A few new UFC fights were announced over the weekend, and for Monday morning’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my quick thoughts on them. Rob Font vs. Mitch Gagnon, UFC Fight Night 54 Due to an injury to Aljamain Sterling, the top prospect was forced to pull out of his fight against Mitch Gagnon at UFC Fight Night 54 and now the Canadian will take on Rob Font in a bantamweight match. The event, which is headlined by Rory MacDonald vs. Tarec Saffiedine, is set for Oct. 4 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Font vs. Gagnon is expected to be a main card bout. Font looked amazing in his UFC debut, scoring a one-punch knockout on veteran George Roop, while Gagnon is 3-1 in the UFC and coming off of a decision win over Tim Gorman. Both Font and Gagnon have great potential at 135lbs, and the winner of this fight is no doubt going to take a big step up in the division. This isn’t an easy fight to call, but I would guess Font opens as a slight favorite based on the fact he just beat Roop, who was ranked, while Gagnon has been beating up non-ranked fighters. But either way this is a very tough fight to call and I wouldn’t be confident laying too much juice on either fighter. Yves Edwards vs. Akbarh Arreola, UFC Fight Night 57 The UFC is giving veteran Yves Edwards one last chance to win in the Octagon, and they’ve given him a winnable fight as “Thugjitsu Master” takes on Akbarh Arreola at UFC Fight Night 57, which is set to take place Nov. 22 at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. Edwards is 4-5, 1 NC in his latest stint in the UFC, and right now he’s actually winless in his last four contests. However, he’s generally fought very tough competition and the UFC is doing the right thing by giving him one last chance to prove to everyone — including himself — that he can hang in the UFC. And thankfully for Edwards, they’ve matched up up against Arreola, who is one of the worst lightweights in the division. It’s a very good matchup for Edwards on paper, and if he can’t win this he should retire. Look for Edwards to open as a decent-sized favorite here as he looks to save his job. Luke Barnatt vs. Roger Narvaez, UFC Fight Night 57 In addition to Edwards vs. Arreola, the UFC also added a middleweight bout between Luke Barnatt and Roger Narvaez to UFC Fight Night 57. Barnatt is coming off of a controversial split decision loss to Sean Strickland while Narvaez lost in his UFC debut via TKO to Pat Cummins. That fight was at light heavyweight, and he’s dropping to 185lbs for this one, but I don’t think that will help too much as I see him getting smoked here by Barnatt and getting cut. Look for Barnatt to open as a good-sized favorite here, and for his sake, hopefully he has a better showing than in the Strickland fight.
