After UFC 203 is headlined by a pair of heavyweight bouts in Cleveland, the Octagon will be heading down to Hidalgo, Texas with a card that doesn’t feature any fighters above middleweight. UFC Fight Night 94 has a very solid top two fights, and the remainder of the event could be a source of good action fights, which seems to be a bigger focus for the Fox Sports 1 offerings of late. The main event is an excellent lightweight bout between Dustin Poirier and Michael Johnson. Poirier has looked phenomenal in his four fights since moving up from featherweight in 2015, and could be closing in on title contention with a win over Johnson. Speaking of four-fight winning streaks, the one Johnson put together starting in 2013 seems like a distant memory. “The Menace” was in the title conversation following his win over Edson Barboza, but an unjust decision loss to Beneil Dariush derailed that, and he followed that up by being overwhelmed in the last two rounds by Nate Diaz for his second consecutive loss. The co-main event features another pair of top 10 fighters. Middleweights Uriah Hall and Derek Brunson provide an interesting style clash, as it pits Hall’s explosive striking with Brunson’s wrestling. Brunson has improved his overall game immensely over the past couple of years, but it would be surprising if he chose to stand with Hall. Brunson will be looking to extend his winning streak to five, but Hall showed with his victory over Gegard Mousasi that he can beat elite fighters. The six-fight main card also has Evan Dunham welcoming former WSOF featherweight champ Rick Glenn to the UFC. Glenn is stepping up a weight class to get his foot in the UFC, as so many fighters have done recently. TUF Latin America bantamweight winner Alejandro Perez looks for his third consecutive win against undefeated newcomer Albert Morales. Veterans Roan Carneiro and Kenny Robertson square off in the welterweight division, and Russian prospect Islam Makhachev looks to bounce back from his first career loss against Chris Wade. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for the six main card bouts on UFC Hidalgo today at Several Bookmakers. Check them out: ——————– UFC Fight Night 94: Johnson vs. Poirier SEPTEMBER 17, 2016 State Farm Arena | Hidalgo, Texas Main Card FS1, 10 p.m. ET Michael Johnson +135 Dustin Poirier -175 Over 2.5 -150 Under 2.5 +110 – Uriah Hall +165 Derek Brunson -215 Over 2.5 -150 Under 2.5 +110 – Rick Glenn +200 Evan Dunham -280 Over 2.5 -190 Under 2.5 +150 – Alejandro Perez +110 Albert Morales -150 Over 1.5 -190 Under 1.5 +150 – Roan Carneiro -110 Kenny Robertson -130 Over 2.5 -160 Under 2.5 +120 – Chris Wade +115 Islam Makhachev -155 Over 2.5 -180 Under 2.5 +140 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: I’m glad Dustin Poirier went through a battle at lightweight against Joe Duffy to see that he’s able to take shots he couldn’t before, and to show that his cardio is just as solid — if not better — than it was at featherweight. Those are two very important reasons that I’m picking him against Michael Johnson here. Johnson is a higher volume striker, but Poirier is the more accurate of the two, and certainly no slouch in terms of the pace he keeps. The biggest difference in this fight will be on the ground, if Poirier can get Johnson down. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Poirier behind slightly in the early exchanges, only to come on late and win the fight. It’s a competitive one, but Johnson has faded in each of his last two fights, and I don’t think there’s reason to think the same does happen against Poirier. All the tools are there for Derek Brunson to beat Uriah Hall, but he’s also susceptible to getting his block knocked off in this fight. I have to pick Brunson because if he takes the right approach to this one, he should smother Hall’s offense almost entirely, but for some reason I’m more hesitant than I feel I should be. Perhaps I’m reading too much into Brunson having success on the feet recently and assuming he’ll stand for longer than he should. However, after seeing Hall taken down and unable to do anything against Mousasi, Brunson should at the very least be able to control him on the mat, and be looking to implement a similar gameplan. Rick Glenn is a quality fighter, but he’s a featherweight facing a top 15 lightweight. Perhaps he can have success using the 6″ reach advantage he has over Evan Dunham, but you have to anticipate Dunham getting inside and simply being able to bully Glenn against the cage, to the mat, and once on the ground. Maybe there’s a submission for Dunham somewhere along the way, but even if he doesn’t get one, this is a fighter who has only lost to top 10 lightweights over the past five years. Glenn isn’t that. I think Albert Morales can definitely get to Alejandro Perez. So far in the UFC Perez has won his TUF finale, gotten obliterated by Patrick Williams, and then scored wins over a physically broken Scotty Jorgensen and perhaps the most one-dimensional fighter in recent UFC history. I’m yet to be impressed. Morales has pretty quick hands and some decent power, along with some decent submission ability. Unless Perez has made some massive leaps in his game, I think he goes down here. Kenny Robertson is perennially underrated. He looks generic and he has a job outside of fighting, so I get it, but he’s also perfectly capable of beating nearly any fighter who is willing to grapple with him. Roan Carneiro has an edge if the fight remains at distance, but in the clinch Robertson outworks most opponents, and if/when this hits the mat Carneiro will likely be on the bottom where Robertson can neutralize his BJJ. If Carneiro manages to get top position that could be bad news for Robertson, so I’m not too confident in the pick, but if I can get a decent number here it could be another shot on a guy who has made me a decent amount over the years. This is a solid test for Islam Makhachev, and the movement of the line will be interesting to watch as well. Like most Russians of late, he was a bit overvalued against an opponent who was beyond him in both skill and experience. Now he’s facing a guy who, while primarily known as a wrestler, flashed some much improved striking against a fighter similar to Makhachev in his last fight. Will Makhachev have the wrestling to get past Wade’s takedown defense, and if he doesn’t can he close up some of the holes in his defensive striking? If the public thinks the answer to both questions is yes and they bet him up accordingly, I may be persuaded to take a shot on Wade.
