I’m expecting a good fight here with Magny pressing the stand-up but once Gastelum starts landing his singles and doubles, the California native will cruise.
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I agree with Scott on Sanchez.
“Please help me and cheer Diego Sanchez”, he said. I mean, I think he’ll win, but Sanchez shouldn’t be that big of an underdog against anyone. Silva has done OK in the UFC, and he might pose a few problems to Escudero, but I think Escudero edges it out.
Gastelum will be returning to the welterweight division after a one fight stint at middleweight, where he defeated Nate Marquardt by TKO at UFC 188.
Robert Winfree: This fight is being overlooked, because flyweights are like the Rodney Dangerfield of MMA, but will likely decide who takes on Demetrious Johnson for the title next. Formiga, a tremendous grappler, won’t be able to take Cejudo down, or at least not consistently, so he’ll likely be working on his feet a lot in this fight. Lamas has already challenged for the UFC Featherweight Title once before, losing to current champion Jose Aldo at UFC 169. Sanchez, fighting for the first time at 145 pounds, is now 1-3 in his past four outings.
There are no two ways about it – Mexico is a fighting country. The Colorado-based fighter has won eight of his last night bouts in the Octagon, including a decision win over Erick Silva in late August. When he’s on his game and making weight, Gastelum is one of the absolute best in his division with all the talent in the world, capable of making a serious run at the title. Sure, it’s his third tour of duty with the promotion and he’s never really developed too much since winning TUF (over “The Next Anderson Silva”, Phillipe Nover), but he’s looked solid of late. Gutierrez will be competing for the first time in a pro fight in well over a year and his lone career loss until this point came by disqualification. Magny will keep this close for a few rounds, but Gastelum will take over in the late rounds for a late submission win. While Gastelum doesn’t have the jiu-jitsu top game of someone like Maia, he’s good enough to keep Magny down and get a win. He’s very aggressive and good on the ground.
“That’s the way it is with every opponent – the longer the fight goes, the better it is for me”, Magny said. “Magny is extremely long for welterweight and has an 80″ reach. THE ODDS: Gastelum (-265), Magny (+225) THE PICK: It is hard not to be a Magny fan.
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Coming off the heels of one of it’s most shocking events in… well ever, the UFC returns with UFC Fight Night 78, headlined by Kelvin Gastelum against Neil Magny (who replaces the injured Matt Brown).
