Two new bouts were added to UFC Fight Night 69. Here they are, along with my initial thoughts on each. Nikita Krylov vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima, UFC Fight Night 69 A light heavyweight fight between Nikita Krylov and Marcos Rogerio de Lima is the latest addition to UFC Fight Night 69, which is schedule to take place June 20 at O2 World in Berlin, Germany. It’s likely this fight will be on the preliminary card, but it’s possible it sneaks onto the main card depending on what other matchups are added to the UFC FN 69 fight card. This fight makes a lot of sense. Krylov is 2-1 since dropping down to light heavyweight and 3-2 overall in the UFC with three finishes, while de Lima, a TUF Brazil 3 veteran, is 2-0 in the UFC with two wins by brutal first-round knockout. The UFC wants to see which of these two men is ready to take a step up in competition at 205lbs, and the only way to find out is to match them up and see who the better fighter is. This is a tricky fight, for sure. I think, technique wise, Krylov is the better striker, but de Lima packs massive power in his punches and is probably the more effective striker. If this fight stays standing, which I think it’s likely to do, I would give de Lima the edge in round one, but if he can’t finish Krylov early he’ll probably gas and I do believe Krylov has the cardio edge over the course of three rounds. And if this fight goes to the ground, I think you have to favor Krylov there as well because he is so dangerous with his submissions. So I do see a few advantages for the Ukrainian in this bout. Having said that, I’m not sure you can totally trust Krylov here. We’ve seen him get knocked out before and overall he fights pretty sloppy, so I definitely think there’s a chance he gets knocked out by de Lima early on. However, with the edges in youth, cardio, and on the ground, I do think Krylov is the more complete mixed martial artist in this one, although I’m expecting the public to lean a bit towards the hard-hitting de Lima here as Krylov typically gets no respect from bettors. Mike Wilkinson vs. Alan Omer, UFC Fight Night 69 As well, a featherweight contest between Mike Wilkinson and Alan Omer was added to the UFC Fight Night 69 card, a bout that most likely will take place on the evening’s preliminary card. Wilkinson knocked out Nicklas Backstrom in his last fight in one of the biggest upsets of 2014, and overall the TUF Smashes alum is 1-1 in the UFC with a submission loss to Rony Jason the knockout win over Backstrom. I’m not sure how good he truly is as the Backstrom knockout was quick and some might same flukey, but clearly the guy his very hard and is not to be taken lightly on the feet. As for Omer, he’s 0-1 in the UFC with a split decision loss to Jim Alers and he hasn’t fought in over a year. That’s scary, even though I do think Omer is an underrated, talented scrapper with a sneaky ground game who could make this a dogfight with Wilkinson if he doesn’t get caught early — but of course, after seeing what Wilkinson did to Backstrom, that’s a big if. Wilkinson will probably be favored because he has that KO win over Backstrom, but I really do think Omer has a good shot of grinding him out here and earning a decision. I’m not sure Omer is the kind of the guy I want to put my hard-earned money on, but we’ll see what the line looks like this June close to fight time.
