UFC on FX 6: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson Predictions

Last Event: 8 - 2
YTD: 95 - 48

Ross Pearson   vs.   George Sotiropoulos  
Main Event | Lightweight | 155 lbs (70.3 kg)

 Pearson (5'8) 13 - 6 - 0 

Pearson won the UK vs US season of TUF as a lightweight.  After losing a split decision to Edson Barboza (I scored the fight for Pearson, 10 – 9, 10 – 10, and 10 – 9 Pearson) Pearson would make the drop down to featherweight where he would fend off the take-downs of Junior Assuncao to take a well-earned UD from the Brazilian.  Pearson would go on to lose his next fight at featherweight to the always tough Cub Swanson. Pearson was holding his own going into the second, he even scored 2 – 3 take-downs on the much smaller Swanson, however, he was caught with a perfect left hook in the second and finished by Cub with strikes on the mat. Pearson looks to move back up to lightweight to take on Sotiropoulos.

What we know about Pearson
- Excellent Cardio
- Black belt in Taekwondo
- Brown belt in Judo
- Above average striking (good combinations, footwork and head movement)
- Average offensive wrestling
- Excellent balance and take-down defense

Sotiropoulos (5'10) 14 - 4 - 0 

 A black belt in BJJ since 2004, the same year he went pro, Sotiropoulos has been fighting professionally for about 8 years, fighting mostly top competition along the way. Kyle Noke (split decision loss) Sinya Aoki (DQ groin strike) George Roop, Joe Stevenson, Kurt Pellegrino, Joe Lauzon, Denis Siver (decision loss) and Rafael dos Anjos (KO loss).  

What we know about Sotiropoulous

-          - Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

-         -  Amateur Boxing Background, Victorian State Amateur Boxing Title

-          - Crafty in the clinch, good trips and body lock take-downs

-          - Struggles with offensive wrestling, doesn’t set his shots up well from the outside, easy to shrug off

-         -  Keeps his chin tucked and hands up, throws straight hard punches down the pipe but lacks power in his combinations when he throws them.

Hector Lombard   vs.   Rousimar Palhares  
Main Card | Middleweight | 185 lbs (83.9 kg)

Lombard
Facts

5’8 with 70” reach

Fights southpaw

4^th Dan Black Belt in Judo (competed for his Country – Cuba in the Olympics)

Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Fighting professionally for approximately 9 years

36 Total fights, 31 wins, 17 by KO, 7 by submission and 7 by decision.

3 Losses all by decision

Never been submitted or knocked out, 1 Draw and 1 NC

Hector was on a 20 fight winning streak before he ran into Tim Boetsch for his UFC debut. Chalk it up to octagon Jitters or maybe he was actually hurt like he said afterwards but either way he didn’t look like the same violent ball of crazy punches are normally accustom to during a Hector Lombard fight. Normally Hector stalks his opponents with a high guard and his chin tucked, he throws blazingly fast hooks in bunches while always seemingly able to juke, bob and weave out of his opponents strikes. His pure athleticism allows him to go off with kicks and punches while not having to worry so much about his opponent’s take-downs due to his reaction time, speed, balance and 4^th Dan Judo black belt. Hector sports a rare foursome of quality skills inside the cage; Muay Thai based attacked with his kicks and knees, good boxing, high level Judo and a legit Black belt in BJJ.

Paul Harris

Facts

5’8 with a 71” reach

Fights Orthodox

1^st degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Fighting professionally for approximately 7 years.

18 total fights, 14 wins, 1 by KO, 10 by submission and 3 by decision

4 losses, 2 by KO and 2 by decision

Never been submitted

Some of the best leg locks in the world / UFC

-          Palhares is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu phenom, his transitions, control and set-ups for his submissions are things of beauty. Unlike a lot of gifted Brazilian grapplers, Palhares has been working for years on his wrestling to complement his top not grappling. Rousimar can finish a single or a double from the outside or against the fence, partly due to his freakish strength, but he also has great wrestling technique. He really shines in the clinch, with his trips, body locks, and over-all cheekyness with his in close take-downs.  Palharese has above average striking but he mainly us uses it as a way of closing the distance to get his massive gorilla arms around you.

Prediction – I love me some Paul Harris but this is not a good match-up for him, even if he can score a take-down or two it’s not like it’s going to be an auto submission. Lombard might be one of the men to be able to nullify Rousimar’s submissions with pure strengthen AND technique. Alan Belcher proved you could do so with pure technique. I think Hector is hungry for his first UFC win and gets the KO in the first. Sorry Rousimar, hopefully they give you a bounce back fight so I can see you tear off another limb soon.

Mike Pierce   vs.   Seth Baczynski 
Preliminary Card | Welterweight | 170 lbs (77.1 kg)

Mike Pierce (5’8) 71” reach

Pierce is a wrestle-boxer fighting out of Portland Oregon, he sports an overall record of 14 – 5 – 0 and he wrestled at the division 1 level for Portland state university. Pierce is on the shorter side for welterweight standing only 5’8 but he is built like a MACK truck. Despite his usual height disadvantage Pierce possess a decent reach at 71”, he mixes up his strikes well, throws decent combos and has above average head movement. Pierce has become quite adept at slipping punches in close while finding the target with his own strikes. Pierce’s legit background in wrestling, compact frame and low center of gravity makes him almost impossible to take down, he was taken down twice by Josh Kosheck very briefly (pierce pop’d right back up) but if I remember correctly defended all three or four of NCAA Division 1 wrestler Johnny Hedricks’ takedowns and then getting a slam take-down of his own towards the end of the third round on Johnny.  While Pierce’s record is nothing to write home about his defeats deserve a second look. He lost to Mark Munoz in his fourth pro fight and Strikeforce vet Nathan Coy in his 7^th (both by decision), Pierce’s 3^rd pro loss came at the hands of perennial contender (lulz) Jon Fitch again by decision (Pierce had Fitch on roller skates in the third after a flurry of strikes) his 4^th and 5^th loses were to Johnny Hendricks and Josh Koshchek by decision and there are arguments to be made for Pierce in both of those fights, especially the Koshchek fight. Pierce utterly dominated Carlos Eduardo Rocha (a fighter I was very high on) in his second last fight. Pierce used his more polished and technical striking to win on the feet and seemingly took Rocha down at will. Here is where Pierce really impressed me, he played (somewhat) in the guard of Rocha, but just far enough back and postured up so that Rocha couldn’t latch anything on, when Pierce felt like it he stood back up and made Rocha come with him, rinse and repeat, it was a beautiful bit of game planning by Pierce and his team that enabled Pierce to use his enormous wrestling advantage while still staying out of the sticky/risky guard of Rocha. Pierce has a very deep gas tank, power in his hands, legit wrestling, has never been knocked out of submitted and sky high fight IQ, making him a very dangerous fighter when he is on.

Baczynski (6’3) 75” reach

Not much info out there on Seth. He is a large welterweight, standing 6’3, he is a grinder / journeyman, decent wrestler but that’s about it.  In his last fight Seth knocked out the tough Norwegian grappler Simeon Thoresen in a kind of weird fight because Thoresen has 15 wins by submission, including his UFC debut where he took down a pretty good wrestler to get the sub. In 4 minutes of action in the first round Thoresen didn’t attempt even a single take-down.

Prediction – If Pierce decides to wrestle, this is a LONG night for Seth, if Pierce stands like Thoresen decided to there is a good chance Seth lands on of those long punches and drops or KOs Pierce. That being said I think Pierce’s fight IQ kicks on and he takes this down early and often. Pierce by UD.