Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Muhammed Lawal vs. Rafael Cavalcante
Odds: ( -500 Lawal /+300 Cavalcante )
The main event promises to be a barn-burner, as champ Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal defends his Light Heavyweight title against one of Brazil’s most formidable strikers, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. Both of these guys have punching power in excess, which makes this an exciting matchup anyway, but Cavalcante is easily the superior striker technically while Lawal brings dominant wrestling to the table as well, so this is an interesting stylistic matchup.
Cavalcante, despite coming from the famed Team Noguiera, is not known for his ground game. Instead he is best known for his punishing boxing and Muay Thai, which he uses to completely overwhelm most of his opponents. There is no question that if Lawal tries to engage him standing, Cavalcante is the better striker and has what it takes to put King Mo away. The question is whether his chin can hold up to the kind of bombs Lawal is known to throw, and more importantly whether he has what it takes to prevent Lawal from taking him down and working him over from top position.
Lawal, the undefeated Light Heavyweight champion, earned his crown by throwing huge bombs with vicious intent and working a dominating wrestling game. Lawal can let leather fly from range or on the ground from top position, and not many people are going to be capable of stopping him from taking them down. He does need to be careful against Cavalcante, though, because it is unlikely that he is going to come out ahead in many striking exchanges. For Lawal to win he is going to have to strike enough to set up his takedowns without getting lured into trading shots toe to toe.
I think that this matchup favors Lawal, stylistically. Both men have finishing potential in the standup, although Cavalcante is the more skilled and well-rounded striker, but I don’t think Cavalcante has an answer to Lawal’s takedowns and top control. I expect Lawal to capitalize on Feijao’s lack of takedown defense and work him over from inside the guard for the majority of this fight, eventually overwhelming him for the TKO stoppage.
Prediction: King Mo Lawal via third round T/KO.
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