The opening bout on the UFC on Versus main card will feature a middleweight clash between Italian-born former boxer Alessio Sakara (14-7 1 NC, 5-4 UFC 1 NC) and explosive California-native James Irvin (14-5, 4-4 UFC). Sakara is probably most recently well-known for defeating former middleweight contender Thales Leites at UFC 101 via split decision. The loss pushed Leites out of the UFC while Sakara continues to gain fights despite having a fairly mediocre record over the course of his career.
Irvin is in the same boat as Sakara as he’s gone .500 in the UFC with his most recent loss coming against Anderson Silva in which he was knocked out at the 1:01 mark of the first round. After testing positive for methadone and oxymorphone, he was suspended, but tried to return at UFC 98 against Drew McFedries and later against Wilson Gouveia at UFC 102. He pulled out of both bouts due to knee injuries, an injury he’s been plagued with his entire career.
A lot of fans can’t fathom why both of these fighters still remain within the promotion, but styles have always been the means for a fighter to continue gaining fights within the UFC. Both Irvin and Sakara feature a stand-up rich skillset with Irvin providing explosive knees and striking ability, and Sakara willingly battling anyone with his boxing experience. If either man can withstand the blows to the chin, this could potentially have the makings of a true slugfest.
On paper, it’s tough to really gauge how this fight will go in any other way than strikes being traded. Sakara is the more patient striker of the two whereas Irvin throws with enough power to knock opponents out quickly. The problem for Irvin is that he isn’t the most technical power puncher, and Sakara could capitalize on that deficiency.
Irvin does, however, have the unpredictability factor in his arsenal as he does throw flying knees, superman punches, and a vast array of kicks and punches. While being a bit more dynamic in his delivery than Sakara, he has a tendency to be inaccurate and become the prey.
The other x-factor that normally isn’t put into play when it comes to analyzing match-ups is the injury-proneness of James Irvin. While he may seem to be coming into this battle without any concerns of his own health, some fans would be hesitant to pick him as there is a significant risk in Irvin hurting himself in any fight. After all, he did blow a knee out against Thiago Silva at UFC 71, and he’s coming off two straight knee injuries within the past couple of years.
Neither fighter’s record is impressive enough to warrant a pick for either side. Sakara’s win over Thales Leites is by far his most significant victory while Irvin’s best win was against Houston Alexander (The Cane fight doesn’t count…due to DQ). The fight essentially comes down to who can land the bigger blow before their opponent lays the leather on their chin first.
In that type of battle, I’m going to pick Sakara in this fight. It will be Irvin’s first fight at 185 pounds, and while Irvin probably has an advantage in the power and clinch game — I think Sakara has the chops to be better if the fight happens to hit the ground. He’s also more capable of avoiding strikes and moving away from danger. I’ll take Sakara here late in the second round as Irvin tires.