UFC Vegas 83: Expert analysis and predictions from the MMA Vivisection team
Bloody Elbow is back with highlights from the MMA Vivisection's best fight picks.
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Last week’s reads were good, the picks… less so. Listeners who paid more attention to Connor than me were treated to Jalin Turner getting exactly the kind of early KO I was worried about when I picked Bobby Green instead. But both of us stumbled over Deiveson Figueiredo and Miesha Tate, who both looked a lot more like their former championship selves than expected.
Still, there are always a few ups and downs in the fight picking game, and at least neither of us went so far astary as to take Beneil Dariush in the main event, and that underdog read on Jared Gooden came through—even if we totally blew it on Kelvin Gastelum and Punahele Soriano.
What better time to remind people, then, that we aren’t gamblers and we aren’t giving out betting tips. The MMA Vivisection is all about analysis and breakdowns, trying to predict the future rather than play the odds. This week, we’ve got a top flight bantamweight bout between Song Yadong and Chris Gutierrez to sort out, as well as a light heavyweight co-main event between Anthony Smith and Khalil Rountree.
Y. Song vs. Gutierrez
Connor’s keys to the fight
Chris Gutierrez has great footwork.
Song Yadong doesn’t cut off the cage all that well.
Gutierrez has beat better cage-cutters than Song.
Song doesn’t really check kicks.
Gutierrez isn’t as crippling a kicker as Martinez.
Song’s physicality is a cheat code in what would otherwise be a hard matchup.
Song figures out reads in-fight pretty well.
“If you just—for one reason or another—don't really have to respect Gutierrez's threats, then you can kind of force him back into more of a neutralizing role. That was the really worrying thing about the Munhoz fight, was just how reticent Gutierrez was; that even though Munoz relieved that really intense early pressure with which he dropped Gutierrez early in the fight, Gutierrez was not able to pull the trigger nearly as much as he needed to to win any of the rounds.” - Connor Ruebusch
Zane’s keys to the fight
Chris Gutierrez is a stylistic puzzle, difficult but solvable.
Song is really confident about his ability to eat low kicks and keep fighting.
Gutierrez has a lot of flexibility in his kicking game.
We’ve seen Gutierrez in several versions of this kind of fight lately, and he couldn’t make his game work against the top competition.
Gutierrez has a history of getting clipped up early.
Gutierrez can be convinced into passivity.
Connor’s pick: Song Yadong, for the fact that athleticism is cheating.
Zane’s pick: Song Yadong, because Gutierrez can be pushed away from aggressive offense.
Smith vs. Rountree
Connor’s keys to the fight
It’s great to have Anthony Smith on a card not in the main event.
Khalil Rountree doesn’t like having prolonged exchanges, he wants to pot shot.
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