Weekend Preview: Top 100 action
Ranked fighters scheduled for action from July 5-July 11 are listed below
LW
Ricardo Tirloni(LW #66) vs. Mauro Chuleta
Ricardo Tirloni has been mentioned by Leland Roling of BloodyElbow.com as one of the top 155-pound prospects. Tirloni has questions lingering about his health due to some recent injuries. Tirloni should have little problem taking on Chuleta who does not have any noted experience against high-level fighters.
WW
Shamil Zavurov(WW #91) vs. Zhanibeck Amatov
Zavurov, with a record of 15-1, is one of Russia’s top fighters and is also M-1’s current welterweight champion. It is very strange how Zavurov is not competing on M-1’s card this weekend, rather than an alternate Russian MMA promotion. I’m not sure if there has been some type of fallout between Zavurov and M-1 because M-1 surely could have used him on their own weekend’s fight card that lacks any type of top-level fighter. Surely, Zavurov could have been a co-main event draw, considering the main event is Pat Bennett vs. Kenny Garner. Zavurov’s opponent, Amatov, looks to be overmatched on paper.
MW
Maiquel Falcao(MW #20) vs. Julio Cesar Bilik
Falcao is the big attraction on the MMA independent scene this weekend. He returns to action for the first time since beating Gerald Harris in the UFC. Falcao was famously released by the UFC following the win, due to legal problems in his native Brazil.
Falcao is a legitimate top-level fighter, who could have made waves in the UFC’s middleweight division. The fact that strikers, Chris Leben and Brian Stann are quickly rising the ranks, has to be huge letdown for fans who saw Falcao’s fight live. He is scary-strong, and fights in a similar fashion to that of Bellator’s Hector Lombard.
LHW
Toni Valtonen(LWH #99) vs. Robert Krecicki
Valtonen is one of Europe’s top light heavyweights, but he has failed to defeat mid-level American opponents such as Jake O’Brien. Valtonen is limited skill-wise, but should be able to continue to find success on the European independent scene, considering many fighter lack a sufficient ground game, which Valtonen has.
HW
Kenny Garner(HW #95) vs. Pat Bennett
Kenny Garner and Pat Bennett are headlining an M-1 fight card. This is an epic fail for M-1, who had a huge opportunity to get some of their own fighters need exposure in America. Nonetheless, Garner and Bennett should be able to put on a sloppy, heavyweight contest that should lead to a finish win for the victor.
