A trio of new UFC bouts were recently announced, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my quick thoughts on each. Mirsad Bektic vs. Renato Carneiro, UFC Fight Night 67 A featherweight bout between prospects Mirsad Bektic and Renato Carneiro will go down at UFC Fight Night 67, which takes place May 30 at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. I’m surprised the UFC is putting these two top 145lb prospects against one another, but this is a fantastic fight. Bektic is so far 2-0 in the UFC with decision wins over Chas Skelly and Paul Redmond and has looked great overall, while Carneiro is 1-0 with a submission win over Tom Niinimaki. It’s not often the UFC matches up two of their better prospects with one another, but clearly they are trying to weed out the contenders from the pretenders at featherweight. This is a tough fight to call, but I have to lean towards Bektic because I believe he’s a bit more well rounded of the two. However, this is a close fight and I would not be surprised if Carneiro was able to secure the W. Dustin Poirier vs. Yancy Medeiros, UFC Fight Night 68 A lightweight matchup between Dustin Poirier and Yancy Medeiros has been booked for UFC Fight Night 68, which is set for June 6 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is an awesome fight. Poirier looked fantastic in his UFC lightweight debut, recently knocking out Carlos Diego Ferreira in the first round at UFC Fight Night 64, which Medeiros has looked great himself in his last two bouts, submitting Damon Jackson and Joe Proctor. Both of these fighters are dangerous on both the mat and in the standup, and the winner of this fight will be close to a top-15 ranking in the division. This fight could be won by either man, but based on how Poirier looked in his 155lb UFC debut and considering he will be fighting in his home state of Louisiana in this one, it’s hard not to lean towards him to win this fight. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Stefan Struve, UFC 190 And finally, a heavyweight bout between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Stefan Struve has been added to UFC 190, which takes place August 1 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I’m just really not sure what to think about this fight. I like both guys a lot, and respect what both have accomplished in their respective careers, but I really question why both are still active and not retired. With Struve, he’s only 27, but he’s been knocked out brutally six times in his career and has dealt with a myriad of other health issues. He’s a tremendous talent, but I worry about his health, and if he gets knocked out again he really should call it quits. As for Nogueira, it’s the same thing with him. He’s 38 years old now and was brutally knocked out by Roy Nelson in his last fight, which was over a year ago. He’s still a dangerous fighter who has knockout power and submission ability, but his chin is worn out after years of abuse and, like Struve, if he gets knocked out here I believe he should hang ’em up. This fight, to me, is a Pick ’em with a slight lean towards the younger, rangier Struve, but there’s no way I’d lay my money on either of these guys at this point of their careers.
