SBN will be offering quick but comprehensive previews of each fight on the main card of UFC 130. We will look at each aspect of the fight game: Range Fighting, Clinch Fighting, and Ground Game; and break down which fighter has the advantage in each category.
Each major category is further broken down into sub-categories. These are:
- Range Fighting: Boxing, Kickboxing, Wrestling
- Clinch Fighting: Dirty Boxing, Thai Clinch, Throws/Trips
- Ground Fighting: Positional Control, Top Game, Bottom Game, Submissions
Since it's a binary choice -- either one fighter is better at a certain aspect or it's a tie -- the rankings are just descriptive, not a formal ladder. IE if I rate one fighter's boxing as "lethal" and the other fighter's boxing as "extremely dangerous" just look to see which fighter I gave the nod in that category to find out if "lethal" is indeed better than "extremely dangerous" (it is).
UFC 130 was originally supposed to feature a headlining lightweight championship fight between champ Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, the man who fought him to a tie at UFC 125. That fight was cancelled with first Edgar and then Maynard pulled out due to injuries.
The event is taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, May 28, 2011. It will be broadcast in three parts: pay per view, Spike TV and streamed live on Facebook.
Here's the full line-up:
Pay-Per-View Bouts - 9 p.m. ET
Quinton Jackson vs. Matt Hamill
Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson
Stefan Struve vs. Travis Browne
Jorge Santiago vs. Brian Stann
Thiago Alves vs. Rick Story
Preliminary Bouts on Spike TV - 8 p.m. ET
Miguel Torres vs. Demetrious Johnson
Tim Boetsch vs. Kendall Grove
Preliminary Bouts on Facebook - 6:45 p.m. ET
Michael McDonald vs. Chris Cariaso
Gleison Tibau vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Cole Escovedo vs. Renan Barao