UFC 91 Breakdown: The Main Card

Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory

Dustin “McLovin” Hazelett Scouting Report
Ht./Wt.: 6’1/185 lbs.
Age: 22
Hometown: Louisa, Ky.
Fighting out of: Cincinnati
Record: 11-4

The stakes: Normally, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the socially handicapped star of a teenage sex comedy will get you more than your fair share of swirlies and Indian burns, but Dustin Hazelett is living proof that six years worth of jiu-jitsu will get you a lot of respect. With a 4-2 UFC mark and the kind of potential that forces Joe Silva to bust out the drool bag, Hazelett’s lone downside is that he toils in the UFC’s most pressure-packed division. A win would likely free Hazelett from the prelim doldrums, but a loss and he can look forward to being the same kind of novelty as his post-pubescent namesake.

The breakdown: In stark contrast to his outwardly dorky persona, Hazelett is as smooth an operator as you’ll find in the Octagon with his oil-slick grappling and equally go-for-broke striking style. Against McCrory, Hazelett needs to stick to his guns and take this bout to the ground as McCrory’s simian reach and surprising power make him difficult to solve on the feet. While McCrory has shown some gusto on the mat, his long frame and lacking experience make him an easy mark for Hazelett’s serpentine submission stylings.

Tamdan “The Barn Cat” McCrory Scouting Report
Ht./Wt.: 6’4/170 lbs.
Age: 22
Hometown: Ithaca, N.Y.
Fighting out of: Cortland, N.Y.
Record: 9-1

The stakes: Like Hazelett, McCrory is a talented 22-year-old floundering in relative anonymity and hell-bent on crashing the UFC’s welterweight party. While “The Barn Cat” isn’t regarded as the same kind of prospect that Hazelett is lauded as, perception gives way to reality when wits and fists are involved. With a loss to Akihiro Gono already on his ledger, McCrory can ill afford another setback. He needs to draw that line in the sand against Hazelett.

The breakdown: McCrory needs to resist the temptation of testing out his still-nascent jiu-jitsu against a grappler of Hazelett’s caliber and instead put his reach to use by keeping “McLovin” on the end of his rangy strikes. While we’ve seen McCrory flash some skill on the ground, Gono exposed his vulnerabilities and Hazelett has the game to blow them wide open. Keeping Hazelett at bay and forcing him to go for desperation shots will open the door for McCrory to rack up points while saving his limbs and airway from undesired manipulation.


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The bottom line: As anyone who saw “Superbad” knows, the geek always gets his, but that begs the question of what happens when you have two geeks. The answer is that the geek with extraterrestrial jiu-jitsu eats some punches early but eventually gets close enough to pull guard and go for the dreaded Plutonian spine lock. In other words, Hazelett by some sort of crazy submission. Reason? Barn cats just aren’t that cool.