UFC 99 Preview: The Prelims

Denis Stojnic vs. Stefan Struve

The Breakdown: After getting their brain cells reformatted in their UFC debuts, both Stojnic and Struve are hoping to find better luck against each other. As far as the actual style clash, despite being striking-centric fighters the similarities are nil. Struve relies on his reach while Stojnic is basically a punching bag who knows to punch back. Unless Stojnic is ready to do something other than impress the crowd with his appetite for self-destruction, he’ll be staring down the barrel of the UFC’s pink-slip snipers.

The X Factor: The main thing that cost Struve his UFC debut against Junior dos Santos was his lack of experience fighting in close quarters. It was obvious that Struve is accustomed to controlling the distance with his reach, and the second Dos Santos closed the gap, Struve clammed up and turned into nothing more than target practice. Granted, Stojnic hasn’t shown a flair for complex game plans. If he can just follow the simple blueprint that Dos Santos laid out, though, he’ll do far better than waiting for Struve to get tired of hitting him in the head.

The Bottom Line: The Frankenstein routine won’t save Stojnic from a long-distance beating. Struve’s reach and Stojnic’s own slow-footed style will keep him on the end of the strikes and well out of range to return fire. Those of you with a love of drinking games may want to build one around how many times Stojnic walks straight into a punch. I guarantee you’ll be ready for an AA meeting five minutes in.