UFC Fight Night 80: Main event Preview and Staff Picks
UFC Fight Night 80 take place on December 10th and starts what is a huge week for the UFC.
Don’s Breakdown:
We may have lost Joanne Calderwood in the main event to in jury but the UFC have produced a great matchup in its place. No. 3-ranked strawweight Rose Namajunas steps in to replace Calderwood against No. 7-ranked Paige VanZant.
Going from fighting an opponent ranked 9 to 3 is quite a step up in competition for VanZant but she seems to be up for taking on anybody the UFC put in her way. VanZant likes to swarm opponents and keep up the pressure with quick punches, this may not work as well against Namajunas as Namajunas has the ability to keep VanZant at a distance with her length as well as using her kicks and knees to stop VanZant from getting inside and mounting an offense. Their reach is identical but with VanZant’s style Namajunas has to keep the distance and utilize leg kicks to set up an attack and front kicks as well as knees when VanZant comes to stop her turning the fight in her favor.
Namajunas needs to keep VanZant at bay with attacks and try to get through her defense, Fight Metric has VanZant’s striking defense down at 39% Namajunas will surely know this and know that she has a chance to earn a lot of points or even finish the fight on her feet if she can get through VanZant’s defense.
Explosiveness is the key for VanZant getting the upper hand in this fight, if she can get inside and pressure Namajunas then the chance to get hold of her and get the takedown will be there, giving her a great chance to keep the pace up from the ground with strikes or a sub attempt. VanZant may be happy to keep it standing if her shots are landing but if she can’t get through she may have to resort to the takedown attempt.
Both fighters have good submissions wins under their belts and VanZant has shown great submissions defense in previous fights so if this fight goes to the ground it should stay active, if VanZant can keep the pressure up and take this fight to the ground in the later rounds she has a great chance of submitting Namajunas but Namajunas has some great sub wins on her record as well so don’t expect her to be a slouch on the ground.
What makes this fight so intriguing is that it is so unpredictable, both fighters are young and bring something new to the cage every time they fight, should be a great main event!
Pick: VanZant by Decision
Jimbo’s Breakdown:
I fully expect this clash to be one that showcases all the best elements of Female MMA – it will be a bit scrappy, it will be all over the place and we’re gonna see close fought exchanges on the ground and on the feet between two of the divisions youngest, and brightest, prospects.
This will be a treat for fans who like grappling exchanges with lots of scrambles and positional changes. Male MMA is at such a high level now that we don’t really see too many scrambles or sweeps as when fighters are on top, they stay there, but I expect this fight to be a lot more back and forth when it inevitably hits the deck.
Like the majority of Female MMA fighters, both Namajunas and Van Zant specialise in grappling and and I think the grappling battles will decide who takes it, as neither of them have showcased any real power on the feet in their previous bouts, whereas both have, in their own way, shown real ground acumen.
Rose is a submission whiz. Known for a 12 second flying armbar in TUF and for a Kimura victory over Joanne Calderwood, if Rose gets a sniff of a submission, she’s gonna go for it, take the risk and more often than not get what she wants.
PVZ is more of a relentless grinder than a submission sort – PVZ will relentlessly chase the takedown, she’ll eventually get it and once she is there she tends to win the majority of the scrambles.
I expect PVZ to get takedowns here – her challenge is to not get caught in a submission. Now this is a legitimate concern as PVZ has been sloppy in previous fights and certainly looked susceptible to submissions, but the opponents haven’t had the skill to capitalise. Rose does! However, with PVZ training with Team Alpha Male, it’s only a matter of time until that submission defense is shored up enough where she is safe enough on the ground with someone like Rose.
PVZ is also relentless – she does not stop. Over a 5 round fight, if she can survive an early onslaught from Rose, I can see PVZ dominating the later rounds. Rose showed that she can be worn down and have her conditioning broken in her fight with Esparza. I’ve not yet seen PVZ show that she can be stopped.
If PVZ loses, it will be because she got caught in a submission. I like PVZ to secure constant takedowns and to survive a few dicy spots in the early rounds, before her conditioning and pace allow her to dominate the later rounds en route to a decision.
PG’s Breakdown
This is a tricky one no doubt about it. Both have very slick striking and although Paige is only a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Rose a purple respectively both have very active ground games and are very efficient grapplers. Rose has been fairly quiet recently and Paige prolific. A three fight winning streak in the UFC against some quality opposition as well. Her first fight in the UFC was a fight of the night TKO win over Kailin Curran. Her second, a decision victory against the much respected Felice Herrig and thirdly, an armbar submission victory over Alex Chambers.
What’s even more impressive is that these three wins all came within a 10 month period. With this in mind I believe Paige has the edge in this fight. She has more recent octagon time and her fight senses will be finely tuned. I’m not writing off Rose. She is a multiple black belt holder and an extremely aggressive fighter. She could come straight out the gate with her typically aggressive style and take the fight to Paige. But I think the fight smarts of Paige will show and this early aggression will be weathered well before she takes control of the fight.
Paige Vanzant to win via decision.
