Tonight, we see Dillashaw again as defends his title against Dominick Cruz, the former bantamweight champ who, interestingly enough, never lost his title. Three years of injuries and resulting inactivity led to him being stripped of the title, which opened the door for Barao and Urijah Faber to fight for the interim belt. And even tonight, it'll only be Cruz's second fight in 18 months as he hasn't fought since his win over Takeya Mizugaki back in September 2014.
Dillashaw has been on a roll and looked unstoppable as the champ, so tonight will be an interesting battle as he welcomes the former champ into the cage. What I'm most interested to see is how Dillashaw handles the constant movement and footwork of Cruz. The champ brings quite a bit of movement and angles to the fight himself, but I feel his game is more based in power punching than it is boxing.
I like the former champ in this one - I think his footwork and angles are going to test the patience of Dillashaw, who will constantly be looking to close the gap. I see this being a fairly close fight throughout, with Cruz scoring points and building his case for the decision through precision and movement.
Remember the words of UFC Featherweight Champ Conor McGregor - "Precision beats power and timing beats speed." Not to say Cruz will KO Dillashaw, but I think we'll see this quote play out over five rounds as Cruz reclaims the belt he technically never lost with a decision win. While scores may be 48-47 across the board, I don't see it being a controversial win, but rather a convincing return to the top for Cruz.
Not to be forgotten on the undercard are a couple other fights that interest me:
Anthony Pettis fights for the first time since losing his Lightweight title to Dos Anjos, taking on former Bellator champ Eddie Alvarez, who is 1-1 in his UFC career. Pettis was the poster boy not too long ago, a dynamic fighter who was even on the cover of a Wheaties box. But the heavy hands of Dos Anjos ended that run, so he finds himself looking to work his way back. I think he does here - Alvarez is a great fighter, but I think we're seeing him on the back-9 of his career whereas Pettis still hasn't made the turn. I think Pettis finishes the fight and starts building his case to take on the winner of the Dos Anjos - McGregor fight we're all waiting for in March.
The other fight I'm interested in is a heavyweight matchup between Travis Browne and Matt Mitrione. Both guys are coming off losses, though I feel this fight is a lot more important to Browne than it is Mitrione. Browne's title aspirations are a lot more legit than those of Mitrione, who looked great during a recent 3-fight win streak, though against the likes of some bottom feeder guys in the division. Browne, however, has impressive KO wins over Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem, and Josh Barnett to his name, all in succession during a streak that had folks clamoring for a title shot before he lost a decision to now champ Fabricio Werdum. He's split his last two fights, so if there's any hope of making another run at the title he can't afford to lose to a guy like Mitrione. Nor do I think he will - this should be exciting for however long it lasts. Mitrione has thrown caution to the wind of late, so expect him to throw some bombs and trade with Browne before the latter's reach capitalizes on an opening and leaves Mitrione spilled on the canvas, heaped over in pile of unconsciousness.
Should be a fun night of fights, and we'll check back in after with a quick recap and thoughts on what we hope to see coming out of it.
-Besse
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