Down the Pub: Cage Rage 13 Preview

Melvin Manhoef, the scariest man in Holland, lives for this stuff. A short, stocky slugger with a 9-2-1 record, he enjoys nothing better than to stand in the middle of the ring throwing ridiculously powerful shots at his hapless opponent’s face. Even notoriously resistant mofos like Matthias Riccio and Paul Cahoon (twice) have been knocked out by this guy. And wins over fighters like “Dirty” Bob Schrijber (Pictures) don’t hurt his credibility either.

Although Piamonte is also quite scary, he’s certainly less scary than Manhoef. The Brazilian had a chance to show off his stand-up skills against Cyrille Diabate (Pictures) at CR 12, and although he showed that he can strike with some power, he’s not going to want to do that against a monster like Manhoef.

If he has any sense, Piamonte will have seen that Manhoef is not one of those guys who enjoys being on his back, so he should do his best to try to put him there.

That said, Piamonte’s takedowns didn’t really impress me against Diabate. And Manhoef — who is stockier, stronger and faster than the Frenchman — will be harder to put down. Taking all this into account, I can’t see this finishing any other way than a Manhoef win by knockout, probably in the first round.