Bisping Vs Miller / Sanchez Vs Hathaway: UFC 114: Preview and Prediction

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UFC 114 - Rampage vs Evans Preview & Prediction (with all UFC Primetime Episodes)

UFC 114 - Main Card Preview & Predictions

Welterweight bout:

 Diego Sanchez (23-3-0)

vs.

 John Hathaway (13-0-0)

Fight Style:

Sanchez – Gaidojutsu, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing

Hathaway – Wrestling, Kickboxing

Sanchez				Hathaway
26 matches	23W	3L		13 matches	13W	0L
By knockout	7	1		By knockout	5	0
By submission	10	0		By submission	4	0
By decision	6	2		By decision	4	0

Diego ‘The Nightmare’ Sanchez is a head-case and you know what, it might just be what makes him such a great fighter… check out the video of him at UFC 95 making his want to the Octagon and you'll see exactly my point. Joe Rogan says it. Intense!

Sanchez likes to state he is the “original” winner of the Ultimate Fighter, since his six-figure contract fight was prior to the Griffin-Bonnar war. Regardless or what anyone considers it, Diego is a champion at heart and will be making his return to the welterweight division to fight an undefeated brit, John Hathaway.

Diego broke into the UFC as a welterweight on ‘TUF: Season 1′ and afterwards had victories over Brian Gassaway, Nick Diaz, John Alessio, Karo Parisyan and Joe Riggs. After six straight victories, Diego was looking as if he’d be a challenger for the belt… this was before a Sanchez tested positive for marijuana and was suspended for three months.

After his suspension, he fought Josh Koscheck (he beat Kos in the semi-finals on ‘TUF’), and Koscheck was victorious via unanimous decision. Following the loss at UFC 69, he lost again via split decision to Jon Fitch at UFC 76. Since, Koscheck has earned his shot at the title and Fitch lost to Hardy (in a fight for number one contender), so Sanchez knew he might be over his in the welterweight division.

He stuck around for back-to-back wins over David Bielkheden (submission) and Luiji Floravant (TKO) but afterwards made the jump to the lightweight division where he knew he could contend for the championship.

At UFC 95, he made his light-weight debut against Joe Stevenson and although the fight was close, Diego landed the better of strikes to earn a unanimous decision. Next, the UFC made their greatest decision in 2009 by pairing up Sanchez against Clay Guida at ‘The Ultimate Fighter: Season 9 Finale’ and it earned ‘Fight of the Year’ honors for mixed martial arts in 2009.

If you haven’t seen the fight, do yourself a favour and watch it. It’s a battle, and possible the most entertaining fight in history. Sanchez’s next fight for the lightweight belt… and many thought Diego was the man to take B.J. Penn’s title (it turned out to be Frankie Edgar).

B.J. controlled the entire fight and in the fifth round landed a head kick that made Diego’s forehead open up like a part of a women's sexual anatomy (click for image). With his return to welterweight, it’s clear Diego has beat better fighter’s than Hathaway and has the ability to do so.

Sanchez will need to work his game plan and avoid the heavy hands of Hathaway though if he wants the W.

John ‘The Hitman’ Hathaway is probably the best ‘unknown’ fighter in the UFC, as many fans don’t even know his name, yet he is undefeated and has a fabulous chance at beating Sanchez on May 29th.

Hathaway, who has an even five knockouts with four submissions and four decisions comes from England and prior to fighting in MMA, was a open-side flanker on Hove RFC (english rugby team). He made his debut in 2006, and the UFC took notice after he compiled a record of 9-0 in organizations such as ‘ZT Fight Night’ and ‘Cage Rage’.

Hathaway signed a four-fight contract with the UFC (this is his last fight under contract but you can expect him to be resigned), and in his UFC debut, had an impressive TKO victory over Thomas Egan. The fight ended at 4:36 of the first round after Hathaway delivered numerous elbows while on the ground.

In his next two fights, Rick Story and Paul Taylor both feel victim to Hathaway’s dominant style of fighting. His victory against Taylor was scored on 30-27,30-27 and 30-26, just to give you an idea of how dominant it truly was. Unlike a lot of fighters, Hathaway uses his leg kicks like jabs and has good wrestling skills and take down ability but once on the ground, he hasn’t shown an ability to pass an active guard.

Fortunately for the Brit, he has a long frame that allows him to ground and pound while inside his opponents guard. As seen in his UFC debut, Hathaway isn’t afraid to utilize his elbows, the use of which not only played a key roll in his victory over Thomas but Paul Taylor as well.

