMA fans would stay up from 2:00 am until 9:00 am in the morning to watch obscure fighters battle far across an ocean from the usual battlegrounds of the United States, but those cards weren’t on Fight Pass, and they had far more star power than these cards. Still, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some good plays to be made, so let’s look at the prelims of UFC Fight Night 43: Marquardt vs. Te Huna. The prelim ‘main event’ should be interesting, as it has already alienated some more knowledgeable fans, as the UFC has pit Jake Matthews (5-0) a participant of TUF for his nation of Australia, against a man named Dashon Johnson (9-0). Johnson is a pro boxer with a 15-15 record, and is 9-0 in MMA with his opponents brandishing a combined record of 12-29. One of his opponents was 11-10. So yeah, across nine opponents, that’s a pretty heavily padded record. Mathhews was considered to be a bright prospect for Australia, despite losing in the quarterfinals on TUF: Nations. Matthews has gone to the judges once, and has never seen the third round besides that most recent fight. Judging by the level of competition Johnson has faced, this could be a squash match that ends in the first round. Jake Matthews may only be 19-years-old, but he is legit, and Johnson is anything but. Of course, he has a puncher’s chance, but so does everyone in MMA. Next up we have flyweights in Richie Vaculik (9-2) a TUF: Smashes alum who will be facing Roldan Sangcha-an (4-0) a fighter making his debut for the UFC. Vaculik was last seen getting knocked out by Justin Scoggins in the first round of Hunt vs. Bigfoot. Sangcha-an obviously doesn’t have much experience, but he’s got two knockouts and two submissions on the indie circuit. Look for Vaculik to work the takedowns early and often to work his way to a submission win. Welterweight TUF: Nations teammates fight next, as Vik Grujic (6-3) takes on Chris Indich (5-2). Judging from their performances on the show, this could devolve into a brawl quite quickly, despite both men’s grappling credentials. Grujic is coming down from middleweight, and should be able to deflect takedown attempts coming from Indich at all angles. For his part, Indich will likely initiate ‘zombie mode’ and press forward despite eating loads of punches to the face. Both men are simply better on the ground, but Grujic is definitely better on the feet. Indich may pull a Diego Sanchez, or he may spam takedowns in an attempt to even the odds, but those odds are stacked against him. More welterweights fill the undercard, as Neil Magny (10-3) makes a return to the Octagon six weeks after his win over Tim Means at FN: Brown vs. Silva. He faces Rodrigo Goiana de Lima (8-1-1), a Jungle Fights product who at just 22 years-old, is an interesting prospect. Magny, however, is kind of a real deal. This may come down to ‘man strength’ vs. ‘prospect strength’ as Magny has fought real, solid competition, and has overcome his two-loss streak in the UFC to put a couple wins together himself. Magny is a grinder the likes of which Lima has never seen, so who knows if he’ll be able to overcome this diversity? On paper, he’s outclassed by Magny on the ground and the feet, so this has the potential to be an ugly debut.
