Dana White’s Contender Series will close the book on its third season on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Over the past nine weeks, Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts have been issued to 28 competitors -- a record for the show. Episode 10 sees 10 more prospective mixed martial artists get their opportunity to break down the door to the sport’s premier organization. A closer look:
Dylan Lockard vs. T.J. Brown
Lockard is one of the most highly touted prospects on the New England MMA scene. He flaunts a 6-1 record, has picked up wins in his last three scraps and also owns four stoppage victories in his career. The 27-year-old is a well-rounded fighter, but his striking stands out. Lockard is an accurate mid-range striker who does a good job at keeping his opponent on the end of his punches. He is a savvy technical striker and stays defensively sound when attacking. He works behind an active jab and has some nice pop in his right hand. The Team Sityodtong representative is versatile enough in his striking to press the action on offense or sit back and counterstrike with good head movement and his powerful right hand. The New Hampshire native mixes in takedown with his standup, but the chief weakness in his game is his defensive wrestling. He is quite good at scrambling back to his feet and finding his opponent’s back. From the top, he dispatches strong ground-and-pound and has some slick submissions.
Brown is much better than his 13-6 record indicates. The 29-year-old appears to be finally be scratching the surface of his potential, as he has won his last three contests. The Little Rock, Arkansas, native holds a victory over Peter Barrett, one of Lockard’s teammates. “Downtown” is a classic wrestler-boxer. He has a crisp jab, nice straight hand and hard kicks to all areas; and he has knocked out two of his last three opponents with head kicks. He switches stances to find different angles of attack. However, he can be a little overconfident in his approach and has been rocked in multiple fights in the past. Despite not having a wrestling background, Brown is strong in that area. The Westside Fight Team member can get around his opponent’s hips with a smooth reactionary double-leg attack or by catching a kick. He excels at chaining takedown attempts together or cutting a corner on his attack to get his counterpart to the canvas. On top, he has good control and some solid ground-and-pound. He does well when taking his opponent’s back in a scramble but can lose position by being too aggressive with a submission attempt. With that said, he is a submission threat: Brown has eight wins via that method, with the arm-triangle choke as his specialty.
Both fighters would be welcomed additions to the UFC roster, and both appear to be improving each time out. Lockard is the more technical striker, but Brown might have the advantage in power. Both are good grapplers, but Brown should have the advantage in the wrestling. Expect this to be a back-and-forth war, with Brown’s takedowns providing enough wiggle room for him to squeeze out a split decision. Because of the razor-thin verdict, he fails to land a spot on the UFC roster.
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