MMA MANIA PART 1...
115 lbs.: Seo Hee Ham vs. Danielle Taylor
Seo Hee Ham (16-7) saw her six-fight win streak go up in smoke at the hands and knees of Joanne Calderwood in her Octagon debut, but showed her mettle in a gritty decision over Cortney Casey her next time out. This past March, "Hamderlei Silva" fought Bec Rawlings in hostile territory wound up losing a contentious decision.
She stands two inches taller than the 5’0" Danielle Taylor (7-2).
"Dynamite," having avenged her sole career loss in her previous bout, stepped in for Justine Kish against Maryna Moroz last August. Faced with a seven-inch height disadvantage, she struggled to generate consistent offense and ultimately lost a split decision.
She was originally supposed to face Ham at the ill-fated Fight Night 97 in Manila, Philippines.
Ham’s greatest issue is her lack of size -- she’s a natural Atomweight who appeared utterly dwarfed by the likes of Casey and Rawlings. With a rare height advantage against Taylor, I expect her to be far more successful. Though Taylor has fought at Flyweight before, she’s much less experienced as a professional and her stature should give her issues against Ham’s pressure.
Taylor didn’t show much besides a decent right hand against Moroz and Ham -- whose sole (technical) knockout loss was a stoppage between rounds in 2011 -- ought to be able to take that and keep going. She’s simply too proven and too relentless for Taylor, taking an entertaining three-round decision.
Prediction: Ham via unanimous decision
205 lbs.: Tyson Pedro vs. Khalil Rountree
Fighting out of the same camp as Heavyweight prospect and fellow UFC signee Tai Tuivasa, Tyson Pedro (4-0) debuted in 2013 with a 31-second knockout. He returned to the cage this past March and has won three straight, all by first-round submission.
He stands two inches taller than Khalil Rountree (4-1) at 6’3."
Rountree brought some hype into his appearance on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 23, where he became Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s second Light Heavyweight pick. Though he lost to Cory Hendricks in the quarterfinals, Hendricks’ neck injury allowed him to return and ultimately reach the finals, losing via decision to Andrew Sanchez of Team Claudia Gadelha.
Two of his professional wins have come by first-round knockout.
There are several variables here. Pedro’s very big and physically strong, but doesn’t share Rountree’s amateur experience and has yet to leave the first round. Rountree, meanwhile, is the better striker, but has struggled with wrestling bigger men, possibly because of spending most of his career at Middleweight.
The key intangibles may be their respective surroundings. Rountree has trained with the likes of Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva and operates out of Syndicate MMA, while Pedro’s most notable associates are James Te Huna and the aforementioned Tuivasa. Rountree has the people around him to correct the issues he showed during TUF and is more proven in the cage; therefore, expect him to have some trouble early, but take over once he drags Pedro into uncharted waters.
Prediction: Rountree via second-round technical knockout
135 lbs.: Marlon Vera vs. Ning Guangyou
This is the third time these two have been booked to fight. I’m just going to copy-paste what I wrote for the first one if it’s all the same.
Marlon Vera's (9-3-1) upkick knockout produced one of the best highlights on TUF: "Latin America," although a skin infection sadly cut his run short. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist has gone 1-2 in UFC proper, earning a "Performance of the Night" bonus for his submission of Roman Salazar.
He is three inches taller than Ning Guangyou (5-3) at 5’8."
"Smasher" scored two impressive knockouts on TUF: "China" before dispatching Yang Gianping in Macau. A knockout of Royston Wee followed, after which he dropped to Bantamweight and lost an uneventful split decision to Marco Antonio Beltran.
Three of his five wins have come by knockout.
Vera simply hasn’t shown the level of wrestling a jiu-jitsu specialist needs to excel in UFC. Attacking from his guard worked against Roman Salazar, but he had few answers for Davey Grant’s takedown game. Though Ning is fairly raw, he’s an excellent wrestler out of a great camp in Tiger Muay Thai, giving him the edge in the stylistic match up.
Ning’s power makes him the bigger threat on the feet and I’m not convinced Vera can put him on his back. If he can avoid the passivity that screwed him against Marco Beltran and allowed a woefully outclassed Royston Wee to last two rounds, I expect TUF winner to earn the victory.
Prediction: Ning via second-round knockout