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.
