Preview: UFC Hidalgo – Poirier vs. Johnson

This Saturday night the UFC continues the theme of non-stop-MMA in September, hosting yet another live show, this time featuring lightweights Dustin Poirier and Michael Johnson as the main attraction.

These two fighters are meeting at a crucial point in their careers, with Poirier riding a four-fight win streak since his loss to Conor McGregor at featherweight, and Michael Johnson struggling along on a two-fight losing streak against Beneil Dariush and Nate Diaz respectively. Johnson seemed destined to challenge for the title prior to his most recent losses and had thrown his hat into title contention but has just found himself coming up short against the very best in the division, something Poirier is all too familiar with. Dustin Poirier previously had the same struggles as Michael Johnson when he was competing in the featherweight division, where he seemed to be able to beat everyone except the elite fighters at 145lbs. However, since his return to lightweight he appears to have had a change in fortunes and will be looking to keep that going on Saturday night. Stylistically these two fighters match up nicely, Poirier possesses a slick ground game and dynamite in his fists when he lets his hands fly, owning the ability of put together fight winning combinations in the blink of an eye. Whilst Johnson holds power of his own on the feet, his base and strength has always been his wrestling and he’ll want to keep Poirier up against the cage to limit the striking output, which makes this a fascinating and potentially exciting contest. Although, with confidence high, it’s hard to bet against Poirier, so expect another performance of the night from him and another devastating loss for Johnson.

‘The Next Anderson Silva’ hasn’t quite had the career we expected since head kicking cans during his Ultimate Fighter run, but Urijah Hall has managed to establish himself as a half decent middleweight who can be entertaining to watch. He finds himself facing a powerhouse in Derek Brunson, who’s slowly establishing himself as someone to watch at 185lbs. Hall comes in to this fight on the back of a loss to Robert Whittaker where he didn’t look particularly good and was picked apart with ease by the Australian. However, prior to that bout Hall had near decapitated Gerard Mousasi with a flying knee TKO which will make many a highlight reel when his career draws to an end. Those two fights sum up Hall’s career thus far perfectly: he is able to pull off the sublime but all too often it’s mediocrity that we get from him and at some point he needs to establish some consistency when he steps inside the cage. Brunson has no such concerns. He’s gone 4-0 in his last four fights, winning the last three via TKO. Safe to say Brunson can bang with the best at 185lbs and he needs the big name win to really project himself into title contention. Whilst Hall will be a decent feather in his cap, Brunson knows a win over Hall won’t get him closer to the title but it should get him a bigger fight next time out with any luck. The smart money is on Derek Brunson to win via TKO.

Evan Dunham welcomes Rick Glenn to the UFC on Saturday night in a fight that should provide fireworks. Dunham previously held the position of the hottest prospect in the lightweight division and was destined for great things but, as so often happens, the wheels fell off his career and he’s found himself hanging around the lightweight division bumbling along with no real title prospects. However, a recent run of three wins on the bounce has turned things around for Dunham and he’s suddenly a top 15 ranked fighter who’s got something to offer the division. Rick Glenn comes to the UFC as a former WSOF featherweight champion and will be looking to make his mark instantly at 155lbs. A tall, lanky fighter, Glenn likes to get up close and scrap with his opponents and with heavy hands like his, it’s no wonder. Expect some wild exchanges between these two and whilst each fighter will have their chances to finish the fight, I can only see Dunham winning this and continuing his recent run of good form.

Roan Carneiro meets Kenny Robertson in a battle of average middleweights looking to bounce back from recent losses. Carneiro fell victim to the crushing power of Derek Brunson in his last fight, which snapped a six fight win streak which included a win over Mark Munoz amongst others. Robertson also ended a winning streak when he dropped a split decision in his last fight to recently released Ben Saunders. Neither of these fighters are expected to set the world on fire at 185lbs but they both enjoy a finish, so don’t expect this fight to go the full fifteen minutes with Carneiro finishing Robertson early on.

Chris Wade will think the UFC has it in for him after being matched with his second Dagestani fighter this year, as he faces Islam Makhachev in a lightweight fight. However, Wade will be hoping that unlike against Rustam Khabilov, he’ll manage to secure the win this time around. Wade is a well rounded fighter that has very good wrestling skill and enjoys a submission finish. Unlike most wrestlers, Wade also has decent stand up skills but where he came unstuck against Khabilov was in allowing the Dagestani to overpower and dominate the wrestling exchanges, something he can’t afford to do again here. Makhachev is everything you expect to see from the endless supply of MMA fighters from Dagestan: he has good wrestling and an accomplished background in combat sambo and judo, so will be hoping to dominate the grappling exchanges against Wade. If Wade is to find any joy, it’ll be to keep Makhachev at range and tee off on the feet, especially as Makhachev lost his last fight by KO in the first round. It’s a tough ask for Wade and it’ll probably be a little too much of an ask, so expect him to drop yet another loss to a fighter from Dagestan.

Chas Skelly and Maximo Blanco open the main card in a featherweight fight that sees both men coming in off the back of losses, hoping to turn things around for themselves. Skelly is a little old to be called a prospect at 145lbs, but having gone 15-2 in his career and 5-1 in his last six fights, he’s still got a lot to offer the division. Skelly posses high level wrestling and a crafty submission game and, if he can utilise this against Blanco, he’ll have no problems in this one. Blanco is a decent fighter but isn’t in the best form of his career, going 3-3 in his last 6 fights. He does come from a great camp at Jackson’s – who’ll no doubt be preparing him for the grappling onslaught from Skelly – but it’s hard to see Blanco winning this fight.

Fights to watch on the undercard; Augusto Montano vs. Belal Muhammad, Gabriel Benitez vs. Sam Sicilia and Alejandro Perez vs. Alberto Morales