Renan Barai-Urijah Faber
“CALIFORNIA KID” FABER MEETS NEAR PERFECT BARAO
Los Angeles, CA– Tonight it’s all about UFC 169 from Prudential Center Newark, NJ featuring fan fav Uriah Faber (30-6, 6-2 UFC) getting a second crack at the UFC bantamweight (135 lb.) championship help by the incredibly talented Renan Barao (31-1, 6-0 UFC). The champ has mainly demolished his UFC competition thus far, with Faber being the lone exception.
FABER WANT NO BARBEQUE RIBS AGAIN
Urijah displayed heart and incredible being able to battle with a broken rib to lose a competitive decision
Jose Aldo Never lost At Natural Weight
in their 2012 matchup. Both men have improved a lot since then, and it will come down to who makes the better adjustments. I see Barao winning a close decision, but I will not count out very live underdog Faber, a former World Extreme Cagefighting champion who will probably have the crowd backing him against the Brazilian legend.
OTHER TITLE FIGHT HAS LOOK OF ROUT
That’s more than I can say for Ricardo Lamas (13-2, 4-0 UFC), who doesn’t seem to be much of a threat to Jose (JOE-SAY) Aldo’s (23-1, 5-0 UFC) featherweight (145) title. Aldo hasn’t lost in 16 fights with since that 2005 match vs. Luciano Azevedo at lightweight (155). Lamas is a talented fighter, however, and Aldo cannot afford to take him lightly in the co-main event. But they appear to be at different levels. I think Aldo gets the finish here, and likely by TKO.
HEAVYWEIGHT “LOSER LEAVES TOWN” FIGHT
On the undercard, former UFC heavyweight (265 limit) champion Frank Mir (16-8, 14-8 UFC) currently in the middle of a 3 loss streak takes on Alistair Overeem (36-13, 1-2 UFC) who is on his own 2 loss streak. You know what this means? This is probably a “loser leaves town” scenario for both fighters.
I think Overeem finally gets the job done in this one, if only to prolong his imminent UFC demise.
ROUNDING OUT THE UFC 169 CARD
Flyweights (125) John Lineker (23-6, 4-1 UFC) and Ali Bagautinov (12-0, 2-0 UFC) will link up for a nice little contender scrap. I favor Ali in this one, as the Russian has impressed in the UFC thus far. Lightweights (155) Jamie Varner (21-8-1-2, 2-2 UFC) and Abel Trujillo (11-5-0-1, 2-1-0-1 UFC) clash in a pretty even bout. Leaning towards Varner but could really go either way. Overall not too bad of a pay per view with a very good main event and some solid prelims.
FOX SPORTS 1 CHANNEL FREE UNDERCARD STARTS @ 5 PM PT
LIGHTWEIGHTS: John Makdessi (12-2, 5-2 UFC) vs. Alan Patrick Silva Alves (11-0, 1-0 UFC)
FLYWEIGHTS (125): Chris Cariaso (15-5, 5-3 UFC) vs. Danny Martinez (16-4) UFC debut
MIDDLEWEIGHTS (185) : Nick Catone (9-4, 3-4 UFC (185) vs. Tom Watson (16-6, 1-2 UFC)
LIGHTWEIGHTS: Al Iaquinta (7-2-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Kevin Lee (7-0). UFC debut for Lee.
FIGHT PASS UNDERCARD
MIDDLEWEIGHTS: Clint Hester (9-3, 2-0 UFC) vs. Andy Enz (7-0). UFC debut for Enz.
WELTERWEIGHTS (170): Neil Magny (8-3, 1-2 UFC) vs. Gasan Umalatov (14-2-1) UFC debut for Umalatov.
LIGHTWEIGHTS: Rashid Magomedov (15-1) vs. Tony Martin (8-0) UFC debut for both.
Zak Young