The UFC announced four new bouts yesterday, including a main event for an upcoming Fight Night card, and for Tuesday’s Odds and Ends I’ll give my quick thoughts on all of them. Matt Brown vs. Tarec Saffiedine, UFC Fight Night 60 The UFC announced during their “special announcement” press conference on Monday that UFC Fight Night 60 will be headlined by a five-round welterweight bout between Matt Brown and Tarec Saffiedine. The card takes place February 14 at 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. This is going to be a great fight. Brown and Saffiedine are both fantastic fighters, two of the prime welterweights on the planet. Brown recently lost a decision to Robbie Lawler that cost him a chance at a title shot, but he looked good in the loss and prior to that he had reeled off seven-straight wins. As for Saffiedine, he himself was on a long win streak before getting knocked out by Rory MacDonald, so from a matchmaking perspective this one makes sense. And as far as styles goes it does as well, as this is likely to be a standup war between two technicians on the feet. I love this fight and it’s not an easy one to call, but I lean Brown on sheer aggression and believe he should be the favorite. Nikita Krylov vs. Stanislav Nedkov, UFC on FOX 14 Stanislav Nedkov will return from a two-year layoff when he takes on Nikita Krylov in a light heavyweight bout at UFC on FOX 14, which takes place January 24 at Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. Nedkov hasn’t fought in two years since losing to Tom Watson in a FOTN middleweight bout in England, while Krylov is coming off of a TKO victory over Cody Donovan in Ireland. I kind of laughed when I saw this matchup because both these guys are often in funny fights. Krylov is always in fights where seemingly random things occur, whereas the same can be said for Nedkov. I’m expecting a very entertaining fight here between these two guys but I definitely lean towards Krylov, who is much bigger, in this spot, and I really think he gets the job done by TKO or submission in this fight. Mairbek Taisumov vs. Yan Cabral, UFC on FOX 14 In a lightweight bout, two fighters coming off of impressive wins square off at UFC on FOX 14 as Mairbek Taisumov takes on Yan Cabral. Tasiumov recently knocked out Marcin Bendel in brutal fashion to up his UFC record to 2-1, while Cabral recently picked up a nice submission win over Naoyuki Kotani to improve to 2-1 in the Octagon as well, making this a fair fight as far as the rankings go. This fight is dependent on whether or not Taisumov can stop the takedowns. If he can, then he will beat Cabral on the feet and knock him out. But if Cabral can get the fight to the floor, he will have a big edge on the mat. Taisumov’s takedown defence is questionable so that’s a big if, but I do think more times than not he does keep this standing and uses his striking to win. It’s not a fight I want to bet, but look for a close betting line here. Konstantin Erokhin vs. Viktor Pesta, UFC on FOX 14 And in a heavyweight bout at UFC on FOX 14, UFC newcomer Konstantin Erokhin takes on Viktor Pesta. Erokhin is a highly-touted prospect from Russia who has a lot of knockout power and who has wins over the likes of Dave Huckaba, Sokoudjou and Brett Rogers, while Pesta has fought once in the UFC, losing a decision to Ruslan Magomedov earlier this year. Pesta has some sneaky power and a good ground game but he has bad cardio and overall just isn’t that good of a fighter, whereas I see Erokhin as being a dark horse contender at heavyweight. Look for Erokhin to open as a big favorite here as he tries to pick up an impressive win in his first UFC fight.
