The UFC announced a few new fights this week, and for today’s Odds and Ends I’ll give my thoughts on them. Jessica Andrade vs. Marion Reneau, UFC Fight Night 61 A women’s bantamweight bout between Jessica Andrade and Marion Reneau was added to UFC Fight Night 61, which takes place February 22 at Porto Algere, Brazil. It’s expected this fight will have a place on the main card. This should be an exciting standup fight between two of the better volume strikers in the division. Reneau is coming off of a one-sided beatdown of Alexis Dufresne at UFC 182, a fight in which she surprised many observers (including myself) who weren’t aware her striking had improved so much since her time on the regional circuit. Keep in mind, though, that Dufresne was basically a sitting duck out there, but still, it was a very impressive UFC debut. As for Andrade, she is 3-1 overall in the UFC with wins over Larissa Pacheco, Raquel Pennington, and Rosi Sexton and a loss to Liz Carmouche. She has looked excellent overall in the UFC and her striking attack is very fun to watch, but she showed in her last outing against Pacheco that she has a ground game, too. Andrade is still young and if she keeps improving could get a title shot eventually. This is an interesting fight and it’s certainly not an easy one to call, but it’s hard not to lean Andrade as she’s done more in the Octagon overall and seems like the more well-rounded fighter of the two. But Reneau looked very good in her debut and if she has another solid performance it wouldn’t be shocking at this point. Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Cody Gibson, UFC Fight Night 61 As well, a men’s bantamweight bout between Douglas Silva de Andrade and Cody Gibson was also added to UFC Fight Night 61, and it’s likely to take place on the preliminary card. De Andrade has had only one fight in the UFC, losing a decision to Zubaira Tukhugov, while Gibson is 1-2 overall with a win over Johnny Bedford and losses to Aljamain Sterling and Manny Gamburyan. De Andrade didn’t look good at all in the Tukhugov fight, but he took it on short notice and after seeing what Tukhugov did to Ernest Chavez, it’s hard to fault him too much for that loss. As for Gibson, he has looked pretty solid in all of his fights, but getting choked out by Gamburyan in a fight he was dominating was extremely disappointing and he’s likely in a must-win position now with this bout. I could really see this fight going either way but I do lean towards Gibson slightly, just because I think he is the better wrestler and has fought better competition. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he did something stupid again and lost, because after that Gibson fight, how can you have too much faith in him to fight smart?
