Two more bouts were added to UFC Fight Night 69, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my thoughts on both of them. Mairbeck Taisumov vs. Alan Patrick, UFC Fight Night 69 A lightweight matchup between Mairbeck Taisumov and Alan Patrick is the latest addition to UFC Fight Night 69, which is set to take place June 20 at O2 World in Berlin, Germany. Globo.com gets credit for being the first to report the matchup. Taisumov is 3-1 in the UFC with wins over Anthony Christodoulou, Marcin Bandel and Tae Hyun Bang with a loss to Michel Prazeres. The 26-year-old Russian is an extremely dangerous striker and has looked amazing in his last few fights, showing extreme power for the lightweight division and improved wrestling. With his skillset and rapid improvement, he could become a contender at 155lbs soon enough. As for Patrick, he’s 2-0 in the UFC with wins over John Makdessi and Garrett Whiteley. The 31-year-old Brazilian is undefeated in his career at 12-0 and he’ll look to keep the good times rolling against Taisumov, but this is a tough matchup for him. Patrick is coming into this bout off of a long layoff and is fighting a beast in the form of Taisumov, and I honestly don’t know how much success he’s going to have here. Patrick has a fancy record, but Taisumov is the real deal. Look for the Russian to open as the favorite here, and I believe he’ll be continuing his winning streak when it’s all said and done. Nick Hein vs. Lukasz Sajewski, UFC Fight Night 69 As well, a lightweight bout between Nick Hein and UFC newcomer Lukasz Sajewski will also take place at UFC Fight Night 69. MMARocks.pl was first to report the matchup. Sajewski was supposed to make his UFC debut last fall at UFC Fight Night 51, but he was injured and couldn’t fight Leonardo Santos. So he will enter this bout against Hein coming off of a year-long layoff, which is concerning. The undefeated Pole is 13-0 in his MMA career with nine wins by stoppage, and at only 24 it seems like this is a fighter with a high ceiling, so even with the short notice he still has a good shot of winning this fight. As for Hein, the German is 1-1 in the UFC with a decision win over Drew Dober and a decision loss to James Vick. He’s a very durable, well-rounded fighter, and is extremely popular in Germany. He’s a guy who the UFC would love to become a star in Germany for the promotion, so with that in mind you have to think they gave him a winnable matchup here against Sajewski. The Pole may be undefeated, but Hein is a solid fighter and already has experience in the Octagon. This is a close fight on paper, but Hein deserves to be a small favorite heading into it.
