UFC Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipovic vs. Brendan Schaub
Odds: (+190 Cro Cop /-240 Schaub )
Betting Pick: Schaub
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In the second bout, up and coming Heavyweight prospect Brendan Schaub faces long-time veteran kickboxer Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. Schaub is huge, freakishly athletic, and constantly improving as a fighter. Cro Cop is clearly on the tail end of his career, but he can still dish out some serious punishment, so he is a very good test of how ready Schaub is for the top competitors in the division.
Cro Cop’s legacy, both in K-1 and Mixed Martial Arts, speak for themselves. At his prime, he was the most feared Heavyweight striker in the world, and for good reason. His punching was devastatingly powerful and accurate, and his high kicks were the stuff of legend. While he has very clearly lost a step or two since his prime, he is still a very skilled striker with solid power. Cro Cop’s biggest problem is that he was never a particularly large Heavyweight to begin with, and his physical decline has coincided with a huge increase in the size of other Heavyweights. Now he is left to try to win fights with diminishing power and technique against ever-larger opponents.
Schaub is, physically at least, the prototype of the new Heavyweight division. He is freakishly large, but extremely agile for a man his size. He has some brutal punching power and pretty good wrestling to go along with it. His first official UFC fight was a disappointing knockout loss to Roy Nelson, but he has rebounded with three straight impressive wins against solid competition. What is most important for Schaub is that he not take Cro Cop lightly, and not allow Cro Cop to get comfortable in the standup exchanges, where is still capable of doing pretty brutal damage.
A few years ago, things might have been very different, but Schaub’s star is rising while Cro Cop’s is falling. Mirko can’t hit as hard as he once could, he’s not as fast as he once was, and Schaub is just way too big and athletic for him to handle at this stage of his career. Schaub is the better wrestler, and he might be the more dangerous striker at this point, at least in terms of knockout power. I think he will give Mirko fits both standing and with takedowns and easily control this fight for a decision win.
Prediction: Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub via Unanimous Decision.
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