UFC 113: Sam Stout Vs Jeremy Stevens: Preview & Prediction

Lightweight bout:

 Sam Stout (16-5-1)
vs.

 Jeremy Stephens (17-5-0)

Fighting Styles
Stout – Muay Thai/Kickboxing
Stevens – Jiu Jitsu/Muay Thai/Boxing

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UFC 113 - Machida vs Shogun 2 - Previews and Predictions

Stout				Stevens
22 matches	16W	5L		22 matches	17W	5L
By knockout	9	0		By knockout	13	0
By submission	1	2		By submission	3	3
By decision	6	3		By decision	1	2
Draws	1

Sam ‘Hands of Stone’ Stout is the 4th Canadian to grace the stacked card at UFC 113 and he hails from London, Ontario and outside the octagon is pursuing a career in paramedics with a degree from home-town Fanshawe College. Stout (given his nickname), is primarily known as a striker and has been IKF North American Welterweight Kickboxing champion, Canadian lightweight Muay Thai champion and North American Muay Thai Champion.

Stout has had some memorable fights through-out his career which have almost all been in the organizations TKO and UFC. 19 of his 21 matches have come in those two organizations while his first two first resulted in a draw and a loss at ICC: Trials and the Mixed Martial Arts Challenge respectively.

After the two losses early in his career, Stout ripped off eight straight wins in TKO before the UFC took notice and signed him to a fight deal pairing him up against Spencer Fisher. As stated above, Stout has been in notable fights and two have come against Fisher with the fighters splitting the match-ups, while both times earning fight of the night honours.

Some of Stout’s other losses have come against very notable fighters in Kenny Florian and most recently back-to-back losses against Rich Clementi at UFC 83 (via split decision) and Terry Etim at UFC 89 (via unanimous decision). Following the loss to Etim, Stout has followed up with two unanimous decision victories over Matt Wiman and Joe Lauzon at UFC 97 and 108 respectively (they were Stout’s third and fourth FOTN honours).

‘Hands of Stone’ Stout is extremely talented, but he may have his hands full against Jeremy Stevens… either way we are in for a battle and considering the last time one of Stout’s UFC fights didn’t go the distance was back on June 24, 2006 at ‘The Ultimate Fighter 3: Finale’… I wouldn’t bet against this fight going all three rounds.

Jeremy ‘Lil Heathen’ Stevens, at the ripe young age of 23 (turns 24 in May 26th) has a staggering 21 fights already in his MMA career and has been fighting in the UFC since the age of 20 (he actually made his UFC debut on his 20th birthday) but unfortunately for Stevens he handed Din Thomas the present with a win via armbar submission.

It was Stevens first loss in a while as he went 12-1 in other organizations before joining the UFC but this loss hurt more than the one before considering it was not only in his UFC debut but also his birthday. Stevens bounced back with a victory outside the Octagon in ‘Midwest Cage Championship Fighting’ as well as two back-to-back victories over Diego Saraiva and Cole Miller.

Stevens looked as if he was ready to move up in the rankings and contend for the Lightweight Championship considering his only loss had come in his debut and he looked good combining his unanimous decision with his technical knockout due to strikes and elbows.

In his last five fights though, Stevens hasn’t seemed to be the fighter that the UFC, fans and Dana White expected him to be. Stevens has went 2-3 first with a loss to Spencer Fisher (whom Stout has split two fights with) at the “TUF Season 7 Finale” via unanimous decision.

Fisher bounced back at UFC 91 with a knockout of the night performance when he beat Rafael dos Anjos but again disappointed everyone with back-to-back losses at UFC Fight Night 17 & 18 against Joe Lauzon and Gleison Tibau (submission and unanimous decision). Most recently, at UFC Fight Night 19, Stevens was able to land a number of strikes opening up a big gash on the forehead of Justin Bulhholz which resulted in referee stoppage and another knockout of the night performance.

Stevens will have to battle through the crowd, who will be pro-Stout and looking for a ‘Hands of Stone’ knock-out but I expect Stout to win via unanimous decision… only because he seems to want it so much more.

TheCoach’s Pick: Stout via Unanimous Decision