Jury No Longer Out at UFC 210

Myles Jury vs. Mike De La Torre

UFC 210 Preliminary Bout – Featherweight Bout

You may not have seen or heard of Myles Jury if you’re new to the MMA scene. Despite the memorable name, he’s also remembered as a guy who was taking the lightweight division by storm with wins over Michael Johnson, Diego Sanchez and Takanori Gomi before losing two fights in a row against Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliveira consecutively. Jury has chosen to continue fighting at featherweight after first debuting there against Oliveira in December 2015.

Mike De La Torre is another fighter who has also experimented in floating between lightweight and featherweight before settling in and committing to the 145lbs division now for six fights in a row. De La Torre has bounced between the win and loss column since 2014 in the UFC with a 2-3 record to his name. While there are no stand-out wins on his record, he remains a challenging hurdle for Myles Jury to overcome in his return.

The Breakdown

Myles Jury has good counter-punching skills and an excellent ground game, which should cause problems for Mike De La Torre who is usually known for his pure aggression.

De La Torre brings pressure and a high volume of strikes, looking to push his opponents back to the cage and start working from the clinch and shorter spaces. He’ll look to close the distance and not allow Myles Jury to settle in from range.

Prediction

Mike De La Torre fights hard and will bring the heat to Myles Jury. Jury’s silky striking and ability to work on the mat will see him outclass De La Torre and use his aggression against him.

Sean Strickland vs. Kamaru Usman

UFC 210 Preliminary Bout – Welterweight Bout

After his fight against Tom Breese at UFC 199, Sean Strickland made a point that he wanted Breese to stand in front of him and not move backwards all night. Well, Strickland’s wish has come true as his next opponent is the man who never takes a backwards step, Kamaru Usman. These two welterweights are the future of the division and are both on impressive win streaks. Usman has defeated all four of the opponent’s put in front of him in the UFC and Strickland has managed a 5-1 record since joining in 2014.

The Breakdown

Whoever manages to maintain octagon control and impose some forward pressure will have the advantage throughout this fight. Usman likes to move forward and force his opponent towards the cage before throwing some heavy punches and attempting takedowns on the back of them. Strickland, on the other hand, likes to move forward behind his jab and keep his opponent moving backwards while he continually chips away at them with precise and long strikes.

The concern I have about this is whether Strickland can continue to move forward against Kamaru Usman considering his impressive takedown ability. Secondly, when Strickland does move backwards, he moves in a straight-line and keeps his chin way up in the air. While I don’t think that Usman connects the finishing blow, I think the forward momentum behind some critical strikes will allow him to shoot in for the takedown either in the open space of the mat or against the cage.

Prediction

Either Strickland catches Usman, who is quite reckless, early as he attempts to gain octagon control or Usman finds the takedown and looks for an immediate finish. I think the best bet here, considering the styles of these two fighters, is the fight to end by stoppage.

Shane Burgos vs. Charles Rosa

UFC 210 Preliminary Bout – Featherweight Bout

Shane Burgos has never lost as a professional mixed martial artist and managed seven consecutive wins before joining the UFC in December 2016. In his debut, he proved too good for Tiago Trator, winning a unanimous decision. Tiago Trator wasn’t the best of competition, and I would have expected Shane Burgos to finish his opponent inside the fifteen minutes, even on the two weeks notice. Burgos was disappointed with the result himself and promises “I’m going to get back to my finishing ways against Charles Rosa”.

What most stands out to me about Charles Rosa is his involvement in the crazy first round of fighting against Yair Rodriguez back in 2015. Rosa took a couple of hard shots and escaped a nasty looking triangle choke before working some of his offense and making his way back into the fight before being awarded Fight of the Night at UFC 188. Interestingly, Rosa seemed to have taken some of Yair’s style into his next fight against Kyle Bochniak when he came out in a karate style stance. He changed his style as the fight progressed and began transitioning to an orthodox boxing stance and that’s when he started landing bombs on Bochniak.

The Breakdown

Firstly, this could potentially be the fight of the night. Both Rosa and Burgos like to stand and bang. Burgos took plenty of clean shots to the chin against Tiago Trator, and I don’t know whether he can stand up to the power and volume of strikes of Rosa for the full fifteen minutes.

Prediction

Burgos loses his first fight at the hands of Charles Rosa in what begins to look like a back-and-forth battle before Rosa catches him with a series of punches in the middle of round two.

Jan Blachowicz vs. Patrick Cummins

UFC 210 Preliminary Bout – Light Heavyweight Bout

Jan Blachowicz was booked as the man to welcome Alexander Gustafsson back to the cage at UFC Fight Night 93 in September. While everyone thought it would take a near miracle for Blachowicz to even threaten Gustaffson, Blachowicz surprised many by landing clean punches on the chin of Gustaffson over and over. ‘Gus’ had to take down Blachowicz to put an end to Jan’s dominance on the feet, and it was on the mat that Gustafsson won the fight.

Like Blachowicz, Patrick Cummins has only managed the one win in his past four fights and will be looking to return to the winner’s column at UFC 210. Cummins usually relies upon taking his opponent down to the mat and working them on the ground. Against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira back at UFC 198, Cummins wasn’t able to successfully get a takedown and ended up copping some heavy punches before the fight was stopped in the final seconds of the first round.

The Breakdown

It’s amazing how these two fighters fit together inside the octagon. Blachowicz looked impressive on the feet against Gustafsson, but horrible on the ground and couldn’t defend Gus’ ground and pound. Cummins, in his last fight against Nog, struggled in the stand-up game and wasn’t able to get his ground game working.

It’s going to be interesting to see which of these fighters can implement their strategy against the other.

Prediction

Blachowicz catches Cummins with a powerful series of punches before stopping him. I think this happens late in the fight, though, as Cummins may have some opportunities to work his grappling.

Tips Summary

Recommended Plays

 

Myles Jury vs. Mike De La Torre
Total Rounds – Under 1.5
Sunday 9th April, 02:30 GMT
Odds: 2.63Bet €100 to win €263163/100Bet £100 to win £263+163Bet $100 to win $2631.63Bet HK$100 to win HK$2631.63Bet Rp100 to win Rp263-0.6135Bet RM100 to win RM263  –  Bet365

Sean Strickland vs. Kamaru Usman
Total Rounds – Under 2.5
Sunday 9th April, 02:00 GMT
Odds: 3.00Bet €100 to win €3002/1Bet £100 to win £300+200Bet $100 to win $3002.00Bet HK$100 to win HK$3002.00Bet Rp100 to win Rp300-0.5000Bet RM100 to win RM300  –  Bet365

Shane Burgos vs. Charles Rosa
Charles Rosa to Win
Sunday 9th April, 01:30 GMT
Odds: 2.75Bet €100 to win €2757/4Bet £100 to win £275+175Bet $100 to win $2751.75Bet HK$100 to win HK$2751.75Bet Rp100 to win Rp275-0.5714Bet RM100 to win RM275  –  BetVictor

Jan Blachowicz vs. Patrick Cummins
Total Rounds – Under 1.5
Sunday 9th April, 01:00 GMT
Odds: 1.80Bet €100 to win €1804/5Bet £100 to win £180-125Bet $100 to win $1800.80Bet HK$100 to win HK$180-1.25Bet Rp100 to win Rp1800.8000Bet RM100 to win RM180  –  Ladbrokes