The light heavyweight division looks to have a resurgence in 2019 as yet another high profile bout involving rated contenders will occur in the forthcoming months. That, plus the UFC has introduced an additional fighter, and you can read my thoughts on all of the news below in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Ovince Saint-Preux vs. Misha Cirkunov, UFC 235
The UFC declared an intriguing light heavyweight bout between top-15 rated contenders Ovince Saint-Preux and Misha Cirkunov will take place at UFC 235, going down March 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Saint-Preux (23-12) is 11-7 overall from the UFC and has settled into the role of gatekeeper in the light heavyweight division. OSP lost a clear choice to Dominick Reyes his out his time, but he filed Tyson Pedro in remarkable fashion his struggle before that. He’s not much removed from a three-fight win streak that included a KO over Corey Anderson and Von Flue chokes against Yushin Okami and Marcos Rogerio de Lima, although that streak may end up being the high point of his MMA career. The Reyes fight was certainly a step backward, however, as was a submission defeat to Ilir Latifi that preceeded that the Pedro win. OSP is a really solid gatekeeper, but his days as a title contender seem to be over.
Cirkunov (14-4) is 5-2 at the UFC and in his final outing submitted Patrick Cummins. He was knocked out by Volkan Oezdemir and Glover Teixeira his two fights before that, but the win over Cummins place him back on track and reminded us all why the Latvian-Canadian was such an impressive prospect. Now that he’s living in Las Vegas, this is going to be a hometown fight of sorts for him. Although I’m worried about Cirkunov’s chin allowing him down , I think he has what it takes to conquer OSP. I just find OSP such a bothersome fighter to forecast how he is going to do, while I believe Cirkunov is a bit more steady. I would expect a competitive line, but with a slight lean towards the younger fighter in Cirkunov.
Craig White Cut, Evidence With Cage Warriors
Former UFC welterweight Craig White has signed back with Cage Warriors, the promotion announced. Of course, this usually means the UFC lately cut on him. White (14-9) had a tough go at the UFC after departing Cage Warriors among its top welterweight contenders. He made his Octagon introduction on very short notice and has been finished by top-10 rated Neil Magny, cutting upwards of 30lbs to create weight. The UFC gave him a favorable matchup against Diego Sanchez in his next battle, but it did not go his way. Despite entering that bout as a significant favored, White was dominated by an aging Sanchez also it was the kind of loss that made the UFC want to decrease ties with White. However, he does have one saving grace here, and it’s that Cage Warriors is about Fight Pass this past season. A couple of finishes for White and that he could well be signed back to the UFC, however he can fare better as a middleweight heading forward. White’s competition because of his return to Cage Warriors has not been announced yet, but he will fight at Cage Warriors 102, which like UFC 235 additionally takes place March.
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