The light heavyweight division looks to have a resurgence in 2019 as yet another high-profile bout involving rated contenders will take place in the forthcoming months. That, plus the UFC has released an additional fighter, and you can read my thoughts about all the news below in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Ovince Saint-Preux vs. Misha Cirkunov, UFC 235
The UFC announced an interesting light heavyweight bout between top-15 rated contenders Ovince Saint-Preux and Misha Cirkunov will take place at UFC 235, going down March 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Saint-Preux (23-12) is 11-7 overall from the UFC and has settled in to the role of gatekeeper in the light heavyweight division. OSP lost a crystal clear decision to Dominick Reyes his out his time, but he filed Tyson Pedro in impressive fashion his struggle before that. He’s not much removed from a three-fight win streak that included a KO over Corey Anderson and Von Flue chokes against Yushin Okami and Marcos Rogerio de Lima, though that streak may prove to be the high point of his MMA career. The Reyes battle was certainly a step backward, however, as was a submission defeat to Ilir Latifi who preceeded the Pedro win. OSP is a really solid gatekeeper, but his days as a title contender seem to be over.
Cirkunov (14-4) is 5-2 in the UFC and in his final outing submitted Patrick Cummins. He had been knocked out by Volkan Oezdemir and Glover Teixeira his two fights before this, but the triumph over Cummins place him back on track and reminded us why the Latvian-Canadian was such an impressive prospect. Now that he’s living in Las Vegas, this is going to be a hometown fight of sorts for him. Although I am worried about Cirkunov’s chin letting him down , I still think he has what it takes to conquer OSP. I simply find OSP such a frustrating fighter to forecast how he is going to do, while I believe Cirkunov is a bit more steady. I would anticipate a competitive lineup, but with a slight lean towards the younger fighter in Cirkunov.
Craig White Cut, Evidence With Cage Warriors
Former UFC welterweight Craig White has signed with Cage Warriors, the advertising announced. Of course, this means the UFC lately cut him. White (14-9) had a tough go in the UFC after departing Cage Warriors as one of its top welterweight contenders. He left his Octagon introduction on very short notice and has been finished by top-10 ranked Neil Magny, cutting upwards of 30lbs to create weight. The UFC gave him a favorable matchup against Diego Sanchez in his next fight, but it did not go his way. Despite entering that bout as a substantial favored, White was dominated by an aging Sanchez also it was the kind of loss that made the UFC want to cut ties with White. However, he does have one saving grace here, and it’s that Cage Warriors is on Fight Pass this year. A couple of finishes for White and that he could very well be signed back to the UFC, though he may fare much better as a middleweight going forward. White’s opponent for his return to Cage Warriors hasn’t been declared yet, but he will fight at Cage Warriors 102, which such as UFC 235 also takes place March.
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