UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Masvidal - Idiot's Guide to the Fight Pass Prelims

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

The most Korean heavy card in UFC history will be good for several fireworks this November 28, 2015 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, South Korea.

The Line Up

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Featherweight Yui Chul Nam vs. Mike de la Torre
Lightweight Tae Hyun Bang vs. Leo Kuntz
Middleweight Dongi Yang vs. Jake Collier
Women’s Strawweight Seo Hee Ham vs. Cortney Casey
Flyweight Yao Zhikui vs. Fredy Serrano
Bantamweight Ning Guangyou vs. Marco Beltran
Welterweight Dominique Steele vs. Dong Hyun Kim

The Odds

Dongi Yang +115 Jake Collier -135
Mike De La Torre +100 Yui Chul Nam -120
Leo Kuntz +145 Tae Hyun Bang -165
Cortney Casey -165 Seo Hee Ham +145
Fredy Serrano -190 Yao Zhikui +165
Marco Beltran +190 Ning Guangyou -230
Dominique Steele -135 Dong Hyun Kim +115

The Rundown

Featherweight Yui Chul Nam vs. Mike de la Torre

Nam is coming off a loss to Phillipe Nover on an otherwise steady diet of wins, mostly in Road FC. Nam is a bruiser of a fighter; immense raw power, and versatility with all appendages. His combos aren’t the most technical, but he keeps his combinations in close, and in tight. His knees are equally vicious, which is the strike he’ll want to look for against de la Torre.

Mike, or “El Cucuy” (not to be confused with LW El Cucuy), plays a very straightfoward game. He likes to bull forward with the double leg, and maintain a steady stream of strikes and submission attempts on the ground. None of this worked in his 16 second loss to Maximo Blanco. But said loss to Blanco represents his game as much as it represents Blanco’s efficiency; which is to say, not at all.

Hard fight for both men. Chul doesn’t get to open up as much as he’d like, and Torre doesn’t get to mix it up as much as he’d want; still, gotta favor the stronger fighter in this one. Chul may be old, but he’s still an ox with four ounce baby gloves that do nothing but cover the knuckle.

Lightweight Tae Hyun Bang vs. Leo Kuntz

Kind of surprised by the odds here. Then again I’ve always had a soft spot for the Korean power puncher who got thrown to the wolves seven years ago against Takanori Gomi, and Jorge Masvidal, and stood there unintimidated at Sengoku.

The loss against Jon Tuck didn’t reflect well on him. He got smashed on the feet, and finished on the ground. That’s always been the problem with Bang; he just never figured out how to compliment his power with anything but head hunting. Any aggressive technical striker will get opportunities to put him away. Thankfully for him, this doesn’t describe Leo Kuntz at all.

Kuntz, who was finished in his last fight by RNC, plays a quiet and subtle game in the cage. He has good power, but he’s not active at range. He’s strong in the clinch, and prefers top control when he can get it. Bang has good enough takedown defense, and should be able to stay on his feet long enough to land shots here and there. Kuntz is a good value bet, but I like Bang’s chances of landing heavy leather with the hometown crowd behind him.

Middleweight Dongi Yang vs. Jake Collier

Dongi Yang was given a rather unceremonious pink slip by the UFC after losing to Brad Tavares, which is hardly shameful. His opponent, Collier, is coming off a win over Ricardo ‘Demente’ Abreu, which makes this kind of a strange matchup (Yang won his last bout against Dennis Hallman in April, but it was at Top FC).

Collier is a good standup fighter who eschews technique in favor of efficiency. He has a weird habit of stepping into his jab so far, it looks like he has the Statue of Liberty chained to his gloves. But he’s decent at stringing his right hand off the hook, or setting his combinations up with a strong left kick to the body. Dongi has a solid shot of winning this one, and like a lot of fights on this card, is worth betting on. The exchanges don’t favor one or the other in a real dramatic way. Collier’s reach is more threatening on paper, but it should be enough to keep Yang at distance. Yang isn’t especially fast, but his straight left will get there. I just don’t see him fighting his way inside enough for more than a round.

Women’s Strawweight Seo Hee Ham vs. Cortney Casey

Both women are coming off losses to Joanna Calderwood in bouts neither had anything to be ashamed of. Ham strings together quick combinations with far more power than her stature should physically allow. Casey carries more pop, however, and will have the size advantage.

There’s a good chance this becomes a boxing affair. Ham should have the speed to contend with Casey early as long as she avoids getting tagged. However, Casey is scrappy herself, with excellent forward movement and should be able to sift kicks, feints, and that right hand of hers toward victory.

Flyweight Yao Zhikui vs. Fredy Serrano

Not a whole lot of tape on Yao but you can spend 30 seconds of your Thanksgiving break watching him slept some poor sap, and then acting like he just won the UFC Heavyweight belt:

He’ll be taking on the 36 year old current TUF “reject”, but former 2008 Olympian (competed in the summer games, representing Columbia).

Serrano’s athleticism no longer stands out due to his age, but “El Profe” still plays the part of a master technician. He also has good power in his right hand, but as is befitting of anyone who got into the game late, and at a much older age, he’s still raw. Thankfully for Serrano, he’s probably less raw than Zhikui.

Bantamweight Ning Guangyou vs. Marco Beltran

Ning is the pretty heavy favorite While he doesn’t have the ability to sweet chin music people to death, like one of Beltran’s former opponents managed…

He does have the ability to pressure forward, and score heavy takedowns. Guangyou favors top control, and tends to to be very violent once there with elbows, punches, and the usual assortment of ground and pound assault. He shouldn’t have too much trouble with Beltran, who owns a knowledge of the game on the feet, but has difficult executing. His takedown defense will be a major problem in this fight.

Welterweight Dominique Steele vs. Dong Hyun Kim

Dong Hyun Kim is not ‘Stun Gun’ Dong Hyun Kim. You the sake of brevity, we’ll call this Dong, Diet Dong, or perhaps even Half Mast Dong because I’m incredibly juvenile. As Zane documented in his welcome post, Dong is usually lighter in weight, so don’t expect this Dong to stay in the same division as (insert more Dong puns here).

Anyway, Dong has a fairly similar array of skills to Stun Dong (there’s no really no way to avoid this is there?). While he’s not as crafty, or pointed as Stun Gun, he’s dangerous enough on the feet (especially with his right hand in close) to be a threat. On the ground, he maintains an ambitious attack towards submissions. He’s fairly well rounded, and his opponent, Dom Steele, will hope to trade on the feet where he won’t have the speed or arsenal advantage. Steele is the favorite, but if Dong plays a patient, technical game, this could end up looking like a lay up for Dong.