185 lbs: Alessio Sakara vs. James Irvin
Odds: ( Sakara / Irvin)
The second bout of the evening features the middleweight debut of powerful striker James “The Sandman” Irvin, who will be facing journeyman Alessio Sakara. Irvin has not fought since he was destroyed by Anderson Silva in 2008, while Sakara is coming off an impressive upset victory over Thales Leites in August. Sakara is the more well rounded fighter probably, but Irvin has extremely dangerous hands, so this is a compelling bout.
Sakara, a tough Italian who is decent at everything and spectacular at nothing, has had mixed success in UFC. His best attribute is his striking, which is serviceable but not overly powerful. He also has decent wrestling, although once again, it is a long way from being top-level. He looked impressive in his last outing, against Thales Leites, but was destroyed by mediocre fighters in Chris Leben and Houston Alexander. Unless he wants a repeat of those two pastings, his best bet is to try as hard as he can to get this fight to the ground, but Irvin has at least as much power as those guys and is a superior striker, technically, to either of them.
Irvin, who is known as “The Sandman”, came by his nickname honestly. He has crisp, technical striking, good handspeed, and knockout power in both hands. What has prevented Irvin from becoming a top competitor is that his striking is pretty much the extent of his offensive game. He has enough wrestling to keep a bad wrestler from taking him down, and that is it. His submission game is as close to non-existant as a professional fighter can be.
Luckily for Irvin, Sakara is not equipped to expose the holes in his game. The only kinds of opponents who are going to beat Irvin are top-level strikers like Anderson Silva or guys that can take him down and control him on the ground. Sakara is completely overmatched by Irvin in the standup, and while he does have the superior ground game, it is not good enough to overwhelm Irvin, especially when he is going to have to wade through Irvin’s punches to secure takedowns. I expect this one to end fairly quick, with Irving capitalizing on his huge striking advantage and earning the first round knockout.
Prediction: James “The Sand Man” Irvin via First Round KO.
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