UFC 119 Preview: Joe Doerksen vs C.B Dollaway
As part of the Ultimate Fighting Championships’ marketing efforts to build up interest in their pay-per-view cards, they often put on two free fights on cable television network Spike TV before the PPV broadcast
is set to start. In the first of two fights before their UFC 119 PPV card on Saturday, Spike TV will be broadcasting a match between veteran Canadian submission artist Joe “El Dirte” Doerksen and C.B Dollaway.
Doerksen’s unlikely road
The odds against Doerksen fighting again in the UFC would have seemed pretty bleak not too long ago. The 32-year-old has had heaps of fights, with a record of 46-12, but not much success in the UFC Octagon
thus far. In total he’s 2-5 inside the Octagon, with losses to top fighters like Nate Marquardt and Matt Lindland. After he was defeated by Jason Macdonald in 2008, he was cut from the promotion’s roster and didn’t seem likely to return.
But the Canadian fighter then won five fights in a row, leading to an internet campaign to see him back in the UFC. Finally at UFC 113 he was brought in as an injury replacement against Tom “Filthy” Lawlor.
In a major upset, he defeated Lawlor by rear naked choke after almost getting knocked out in round one. That earned Doerksen another fight in the UFC, and he’ll enter the cage on a seven-fight win streak (he fought once outside the promotion since UFC 113)
and a chance to showcase his skills to a national cable TV audience.
Dollaway looking to build win streak
Dollaway on the other hand made it into the UFC in a far more conventional fashion, having participated in the UFC reality show tournament The Ultimate Fighter, where he lost in the finale of season seven.
Since then though he’s won four of five fights, with his only loss coming to Lawlor. He’s riding a two-fight win streak, most recently having taken a victory over Goran Reljic at UFC 110.
A third win in a row would help cement his place in the UFC permanently. A loss on the other hand could seriously jeopardize his position with the promotion, as Doerksen barely made it back into the UFC himself.
Style, betting odds, and prediction
Doerksen has one very notable strong point: submissions. In fact, even though other aspects of his game are slightly lacking, he’s got 33 submission victories, meaning he has almost three times as many submission
victories as Dollaway (10-2) has fights. Doerksen has also shown some improvement in his kicking game and striking, although he was almost knocked out by Lawlor. If he needs to, he can try and stand up to Dollaway, but he’ll want to take this fight to the
mat if he can, where he's as dangerous as almost any middleweight.
Dollaway has better wrestling, having had an NCAA Division I background. He’ll look to use that to control Doerksen and control him for three rounds. His strong wrestling will make it difficult for Doerksen
to put Dollaway on his back, meaning Dollaway will perhaps be able to avoid the most dangerous aspect of Doerksen’s game.
Dollaway is roughly a 1/3 favourite for the fight, while Doerksen is a 5/2 underdog. Given Doerksen’s excellent submission game, and Dollaway’s occasional vulnerability to submissions, pick Doerksen at these
odds for the upset.
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