Two new bouts were added to the upcoming UFC Fight Night 67 card, which is set for May 30 at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my initial thoughts on both matchups. Ryan Jimmo vs. Francimar Barroso, UFC Fight Night 67 A light heavyweight bout between Canadian Ryan Jimmo and Brazilian Francimar Barroso was added to UFC Fight Night 67. Jimmo is 3-3 in the UFC with wins over Sean O’Connell, Igor Pokrajac and Anthony Perosh with losses to Jimi Manuwa, Ovince St-Preux and James Te Huna. He has not found in nearly a year since breaking his arm in his fight against OSP, so he will surely have ring rust coming into this bout. Having said that, Jimmo is a technical striker with solid wrestling and one of the better mid-tier 205lbers the UFC has on their roster. His fighting style is not very fan friendly, but he gets his hand raised, and at the end of the day that’s the most important thing in MMA. As for Barroso, he’s 1-1 in the UFC with a decision win over Ednaldo Oliveira and a split decision loss to Hans Stringer. He has not fought in over a year and will enter this fight with Jimmo off of a 14-moth layoff, which is very concerning. At 35, Barroso is two years older than Jimmo, which is another knock against him, but he will have homefield advantage here, which could really help him if this is a close fight that goes to the judges’ cards. Realistically, this fight could go either way, but I think Jimmo is the better fighter here, and I expect him to win at least a decision. Look for Jimmo to be priced around 2-to-1 in this one as he looks to get back on track in Brazil. Tom Breese vs. Luiz Dutra, UFC Fight Night 67 As well, a welterweight matchup between UFC newcomer Tom Breese and Luiz Dutra was added to this card. I don’t know too much about Breese, but he has an excellent 7-0 record fighting over in England for Cage Warriors and BAMMA and overall he looks like a very solid prospect at only 23 years of age. As for his opponent Dutra, he’s 0-1 in the UFC with a DQ loss to Kiichi Kunimoto. It’s hard to gauge his skills based off of that fight, but considering he’s almost 10 years older than Breese and is coming off of a 16-month layoff, it’s really hard to pick him in this spot. Look for Breese to be favored despite his lack of UFC experience, but watch some tape on this guy before you automatically fade Dutra, who will of course have the homefield advantage in this one.
