UFC SINGAPORE PREVIEW:

UFC SINGAPORE PREVIEW:

By Jon Prentice

Following a near two-week break the UFC returns to action this weekend (Saturday June 23rd) as they head to Singapore for just the third time in the promotions history. The event will be headlined by an intriguing match up in the welterweight division as old school meets new breed as number 11 ranked Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (33-10-0 1NC) takes on number 13 ranked Leon “Rocky” Edwards (15-3-0).

Cerrone, a 44 fight veteran of the sport since 2006, made the move up to welterweight following a failed lightweight title bid against Rafael Dos Anjos back in December 2015. He has since gone 5-3 at welterweight but unfortunately has appeared to fulfill the role of gatekeeper to the top-tier of the division most recently. All five of his wins in the weltwerwight division have come via stoppage and since the move up in weight he holds notable wins over Alex Oliveira, Rick Story and Matt Brown. He most recently defeated Yancy Medeiros via first round TKO in the main event of UFC Fight Night 126 which broke a three fight losing streak to top-level opponents in Jorge Masvidal, Robbie Lawler and Darren Till. He will be aiming for his 34th career victory when he takes on one of the division’s top prospects in Leon Edwards.

Rocky has been on a tear in the division recently, notching up five consecutive wins since his last defeat to Kamaru Usman back in December 2015. That defeat, in which he was dominated in the wrestling exchanges, prompted Edwards to mix up his training and the Team Renegade stand out can now boast one of the most well-rounded games in the division. He has notable wins over Albert Tumenov, Vicente Luque, Bryan Barberena and most recently a resurgent Peter Sobotta when he got the TKO stoppage in the last second of the contest at UFC Fight Night 127 in London. Following that win he called out fellow Englishman Darrent Till however he will instead take on Cowboy in his first ever UFC main event. A win over Cowboy would cement his place as a serious contender in the division.

The co main event will see light heavyweight’s Ovince St Preux (22-11-0) and Tyson Pedro (7-1-0) square off in another battle of top 15 competitors. St Preux will be aiming to get back in the win column following defeat to heavy hitting Ilir Latifi via standing guillotine at UFC on Fox 28 in February. OSP has gained notoriety for his deadly von flue choke having defeated Yushin Okami, Marcos Rogerio De Lima and Nikita Krylov via the rare technique. Prior to the Latifi defeat he was on a three fight win streak with the most recent being a devastating head kick KO over Corey Anderson at UFC 217 that earned him a performance of the night bonus. The number 7 ranked, one time interim title challenger, will be aiming to get back into the win column and the division’s top 5 over his much lesser experienced opponent.

At just 26 years of age Australia’s Tyson Pedro is the youngest competitor in the divisions top 15 rankings and will be hoping to crack the top 10 when he takes on OSP. He has just one sole loss on his professional record which also came at the hands of Ilir Latifi, however he bounced back from that defeat with a victory over Saparbeg Safarov via first round submission at UFC 221. He will be making just his fifth appearance under the UFC banner, however he already holds wins over Khalil Roundtree via submission and Paul Craig via TKO. An exciting prospect in the division, Pedro will make a huge statement if he is victorious over veteran OSP.

Fan favourite Jessica-Rose Clark (9-4-0 1NC) is in action on Saturday when she takes on Jessica Eye (12-6-0 1NC) in a women’s flyweight encounter. “JessyJess” has won both of her previous UFC bouts defeating Bec Rawlings in her promotional debut via split decision and most recently Paige VanZant via unanimous decision in the co main event of UFC Fight Night 124. Having gained a large social media following for her upbeat and fan friendly approach, the ultra tough JessyJess will be hoping to continue her march towards the title by gaining her third consecutive victory.

Jessica “Evil” Eye was also in action at UFC Fight Night 124 as she broke a four fight skid when she defeated Kalindra Faria via split decision. The win most likely preserved Eye’s place within the UFC having previously gone without a win since 2014. Her losses came against high level opposition in Miesha Tate, Julianna Pena, Sara McMann and Bethe Correia at bantamweight, however the move down to her more natural weight at flyweight brought immediate success.

The opening fight of the main card is a weltwerweight clash between China’s Li Jingliang (14-5-0) and Japan’s Daichi Abe (6-1-0). Heavy hitting Jingliang will be making his tenth UFC appearance going 6-3 in the process and picking up performance of the night bonuses in his last three outings. He comes into the bout off the back of a unanimous decision defeat to Jake Matthews at UFC 221.

Abe will be making just his third UFC appearance having won his debut to Hyun Gyu Lim at UFC Fight Night 117 but following that up with the first defeat of his professional career to Luke Jumeau at UFC 221. Both outings in the UFC have gone the distance.

The prelims feature exciting bantamweight prospect and former ACB bantamweight champion Petr Yan (8-1-0) as he makes his promotional debut when he takes on Teruto Ishihara (10-5-2), along with resurgent welterweight Jake Matthews (13-3-0) and flyweight submission specialist Ulka Sasaki (20-5-2).

The entire event will be broadcast exclusively on UFC Fight Pass from the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore on June 23rd. The full fight card is as follows:

Main Card:

Donald Cerrone vs Leon Edwards

Ovince Saint Preux vs Tyson Pedro

Jessica-Rose Clark vs Jessica Eye

Li Jingliang vs Daichi Abe

Prelims:

Teruto Ishihara vs Petr Yan

Felipe Arantes vs Song Yadong

Rolando Dy vs Shane Young

Song Kenan vs Hector Aldana

Shinsho Anzai vs Jake Matthews

Yan Xiaonan vs Viviane Pereira

Matt Schnell vs Naoki Inoue

Jenel Lausa vs Ulka Sasaki

Ji Yeon Kim vs Melinda Fabian