Fight For The Troops 2, UFN 23: Breaking Down Dunham/Guillard And Mitrione/Hague

Added on Jan 21, 2011 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

Lightweight: Evan Dunham vs. Melvin Guillard

It’s always easy to pick Melvin Guillard based on his skill-set, his size, and his record. He is really large for the division, and uses his size to hit people really hard. Evan Dunham, even coming off the controversial loss to to Sean Sherk, is riding a tremendous amount of momentum. Especially when you hear that UFC President Dana White still considers him undefeated. With a submission win over Efrain Escudero and a decision over Extreme Couture stand out Tyson Griffin in 2010, you have to keep an eye on Evan Dunham

Evan Dunham is going to have to try and keep Guillard on a leash, and force either a clinch fight or a ground battle. The bad news for Evan, is that Guillard is really good and jumping in out of the pocket and throwing huge bombs. Guillard is going to try to jump in, throw strikes, and jump out cleanly in every exchange. If Evan Dunham can accomplish this, and make Guillard fight his type of fight and can clinch with Guillard, he will be able to use his height to throw punches and elbows when breaking away.

The other advantage Dunham enjoys, is that he can bring people to the ground, and create scrambles. Thats where he can be dangerous, because he is crafty with his submission game and if he doesn’t submit you he can use position to control you for the round. Thats what I think will happen in this fight. I think Evan will get the fight to the floor, and create a scramble in which Guillard gets caught in a sub he didn’t see coming. I’m picking Dunham to get the submission in the second round.

Heavyweight: Matt Mitrione Vs. Tim Hague

This fight was booked for one reason; two heavyweights are going to stand and trade, and 9 out of 10 times someone is getting knocked the hell out. Playing the role of the heavyweights will be Mitrione and Hague, and the ingredients are right to produce a big KO late on the card. This fight is interesting for a few reasons.

Mitrione is still green in the sport, but he is a coach-able athlete who has acclimated well to a few areas of fighting. He has heavy hands, he has shown some decent timing in exchanges, and has always utilized the Octagon well in regards to space and distance. Space and distance sound like simple things, but many fighters have issues staying on top of that stuff while in a fight. Especially fighters with 3 pro fights.

Hague is back for another go in the UFC after being cut after three losses, but he went out and got 2 KO’s and this time I’m sure he wants to stick around. He will enjoy a size advantage, and at 6’4, 265 pounds, he is a handful for anyone who isn’t a top shelf fighter. Technically speaking, Mitrione is the better striker, but Hague can really use his slight reach advantage to confuse Mitrione while he tries to avoiding clinching and takedowns. Mitrione needs to avoid those to win this fight, and I’m not sure he can for 15 minutes. I’m also not sure Mitrione can keep getting back up for 15 minutes if takedowns come easy for Hague.

I think this will be a close fight, but Hague has a lot to lose. He fought to get back in the UFC, and won convincingly in doing so. He knows what it is like having it all taken away, and I think that will motivate him against a fighter like Mitrione. I see Hague getting the finish in this fight in the second round.