UFC 102 Preview: The Prelims

Nick Catone vs. Mark Munoz

The Breakdown: Give Catone some credit; he’s a solid fighter who works an especially nasty top control game by combining his strong base and workmanlike submission skills. The problem? He’s facing Munoz, a born and bred mauler on the mat. A tremendous collegiate wrestler at Oklahoma State University, Munoz keeps up a surprisingly torrid pace, designed to trample opponents with the sheer volume of his offense. Catone prefers the slow and steady routine. Catone will not do himself any favors fighting methodically, and considering his usual offensive strategy is rendered useless against Munoz’s dominating wrestling, he would do well to unveil something no one has seen from him before.

The X Factor: Not everything is in Munoz’s favor for this fight, as he’s making his first cut down to middleweight and looking to rebound from a brutal knockout loss to Matt Hamill. Predicting how prospects will react to getting their skull inverted is an inexact science at best, but Munoz’s chin is hardly a house of cards, and Catone’s striking has not kept up anyone late at night.

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The Bottom Line: Neither fighter likes working off his back, and Munoz is the better wrestler. While applying mathematical principles to MMA is something folks should leave to YouTube analysts, Munoz does not have much to worry about from Catone as long as he doesn’t baseball slide into a shin or guillotine choke. Look for Munoz to triumph, as he grounds-and-pounds his way to an impressive middleweight debut.