UFC 192: Who's on the Hot Seat in Houston This Weekend?
It feels like an eternity since fans have seen a card like UFC 192.
Sure, there was an event last week, but a borderline regional show in Japan doesn't really count as an "event," does it? And sure, there was a pay-per-view last month...but does anyone want to remember shelling out $65 for five squash matches? UFC 192 is the first strong, talent-rich, "stacked" card we've seen since UFC 189 in July, and it couldn't have come at a better time.
Saturday night is chock full of high stakes and high-level bouts, but obviously, some fighters have more on the line here than others. Who, then, is squirming on his chair from the heat of the seat? Read on to find out!
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Sergio Pettis
Sergio Pettis came into the UFC with high expectations due to his undefeated 7-0 record and multiple titles from the Midwest regional circuit (oh, and his surname), but he has struggled to live up to the hype in the UFC thus far. Make no mistake, Pettis hasn't been bad by any stretch of the imagination. The nature of sports, though, is that a top prospect either ends up being the greatest thing since sliced bread or the biggest bust since the last guy.
While Pettis is coming off a loss to the unheralded Ryan Benoit, he finds himself receiving a major step up in competition at UFC 192, where he will face former flyweight title contender Chris Cariaso. While Kamikaze is coming off back-to-back losses and largely remains an unknown to MMA fans, he is a crafty veteran who has made a career out of edging out fighters like Pettis.
The former RFA champ is already on his last straw with fans, but if he winds up losing and looks bad doing it, he will likely find himself on the brink of being cut. That's not a great place for somebody who was expected to storm his way to the top of the flyweight division.
Tyron Woodley
Tyron Woodley is in a strange place career-wise. The power-punching wrestler is almost unanimously ranked among the top five of the welterweight division despite the fact he has never mounted a winning streak longer than two in the UFC. Oh, but one of the guys he did beat is actually going to fight for the title. How about that?
That said, he is still playing by the same rules as everyone else. With a lopsided loss to Rory MacDonald already on his permanent record, he cannot comfortably take another one from Johny Hendricks without having his chances at a future title shot irreparably damaged.
That is not an enviable position for anyone. Hendricks has made a career of making other top-notch fighters look bad with his strong wrestling game and powerful left hand. Woodley may have asked for this fight, but if he can't chew up what he bit off, he may wind up locked in a gatekeeper role from here on out.
It's impossible to talk about Alexander Gustafsson without mentioning his UFC 165 bout with Jon Jones. The gigantic Swede brought today's greatest champion to the brink of defeat in one of the most exciting fights in recent years, and while he didn't quite get the judges' nod that night, he has remained right in the thick of title contention ever since.
Ultimately, however, that fight with Jones went down in his record as a loss. So, too, did his heartbreaking UFC on Fox 14 fight opposite Anthony Johnson. And if he drops yet another big one to Daniel Cormier? Then things start to get really bad.
Right now, Gustafsson's MMA career has been defined by UFC 165. That's not a bad thing, even if he didn't get the "W." If he doesn't walk out of UFC 192 as the UFC light heavyweight champion, however, his career will be defined by his consistent inability to defeat a top-five light heavyweight.
That, obviously, is a very, very bad thing.
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