155 lbs: Frankie “The Answer” Edgar vs. Matt Veach
Odds: (-650 Edgar / +450 Veach)
In an interesting Lightweight matchup, contender Frankie “The Answer” Edgar will return to the Octagon to do battle with Matt Hughes student Matt Veach. Edgaris coming off an excellent decision victory over former Lightweight champion Sean Sherk, while Veach is coming off a successful UFC debut, a first round TKO victory over Matt Grice.
Veach, who trains out of Matt Hughes’ HIT Squad gym, has exactly the kind of strong wrestling base you would expect from a Hughes protégé. In his young career, he has shown quality standup, dominant wrestling, good jiu-jitsu, and good ground and pound. The only real question about Veach is whether he can continue to put everything together as he steps up in competition.
Edgar, one of UFC’s top 155 pound prospects, certainly represents a massive step up in competition. A well-rounded fighter who is stylistically very similar to Veach, Edgar has fought much better competition despite having fewer overall fights. He has been thrown right into the mix in UFC, and has amassed a phenomenal 5-1 record in that time, on top of 2 very good wins before he made his UFC debut. In his last fight he looked excellent, stopping Sean Sherk’s takedown attempts with ease and dominating the standup.
As I said, these two guys are very similar stylistically. Both have strong wrestling bases, good standup, and good submissions. What I think it comes down to is that Edgar is more battle-tested. Veach has more fights, but Edgar’s last seven opponents are all better than the best guy Veach has ever fought. When two fighters are so similar, experience is a powerful factor. I think Edgar will prevent Veach from taking him down and control the striking exchanges en route to a unanimous decision.
Fight Prediction: Edgar via unanimous decision.
