Holy cow, Niko Price (12-1, 1 NC) knocks out Randy Brown with hammerfists on the bottom! The Floridian moves to 4-1 (1 NC) in the UFC; he has finished 11 of his 12 wins (eight by KO/TKO). #UFCBoise pic.twitter.com/AxCYZT3X8x
— Tanuki Usman (@Hamderlei) July 15, 2018
Welterweights:
Abdul Razak Alhassan (9-1) vs. Niko Price (12-1)ODDS: Alhassan (-145), Price (+125)
While there are more important bouts in terms of stakes on this card, this one is almost guaranteed to be a banger, which explains why the UFC moved it to the main card on relatively late notice. Florida’s Price has enjoyed a surprising amount of success during his UFC run, which has not gotten any easier to predict with each subsequent fight. Price’s game is fairly structureless, but it has managed to work, partially due to some strong wrestling but mostly due to some shocking natural power that has allowed him to conjure knockouts seemingly from out of nowhere. A surprising knockout win over Alan Jouban last year was an appetizer, but Price’s most recent win over Randy Brown shows just how much of an outlier his power can be, as he somehow managed to knock out Brown with hammerfists while lying on his back in a grappling exchange. At a certain point, you just have to have faith that Price can find the knockout where it is available, since, well, that seems to be his game plan.
Price faces another fellow power puncher in Alhassan, a judoka from Ghana who now trains out of Texas. While Price’s knockouts come as part of a structureless game, Alhassan’s knockout hunting is a bit more focused in that he immediately comes out swinging with bombs in an attempt to knock off his opponent’s head. Alhassan’s first seven fights all ended in sub two-minute knockouts, but his lone career loss to Omari Akhmedov showed the flaw in this approach; Akhmedov managed to withstand the initial flurry, which left Alhassan both exhausted and open to takedowns, suggesting there is not much of a Plan B if Alhassan cannot get a quick finish. Alhassan is coming off of a brutal knockout win over Sabah Homasi, so, if nothing else, he is entertaining to watch, even with his issues.
It is a pretty simple dynamic: Either Alhassan knocks out Price early, or Price takes over the fight and likely finishes Alhassan within the distance. Alhassan might be able to get the job done. He has ridiculous power, and Price has not fought anyone in the UFC that will come after him and hit him as hard as Alhassan will, so it remains to be seen how the Florida native reacts under pressure. However, if Price does not get caught early, this is his fight to lose, and I am not sold on Alhassan’s ability to get the knockout above a particular level, even if Price’s game lacks structure. Price via second-round knockout is the pick.
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