Without question, this is the biggest fight of young Hathaway’s career and unfortunately he’s up against an extremely skilled opponent who has been in the UFC longer than Hathaway has been fighting professional and Sanchez might just overwhelm him.

Diego has too many critics to silence to loose this fight but if he does, I’ll classify Hathaway as the best fighter out of England… ahead of Michael Bisping and Paul “Suckapunch” Daley .

TheCoach’s Pick: SANCHEZ via SUBMISSION

Middleweight bout:

 Michael Bisping (19-3-0)

vs.

 Dan Miller (11-3-0)

Fight Style:
Bisping – Kick Boxing, Mauy Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Miller – Freestyle, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Bisping				Miller
22 matches	19W	3L		15 matches	11W	3L
By knockout	12	1		By knockout	1	0
By submission	4	0		By submission	7	0
By decision	2	2		By decision	3	3
				No Contest		1

Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping is the most well known fighter out of England, but if Hathaway beats Sanchez earlier on the fight card, that could very well change. As for Bisping, he’s expected to beat Miller and there is no reason why he shouldn’t.

Yet another winner  of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ as he went on to win season three and before appears, had a record of 10-0 in organizations such as Pride & Glory, Cage Rage and Cage Warriors Fighting Championships. Eight of his ten victories came over fellow brits.

During his time in Cage Rage and Cage Warriors, Bisping held the title for both organizations, which caught the UFC’s attention. On ‘TUF: Season 3′, he won a preliminary bout against Kristian Rothaermel by TKO, followed by a semi-final win against Ross Pointon by submission after landing a flying knee and a series of strikes.

In the finale, Bisping defeated Josh Haynes by TKO at 4:14 into the second round to earn his UFC contract. Since, Bisping has enjoyed an impressive career and holds a record of 8-3 in the Octagon.

Some of his notable victories consist of a split decision win over Matt Hamill at UFC 75, a TKO win over Jason Day at UFC 85 and a unanimous decision over Chris Leban at UFC 89. His first loss came at the hands of Rashad Evans after the Hamill victory at UFC 78 via split decision.

In his last three fights, Bisping has been paired up against some of the best the UFC has to offer and because of it, he’s lost. First, on a stacked card at UFC 100, he fought Dan Henderson after they coached TUF: Season 9. Bisping had never been knocked out and was put decked with a devastating blow from Henderson but rebounded against Denis Kang at UFC 105.

‘The Count’ has fought a lot in the UFC, and in every fight, he has improved and it showed in his match up against Kang, but it has not enough to defeat Wanderlei Silva in his most recent fight. The fight went the distance and the difference was Silva unleashing a flurry of punches in the dying seconds of rounds two and three. All judges scored the fight 29-28.

Expect Bisping, with much more experience from fighting against well-known veterans of mixed martial arts to fight a way to win this fight. He wants to rebound from the Silva loss and avoid losing three of his last four bouts.

Dan Miller trains with brother Jim Miller, who also fights in the UFC and will be looking to get back to his winning ways after losing his last two bouts. Early in his career, Miller fought in Reality Fighting, Cage Fury, International Fight League and Ring of Combat and compiled a record of 8-1-0 (with one no contest).

The UFC wanted both the Miller brothers, and signed them to fight contracts and when Dan made his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs Neer, he beat Rob Kimmons by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:27 of round one.

Next, he took out Matt Horwich via decision at UFC 90, followed by Jake Rosholt by once again submitting his opponent (this time with a guillotine choke) at UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs Stevens. With three straight wins, and two of them being decided early in the first round, UFC fight promotor Joe Silva decided Miller would fight Chael Sonnen at UFC 98.

Bad idea, as Sonnen is more talented than Miller and beat him by unanimous decision.

The UFC responded by pairing him up against another up and coming fighter in the sport, Damien Maia at UFC 109. Bad idea, as Miller was dominated by Maia and lost the fight by unanimous decision yet again.

While I’m being a little hard on Miller, it’s obvious he is not at the same level as Sonnen, Maia and Bisping.

It’s why Bisping is going to win the fight. Miller may be a submission specialist but it’s not like Bisping isn’t familiar on the ground and he won’t be stupid enough to give up parts of his body that inexperienced fighters (that Miller has beat before) would.

After three wins, followed by three losses in the UFC, many question marks will surround Dan Miller and it’s hard to say if he’s resign. If he wins, there’s no question he’ll be back and the questions marks turn to Bisping but this fight means to much to Bisping and you won’t see him lose.

TheCoach’s Pick: BISPING via DECISION