Breakdown: UFC: Lewis v Oleinik

Breakdown: UFC: Lewis v Oleinik

Lewis v Oleninik:

Lewis(-235): With Derrick Lewis, what you see us what you get. Heavy hands, no grappling, and really only engages in two or three bursts a round so not to gas out. But to his credit, it has been pretty effective in his UFC career. Since coming to the UFC in 2014, he has racked up 14 wins in the heavyweight division which ranks 4th all time in that division. He is also tied for the most KO/TKO wins in the heavyweight division as well. That being said he is not getting any younger has been inside the octagon for over three hours of total fight time. Lewis is always dangerous but the holes in his game are very glaring and apparent. 

IMPORTANT STATS:

53% Takedown Defense, 49% Striking Accuracy, 44% Striking Defense, 2.53 Strikes landed per minute

NOTABLE WINS:

Tybura(TKO), Browne(TKO), N'Gannou(UD), Volkov(TKO), Nelson(SD)

Oleninik(+185): Going for his 60th MMA win, Olenink is like the Julio Franco MMA. A career that started in the 90's, is still going strong in 2020. Alexey much like his opponent, is a what you see is what you get but on the ground. He is tied for 2nd all time in submission wins in UFC heavyweight division. He has two neck crank wins and two Ezekiel choke wins in the UFC. If the fight goes to the ground, Oleninik will look for one these crazy submissions to finish the fight. This is a true matchup of opposite styles

IMPORTANT STATS:

46% Takedown Accuracy, 2.2 Submission Attempts per 15 minutes, 50% Striking Accuracy, 3.3 Strikes Absorbed per minute

NOTABLE WINS:

Werdum(SD), Greene(SUB), Hunt(SUB), Browne(SUB), Cro Cop(SUB)

Weidman v Akhmedov:

Weidman(-120): Chris has truly had one of the biggest 180's in his UFC career. The former champ has the second most Middleweight title wins in history. He beat what some people consider the greatest figher of all time, Anderson Silva, twice. But its not 2015 anymore and Chris has had some hard times. He has lost five of his last six fights, all coming by way of a finish. His one win was against Gastelum and most people would say he is very small for the division. The game has past him by and a lose here to me, would be the final nail in the coffin for his UFC career. Nobody on the roster needs a win more that Weidman, 

IMPORTANT STATS:

50% Takedown Accuracy, 3.82 Takedowns per 15 minutes, 1 Submission Attempt per 15 minutes, 3.14 Strikes Landed per minute

NOTABLE WINS:

Silva(KO,TKO), Gastelum(SUB), Belfort(TKO), Machida(UD), Maia(SD),

Akhemedov(-110):  Omari is coming in on fire going unbeaten in his last six fights. While he does have good wins in the UFC, he has not faced the level of competion that his opponent has. This would without a doubt be the biggest win of his career. He as pretty well rounded game, no huge holes in his game from what I can see. This will be one of the tighter fights of the night.

IMPORTANT STATS:

62% Takedown Defense, 50% Takedown Accuracy, 58% Striking Defense, 2.4 Takedowns per 15 minutes

NOTABLE WINS:

Heinisch(UD), Razak Alhassan(SD), Cummings(UD), Boetsch(UD), 

Stewart v Pitolo: 

Stewart(-185): They call him "The Dentist" for a reason. Darren brings the heat in every fight. His UFC career has been up and down with a 4-4 record. The question is usually how bad will his ground game be but the bigger question in this fight is how will his cardio be. He does have a history of starting fast and then dying a horrible death later in the fight. If he has a good sized gas tank for this fight, it should be a good night for him.

IMPORTANT STATS:

2.94 Strikes Landed per Minute, 44% Striking Accuracy, 2.44 Strikes Absorbed per Minute, 54% Striking Defense

NOTABLE WINS:

Winn(SD), Byrd(KO), Spicely(TKO), Lewis(UD)

Pitolo(+150): With one of the best nicknames in the UFC, "Coconut Bombz" is the latest product of Hawaii to make it to the UFC. With a name like that, he can clearly hold his own on the feet, but good ground game as well. While we all want to see sparks fly in this fight, Maki might lean on his ground game, which is better than Stewart's.

IMPORTANT STATS:

5.22 Strikes per Mintue Landed, 60% Takedown Accuracy, 1.98 Takedowns per 15 Minutes, 51% Striking Defense

NOTABLE WINS: 

Byrd(TKO), Sumter(TKO)

SIDEBAR: I recently found and watched this RT doc about Khabibs father. It shows what kind of person he was and how much he meant to the people around him. Great watch.

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