UFC Vegas 10 sees the promotion back at the UFC Apex on Saturday night, with a card headlined by Angela Hill and Michelle Waterson. Rounding out the event are Bobby Green, Bryan Barberena, Roxanne Modafferi, plus several fighters on their way up. Of course, it wouldn’t be a UFC card nowadays if it wasn’t for fighters dropping out and short notice replacements. With that in mind, Matt Frevola was supposed to take on Roosevelt Roberts. For the third straight time, Frevola had to pull out of the fight, this time due to injury. Now Roosevelt Roberts (10-2 UFC, 4-2) will be taking on the newcomer Kevin Croom.
Kevin “The Hard-Hitting Hillbilly Croom
5’7″
Featherweight
33-years-old
Kansas City, Missouri, US
Glory MMA
21-12
6 KO/TKOs
10 Submissions
How will Croom fare in the UFC:
Kevin Croom is a fighter known for his toughness and forward movement. On the feet, Croom is always coming forward and that’s in a straight line with his hands down. He has been dropped a few times but on the other side, he has broken opponents coming forward as much as he does.
Croom is a wild striker throwing looping hooks and has shown a bit of power in his hands. I don’t rate his stand up at all as he’s just too sloppy and is easily hit. He clearly needs to set it up better, but thankfully Croom is a better wrestler.
His jiu-jitsu, however, is probably his best weapon. Even off his back Croom is pretty dangerous as on top he’s aggressive at passing the guard to take the back finishing with the rear-naked choke, as he has eight times in his career. Defensive grappling is a weak spot; he’s reckless, often putting himself in bad positions. While Croom is always dangerous he does slow as the fight goes on with more labored movement and bad posture. Croom is a fighter that’s been both the hammer and unfortunately the nail a lot of times in his career, being finished eight times. I don’t see him finding too much success in the UFC as toughness will only take him so far.
How he matches up with Roberts:
Croom has a lot more experience than Roberts but looking at losses alone, Croom has twelve which is the same amount of pro fights Roberts has. Roberts just does everything better and even though he was finished in his last fight, that was to a legend in Jim Miller. Roberts is more technical, stronger, and younger. He should roll here and I think he gets a submission.
