In the words of the incomparable Mike Goldberg; The wait is finally over. After months of wishing the end of the year would come (and praying that there would be no injuries) the first of the UFC’s trio of early December fight shows has arrived. Later in the week names like Aldo, McGregor, Mendes, Edgar, Rockhold, Weidman, Faber and more will be on show but to kick things off on Thursday night a batch of up-and-coming stars will be showcased to the world as UFC Fight Night 80 goes down at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
Main Event – Rose Namajunas vs. Paige VanZant
For the first time ever two women will headline a UFC card without a belt on the line as former title challenger Rose Namajunas comes in to replace the injured Joanne Calderwood against young starlet Paige VantZant.
Even though Namajunas is the one coming in at later notice, this fight represents more of a coming of age for VanZant. At the ripe old age of twenty-one the Nevada native has been vaulted into the spotlight by the UFC over the last year in large part because of her personality, marketability and good looks. So far, though, she has coped with the spotlight extremely well inside and outside of the cage and surprised a lot of people. Big time media exposure has come regularly but so have wins. VanZant has beaten Alex Chambers, Kailian Curran and Felice Herrig since her 2014 UFC debut although Namajunas, by some distance, will be her biggest fight to date.
As a member of the inaugural flyweight championship fight following a season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ to introduce a new division, Namajunas found herself in a similar position to which VanZant is at the moment. She was the most marketable member of the season with an exciting style which had UFC president Dana White even dubbing her as the possible “Next Round Rousey”. Unfortunately for Rose she ended up losing that title fight to Carla Esparza as well as much of the hype she gained throughout the season – but that could all quickly be reversed on Saturday night with a win.
As a styles match-up this one should absolutely not disappoint. Since starting out as a very green mixed martial artist, which she still is in many ways, in her Invicta and early UFC days Paige VanZant has developed a very effective pressure game in recent times. From the outset the Team Alpha Male trained 115 pounder will throw combinations behind her jab, push opponents to the fence, dominate position and take them down. On the floor she has a good top game for this stage of her career where she does her best work with ground and pound.
Namajunas, on the other hand, is more of a flashy fighter who goes for the finish at all times. Like VanZant her striking is developing, while being dangerous at times, but it’s on the ground, and more specifically in transitions, where Namajunas is at her scariest. A real feature of Rose’s game is her ability to pull off submissions from everywhere, including from her back and on the feet with her flying armbar, which makes her a tough prospect even the more experienced people in the division.
Add those factors together and what you get is a very, very risky fight for Paige VanZant. For me, PVZ is a huge prospect at strawweight but her current MMA arsenal hasn’t developed enough to win this fight. To do that she would need a gameplan which isn’t totally predicated on fighting on the ground where she is still lacking in transitional elements and where Rose has a great chance of catching her. Unless there have been big strides since her last fight I don’t think she can win this fight without a large smothering of dangerous top control – especially over five rounds. I see this being an early submission win for Namajunas but, in the long run, might be the best thing that ever happened to Van Zant with the monstrous Joanna Jedrzejczyk atop the division.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
The main event here is by far the most meaningful fight of the night but there is plenty to also look forward to below that. Top of that list for fans of prospects would have to be athletic phenom Sage Northcutt who makes his sophomore Octagon appearance having banished Francisco Trevino to exile back in October.
The Texas native, like main-eventer Paige VanZant, has been the recipient of the UFC hype brigade over the last few months which has brought much exposure, and event more hate, to the man who is still only nineteen. On Thursday he has a chance to silence the doubters for another while against 12-4 Cody Pfister who is a nice step up but still shouldn’t be too much trouble.
Outside of that, the co-main event between Jim Miller and Michael Chiesa should be an exciting scrap while Elias Theodorou, Tim Means and huge bantamweight prospect Aljamain Sterling, who is buried on the prelims, are also definitely worth keeping an eye on.
FULL FIGHT PICKS
Rose Namajunas vs. Paige VanZant – Early submission win for ThugRose
Jim Miller vs. Michael Chiesa – Should be exciting, Chiesa wins the bloody decision
Sage Northcutt vs. Cody Pfister – Mr. Northcutt gets the finish, sir.
Elias Theodorou vs. Thiago Santos – I’m going with a Elias wrestling clinic here
Tim Means vs. John Howard – Means
Omari Akhmedov vs. Sérgio Moraes – Moraes
Antônio Carlos Júnior vs. Kevin Casey – Carlos Júnior
Aljamain Sterling vs. Johnny Eduardo – Aljo
Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Andreas Ståhl – Ståhl
Danny Roberts vs. Nathan Coy – Coy
Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Phillipe Nover – Tukhugov
Kailin Curran vs. Emily Kagan – Curran
BETTING TIP
For this event I’m going all out with Namajunas via 1st round submission at 10/1
START TIMES
Prelims – Fight Pass at 11.45pm
Main Card – Fight Pass at 3am
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