Middleweights
Deron Winn (6-0) vs. Darren Stewart (10-4, 1 N/C)
Odds: Stewart (-110), Winn (-110)
The less said about Golden Boy's lone foray into MMA the better, but at the very least the card put Winn on a wider radar, as the Daniel Cormier protege and former wrestling standout earned an impressive decision win over Tom Lawlor. Thankfully the UFC took notice, and this past June saw Winn make his promotional debut by winning a three-round war over Eric Spicely that earned fight of the night honors. At just 5-foot-6, Winn is absolute tank even down a weight class at middleweight, and he leverages that frame with a simple approach that sees him throw huge power punches while using his wrestling as a backup plan. Winn will likely have to adapt at some point, but for now that's more than enough to get past a wide swath of competition at 185, and Stewart is the next man up on the docket.
London's Stewart is a frustrating talent, though he's reliably settled into a gatekeeper role in his last few fights. "The Dentist" was an interesting light heavyweight prospect on the European scene, mostly due to his willingness to run through his opponents. But moving up a level in competition, things quickly went awry; against more dangerous opposition, Stewart just found himself running into danger, which often made for fun fights but not much success in terms of actual results. On the one hand, it's been good to see Stewart adapt, but on the other, he's done so by becoming much too conservative a lot of the time. Stewart was still able to score knockouts of Spicely and Charles Byrd in the run of play, but the Brit's last two appearances have been a whole lot of nothing; he never quite got on track against Edmen Shahbazyan's wrestling, and a June bout against Bevon Lewis started off fine but soon slowed down into a staring contest between two tentative opponents. Stewart can eventually find a balance, and hopefully that comes here.
Stewart's dangerous, but Winn's power and wrestling game -- along with the durability he showed against Spicely -- make this tough going for the Londoner. If Stewart remains too patient for his own good, Winn should have more than enough time and space to tee off on Stewart or implement that power wrestling game, but at the same time it's hard to argue that being over-aggressive makes for a winning fight. If Stewart charges in, that's probably his best chance at a victory, but that still runs into the same problem, as Winn can probably hit the harder punches in an exchange if he doesn't just go for a takedown and take over things from there. This looks like a showcase fight for Winn; the pick is Winn via first-round stoppage.
Finish Reading » ESPN 2 Prelims