Light Heavyweights
Khadis Ibragimov (8-1) vs. Ed Herman (24-14)ODDS: Ibragimov (-195), Herman (+160)
God bless Herman for managing to stick around 13 years after his debut on the UFC roster. Herman was never a particularly dynamic athlete going back to his days on the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” but “Short Fuse” has become absolutely glacial in his later years. However, a combination of veteran savvy and some surprising hand speed made him surprisingly competitive in recent years, and he is still capable of turning back the occasional opponent, as he showed by knocking out Patrick Cummins in his most recent fight.
Herman was set to face Gadzhimurad Antigulov in a kill-or-be-killed matchup, but with Antigulov out, Ibragimov steps in for his fellow Russian. Ibragimov is still firmly in the prospect stage of his development. A solid control artist for most of his pre-UFC career, Ibragimov decided to come out swinging in his UFC debut against Da Un Jung, which unfortunately resulted in Ibragimov gassing out and falling victim to a late submission.
Herman could easily catch Ibragimov with the perfect shot and score another knockout, but if Ibragimov keeps up the early pace that he showed against Jung, that is probably too much for this version of Herman to survive. The pick is Ibragimov via first-round stoppage, though things could get ugly if this makes it to the second round.
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