On July 18 the UFC is back to Fight Island, located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The card is headlined by Joeseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo in a rematch for the vacant flyweight championship. Also on the card are many fighters looking to break into the top 15 like Grant Dawson, Montel Jackson, and Marc Diakiese. Right now there are four scheduled debuts and one of those is Brazilian Carlos Felipe. “Boi” will be making his octagon debut against Sergey Spivak (10-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC).
Carlos “Boi” Felipe
6’1″
Heavyweight
25-years-old
Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil
LIFE MMA
8-0
6 KO/TKOs
How will Felipe fare in the UFC:
Felipe is a hard-headed Brazilian who likes to stand and slug it out. He does have experience taking some boxing bouts. He is very wild though, usually spamming overhand after overhand. Felipe isn’t some technical light-you-up striker but has moments where he throws good one-twos and straight punches. Something he does often that I like is the way he attacks the body. He will throw a good body kick but the hooks he throws to the body are a big weapon he has in his arsenal.
Not a lot as been seen of his wrestling but has shown many times that he’s able to defend the takedown and get top position. On the mat, Felipe is heavy but lacks offense to keep the ref from standing him up. He is a typical dangerous young heavyweight with a gas tank issue. Felipe goes hard winging power hooks but manages to slow significantly as the fight goes on.
How does Felipe match up with Spivak:
Spivak is a strong physical fighter who will bully his way into the clinch. Primarily, Spivak is a fighter who wants to get the takedown. Spivak may not have the wrestling to take Felipe down as his takedown defense has held up well thus far. Felipe has the advantage on the feet as he has better hands and is far more athletic. The biggest issue for Felipe is his cardio disadvantage and he tends to get bullied in the clinch quite easily. Spivak is strong in the clinch and that is arguably where he does his best work. Spivak doesn’t have the best cardio but it’s better than the cardio of Felipe. Really the only way I see Felipe winning is early KO/TKO and I don’t think he is technically capable of putting Spivak away.
