Jared “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier (-150) Vs. Kelvin Gastelum (+130)
This main event was originally supposed to be Cannonier against Paulo Costa in Costa’s return fight since losing to Middleweight champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 253 quite handedly. Costa of course had to pull out of his April fight against Whittaker and now is claiming he is looking for more money, noting that youtubers (The Paul brothers) making the money they are from boxing has shown a light on how underpaid he is as a fighter. What he didn’t mention was how he got his ass kicked by the champ and he isn’t willing to work his way back up the division and making the big bucks when he can prove he is championship material. Anyways, Gastelum (17-7) has answered the bell again and this time will step in on short notice to try to get things going again and chase the title he was once very close to. The last time Kelvin fought was that April fight when Costa pulled out and ended up losing a Unanimous Decision (UD) to Robert Whittaker, who is now next in line to fight the champ.
Even though Gastelum is a replacement for this fight does not mean it is going to be a walk in the park for Cannonier. I fully expect this fight to be awesome. With 2 very strong strikers this one is going to be a war. But I don’t think Gastelum can just stand in front of him for 25 minutes and expect to come out on top in this one. He is going to be looking to take down Cannonier in the later rounds after he has worn him down and tired him out and end this fight.
Jared Cannonier (13-5) on the other hand is a beast with some of the most pure power in the division and has the potenial to KO anybody he is up against. Look for “The Killa Gorilla” to attack Kelvins legs early in this one to force him into an up close dog fight. I keep going over this fight in my head and unless Cannonier KO’s Kelvin early in this fight and somehow manages to stuff the takedowns, which he has had trouble in the past, I don’t think he is going to have the gas tank to stay with Gastelum the duration of this fight. It feels like yesterday when the champ, “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya, was saying he expected Cannonier to be his next opponent and was pushing for him, now hes on the wrong side of 30 (37) fighting a hungry, younger fighter in Gastelum and still hasn’t got his title shot after he too lost to Robert Whiitaker via UD.
PREDICTION: Gastelum Via 4th or 5th Round TKO
Clay “The Carpenter” Guida (+145) Vs Mark “The Olympian” Madsen (-165)
Clay Guida (36-20) is a madman. Just go to youtube and look up his best moments and soundbytes, the guy is nuts and entertaining. At 39 years old he made his pro debut all the way back in 2003. He has incredible cardio that is almost unmatched and you can usually hear him ripping huge burps in his corners face inbetween rounds. His stand up has never been the best and his wrestling is good. But he is a madman like a said with energy through the roof and loves to fight.
Mark Madsen (10-0) is a Greco-Roman Wrestler who won the silver medal at the 2016 Olymipic games in Rio for Denmark. This will be his 3rd fight UFC and going up against a veteran like “The Carpenter” is going to be a good test for Madsen and will show the promotion alot in what they have in this 36 year old undefeated fighter. In his last fight against Austin Hubbard he won by UD where he looked very strong in the first 2 rounds and taking Hubbard down easily but was noticably gassed in the 3rd round. I feel that is the reason he is only in the -160,165 range because of how he looked in that last round and how tired he was. But Madsen is clearly the dominant wrestler in this match up and if (when) he takes Guida down I can’t imagine The Carpenter being able to get back up unless the ref stands them up. I thought Madsen could have been -200 or more easily in the match up andi think he takes this one. It might not be the most action packed fight but look for The Olympian to take him down and control him.
PREDICTION: Madsen Via Decision
