UFC 128 Preview: The Main Card

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Bantamweights
Urijah Faber vs. Eddie Wineland

The Matchup: A fight away from a likely title shot against 135-pound champion Dominick Cruz, Faber’s UFC debut comes in a great matchup against a surging Wineland.

A former WEC bantam champion, Wineland seemingly fell off the radar before rededicating himself to training, and the results have been impressive. He has put together four quality wins in a row and sought to round out his ground game. He will need it against Faber, who has made a career out of physically overwhelming foes and being virtually impossible to control on the mat.

At 135 pounds, Faber will likely be the bully in virtually every match. At featherweight, his athleticism and speed carried him until he ran into the bigger Mike Thomas Brown and the magnificent Jose Aldo. No one questions Faber’s gameness. In the Brown rematch, he fought five rounds with a busted hand; against Aldo, it was a blasted leg. In his first fight at 135, against Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 52, “The California Kid” was his old self, plying his advantages with typical ruthlessness. Working from a tie-up to take Mizugaki’s back, Faber eventually choked him stiff.

Wineland scored a slam knockout against prospect Ken Stone in his last fight at WEC 53 and has cited a renewed dedication to training as impetus for his improvement. Faber’s standup is strong enough to keep it on the feet, and he has shown a willingness to mix it up in spots. That is not the best strategy here, as it gives Wineland a chance to land a big shot, something for which he has become known, so look for Faber to force a clinch and take it to the ground.

Wineland is confident he is as strong as Faber, and he will get the chance to prove it. Faber’s top game and ground-and-pound consists of punishing opponents while pushing the pace and forcing them to work constantly. The key factor here is whether or not Wineland can control Faber’s hands while on his back and work to stand back up without giving up passes and positions. Faber will press the pace and punish at every opportunity, and he will probably have to keep working to deter Wineland from mounting offense.

The Pick: This is a tougher fight for Faber than most people might think. However, at 135, one has to wonder if there is anybody outside of Cruz that can really fluster him. Even in the five-round loss to Brown, he was virtually impossible to keep down and constantly kept scrambling and trying attacks, even though the American Top Team veteran was bigger and stronger. Faber is quick to close on people, and his standup is competent enough to keep opponents honest. He should be able to adapt, ply his attack and punish Wineland on the ground and in clinches on the way to a second-round submission.

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