Matt Brown vs. Pete Sell
The opening bout of the evening pits Ultimate Fighter alumnus Matt “The Immortal” Brown against Serra Jiu-Jitsu fighter Pete “Drago” Sell.
Brown is coming off an impressive armbar victory over Ryan Thomas, while Sell is looking to put together a second consecutive win after a brutal three fight losing streak. A win is very important for both fighters’ futures in the sport, so this one should be explosive.
Pete Sell is an extremely talented grappler who has largely failed to translate his skills into success in the UFC. One of the largest impediments to his success has been his standup, which is frankly terrible. His chin is also suspect, which makes it imperative that he gets any fight he is in to the ground as fast as possible.
Another of Sell’s problems has been inactivity. He has fought only five times since 2006, garnering an umimpressive 2-3 record against decent opposition. Clearly, for Sell to come out on top against Brown, he is going to have to take this fight to the ground and work hard for a submission.
Luckily for Sell, if Brown has an achilles heel, it is his submission defense. A skilled Thai Boxer and undeniably tough guy, Brown has shown an inability to defend against quality grapplers thusfar in his career. His submission attack is definitely solid, but he is no match for Sell on the ground, and if he can’t keep this fight standing, he is going to be in big trouble.
Brown’s best weapon against Sell is going to be the thai clinch. If he can stuff Sell’s takedowns and wrap him up in a clinch, there is little doubt that he has the ability to stop the fight.
Brown’s thai boxing, coupled with Sell’s questionable takedowns, should be enough for him to come out on top in this one. All the pressure is on Sell, who will have to continually push for a takedown to have a shot.
Brown, on the other hand, can keep the fight standing and coast to an easy decision, which is what I see happening.
