October 24th at The Stapels Center, in Los Angeles, CA, is set to host the UFC 104. Headlining is Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida defending his Light-Heavyweight Championship for the very first time against the devastating striker, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Additionally Top Heavyweights collide as veteran of 36 fights, Ben Rothwell, faces the fast-rising star, Cain Velasquez.
As with Dream 11 I am similarly going to do my predictions. I will go top to bottom, looking at the Preliminary Bouts all the way up to the Main Event; so let’s kick it off and please feel free to disagree with my predictions or post your own, any feedback is welcome.
Chase Gormley vs. Stefan Sturve
Chase Gormley enters the octagon for the first time on the 24th with a 6-0 undefeated record. He has no real preferred way to win, shown with two Knock-Out victories, two Submissions and two have gone the distance. Gormley was an All-American wrestler who is yet to show what he has on the big stage; the UFC looks like his place to start.
His opponent Stefan Sturve is much more experienced with a 17-3 record. Thirteen of these came via decision as well as three KO's. Sturve has been fighting since the age of seventeen, finally making his way to big time –this being his third fight in the UFC. He was thrown into his first fight as bait for the charging bull known as Junior Dos Santos and following in his return, he proved to be impressive defeating Denis Stojnic via Rear Naked Choke.
Originally Chase Gormley was set to face the man Co-Main Eventing this card, Ben Rothwell, at the Affliction: Trilogy Event. However when that was cancelled the fight was picked up by the UFC and slated into this date. Although due to a mix-up in the Heavyweight Division; Rothwell was pushed up to face Velasquez and Stefan Sturve stepped up to face the All-American Wrestler.
This is an interesting bout that is hard to call –I’ve only seen small clips of Gormley and haven't seen him fighting at the elite level up until the upcoming 104. Sturve on the other hand I've seen multiple times, in and out of the UFC. He is someone who poses many threats to fighters of the likes of Chase Gormley. I can see both fighters being reluctant to stand on their feet and wanting this to go to the ground; with Sturve having 76% of his victories come by means of Submission and Gormley being an accomplished Wrestler. However I will give the edge to Sturve there, Gormley will be able to control the fight once they hit the mat, but Sturve is more experienced of a fighter and Gormley will get caught.
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Razak Al Hassan
Kyle Kingsbury returns to the Octagon after his stint in The Ultimate Fighter, Season Eight, with a 7-2-1NC record. Three of his victories have come by Knock-Out, two via submissions and two via decisions to his name.
On the other hand, Razak Al Hassan tries to bounce off his single career loss which he sustained against Steve Cantwell. He sports an impressive 6-1 record with four of his victories coming by means of submission, one by Knock-Out and one via decision to his name.
As noted earlier Kyle Kingsbury was a participant in Season Eight of The Ultimate Fighter on Team Nogueira. In his fight to enter the house, he lost to Ryan Bader but returned when another fighter was injured. On The Ultimate Finale show he dropped a Unanimous Decision to Tom Lawlor; however was kept around by the UFC who evidently have faith in his ability, yet leave him here in a do-or-die situation.
Both fighters have their backs against the wall and both fighters need a victory to remain relevant in the ever-evolving UFC roster. The way I see this one going is Kingsbury will look to keep it standing with him having the edge on feet. He will need to finish early but Al-Hassan will eventually shoot and get a takedown, put him on his back and submit him. This will likely be in the Second Round, which will give Kingsbury a thank you, but goodbye note from Dana White.
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