WSOF 11 Review

                                 

WSOF 11 Predictions

June 23, 2014

By Ryan Porzl

Cody Bollinger vs. Pablo Alfonso

Nickname:                                        Bam Bam         |    The Hurricane

Height:                                                5'10               |          5'8

Age:                                                      23                 |          31

MMA Record (WSOF):                15-3, 1NC (1-0) |     9-6 (1-0)

Arm Length:                                        67 in.              |       69 in.

Team:                               Joe Stevenson's Cobra Kai |   MMA Masters

Weight Class:                                    Bantamweight (135 pounds)

Notes:

Preview: Bollinger is riding a two fight win streak. His recent win was over Tyson Nam by unanimous decision at WSOF 8 (January 18, 2014). Alfonso is riding a three fight win streak. His recent win was over Miguel Torres by unanimous decision at WSOF 6 (October 26, 2013).

Prediction: Bollinger. Bollinger has more going for him. He has an even amount of knockout, submission, and decision wins so he should be comfortable no matter where the fight goes. He's faced tough competition in the past including Din Thomas, Shahbulat Shamhalaev, and Tyson Nam. Alfonso is mostly a submission grappler so his strategy shouldn't be hard to figure out for Bollinger. He's only won by knockout or TKO twice so he's not much of a striker or wields a lot of power. Also training with Joe Stevenson and the other trainer should help since Stevenson has been a very successful fighter in the past.

Melvin Guillard vs. Gesias Cavalcante

Nickname:                           The Young Assassin   |             JZ

Height:                                               5'9               |             5'8

Age:                                                     31               |             30

MMA Record (WSOF):       31-13-2, 2NC (1-0) |   18-7-1, 2NC (2-1)

Arm Length:                                      71 in.            |           71 in.

Team:                                     American Top Team |      Blackzilians

Weight Class:                                    Lightweight (155 pounds)

Notes: Guillard's WSOF debut.

Preview: Guillard is winless in his last two fights (1 loss, 1 no contest). His recent fight was a loss to Michael Johnson by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa (March 8, 2014). Cavalcante is coming off a win over Tyson Griffin by TKO at WSOF 4 (August 10, 2013).

Prediction: Cavalcante. Cavalcante may not be the same elite fighter he once was during his days in K-1 HERO'S but he's still a very talented and consistant fighter. Outside of an injury, you know what to expect from Cavalcante. Guillard is a talented fighter but he's one of the most inconsistant fighters of his generation. Guillard is one of those head cases where he doesn't always show up mentally for fights, gets careless and gets himself hurt, and constantly switches gyms with ATT being the fourth gym Guillard's called home in three years. Guillard is dangerous standing up but his ground game isn't the best. Not only are nine of his thirteen losses by submission but he's been caught and submitted when he's winning fights or out of nowhere only minutes into a fight. Guillard has seen himself time and time again have a fight won only to get caught with something and lose by submission or knockout. Cavalcante has a lot of good skills. He's a very well-rounded fighter with a near equal amount of knockout and submission wins. He's a very good grappler who's won with a variety of submissions including guillotine chokes, kimuras, armbars, and achilles locks. He's also a good striker and can hold his own in the stand up. Cavalcante also has never been submitted and only knocked out once which also including his trips into kickboxing. In his prime, Cavalcante has also shown a lot of dynamite as he's knocked out or TKOed Michihiro Omigawa, Hiroyuki Takaya, Nam Phan, and Vitor Ribeiro in fights that lasted less than a minute.

Jon Fitch vs. Dennis Hallman

Nickname:                                          None      |       Superman

Height:                                                  6'0        |           5'10

Age:                                                       36        |             38

MMA Record (WSOF):     25-6-1, 1NC (1-1) | 53-14-2, 1NC (0-0)

Arm Length:                                          74 in.    |            72 in.

Team:                American Kickboxing Academy |   Victory Athletics

Weight Class:                                     Welterweight (170 pounds)

Notes: Hallman's WSOF debut. Hallman is replacing Rouismar Palhares, Jake Shields, and Josh Burkman.

Preview: Fitch is coming off a win over Marcelo Alfaya by split decision at WSOF 6 (October 26, 2013). Hallman is riding a three fight win streak. His recent win was over Aleksey Shapovalov by submission at Union of Veterans of Sport: Cup of Champions (December 21, 2013).

Prediction: Fitch. For one thing, Hallman is taking this fight on only three weeks notice which is not a lot of time to prepare a fight especially for a fighter like Fitch. Fitch hasn't looked elite in a long time but he should still take this. In his last fight against Marcelo Afaya, he showed some improved striking which should help him in this fight and he even dropped Afaya. He's a very good wrestler and grinder who is capable of taking fighters down and keeping them down for fifteen minutes. He's also a big welterweight while Hallman is more of a lightweight and hasn't competed in Welterweight in a long time. Hallman is also a grappler and has won most of his fights by submission but Fitch is well known for his submission defense. Even the highly decorated grappler Demian Maia couldn't submit him in fifteen minutes despite trying. While Fitch has lost to Josh Burkman last year by technical submission, Burkman rocked him before the guillotine choke. The problem for Hallman is he doesn't have the power Burkman has and probably won't be able to stun him like Burkman.

Justin Gaethje vs. Nick Newell

Nickname:                                             None            |     Notorious

Height:                                                    5'11            |         5'10

Age:                                                          25              |          28

MMA Record (WSOF):                    11-0 (4-0)        |     11-0 (2-0)

Arm Length:                                           70 in.            |        74 in.

Team:                                      Grudge Training Center | Fighting Arts Academy

Weight Class:                                          Lightweight (155 pounds)

Notes: For the WSOF Lightweight Championship

Preview: Gaethje is undefeated with eleven wins. His recent win was over Rich Patishnock by TKO at WSOF 8 (January 18, 2014). Newell is undefeated with eleven wins Sabah Fadai by submission at WSOF 7 (December 7, 2013).

Prediction: Gaethje. Gaethje has a lot of things going for him. He's a very good striker with a ton of power. He's training at Grudge Training Center with Trevor Wittman who is a very good striking coach. He's also a southpaw which could throw Newell off. He's also a decorated wrestler and can be very explosive. Newell is a talented fighter but has a lot of problems going into this fight. For one, he mostly uses his wrestling to get fighters to the ground and submit them. However, Gaethje is a very good wrestler in his own right and is probably the best wrestler he's faced to date. If he can't get the fight to the ground then he'll be in trouble because he's a one armed fighter and it's doubtful he'll outstrike Gaethje. Newell is also not very familiar with long fights. With the exception of one fight, every other fight has not gone beyond the first round. If this fight goes to the second, third, and beyond it's unknown how Newell will perform. Gaethje has also been in big fights as he's main evented shows before and he's faced name fighters like Drew Fickett, JZ Cavalcante, and Dan Lauzon. Newell has done neither. The fact the pressure could be too much is something to consider since he's never main evented a show like WSOF or faced someone the caliber of Gaethje.