UFC 122 Preview: Jorge Rivera vs Alessio Sakara
If the Ultimate Fighting Championships can’t manage to put together enough top fighters on one of their mixed martial cards, they usually instead try to set up matches between fighters that have the potential
to be fan-friendly slug fests.
That’s exactly the idea ahead of co-main event of UFC 122, set to take place in Germany on Saturday 13 November, as Alessio Sakara and Jorge Rivera get set to see whose chin will hold up better.
To be sure, neither fighter is irrelevant, as both hover around the fringe of the top 20 middleweight (185lb) fighters, with Sakara at 19 in the
USAToday/SBNation rankings. Rivera isn’t ranked in the top 25, but he’s actually at even odds with Sakara. But the real reason for this fight and exposure it is being given, is the potential for fireworks.
Sakara is a former Italian professional boxer who went 8-1 in that vocation before transitioning to MMA, where he’s 15-7. In the UFC, he’s been somewhat more erratic, going 6-4, but right now he’s riding
a three-win streak. His boxing pedigree means he has sharp hands, and can put together the kind of very combinations rarely seen in the MMA world.
He’s also been improving his kickboxing, with a highlight-reel head kick knockout of Joe Vedepo that started his current streak. Most recently he scored a victory over James Irvin when a punch to the eye
forced that fighter to retire.
He’s also shown some major defensive liabilities though, and like other boxers, he’s struggled to adapt to the smaller MMA gloves. Three of his losses in the UFC have been by TKO to less than top-flight competition,
as Chris Leben, Houston Alexander and Drew McFedries have all gotten the better of him. But the UFC isn’t looking for a tight tactical battle, so the knock-or-be-knocked-out mentality of Sakara suits them fine in this one.
Rivera has a similarly aggressive style. He may not quite have the technical prowess to match Sakara, but his feet may be better and he has plenty of aggression. He’s 18-7 and like Sakara, is riding a three-fight
win streak, including two straight by TKO. In his last fight, with Nate Quarry, Rivera looked sharper, more precise and more powerful than Quarry, stopping him in the second round.
Three of his seven losses have been by submission and he’s shown some liabilities there, but it’s unlikely to be an issue against Sakara.
Style, odds and prediction
On paper, this should just be slug fest on the feet. But this is MMA, and fights sometimes take an unexpected direction. At UFC 115, famed kickboxer Mirko Filipovic ironically beat fellow kickboxer Pat Barry
by rear naked choke, and UFC 119 saw another fight which was supposed to be a brawl, between Jeremy Stephens and Melvin Guillard, turn into a dull point-fighting affair.
But both these men should provide a good show on Saturday. They’re at even odds, making this something of a coin flip, but Sakara is 29 to Rivera’s 38, and that should be enough for him to beat Rivera to
the punch on his way to victory.
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