Writer vs Fighter is back for another week of showdowns between those who can fight and those who choose to write about it. Last week’s figurative face-off saw former UFC featherweight Austin Arnett edge out our own Heath Harshman to even the score.
Here’s how things have gone this year:
Joe McDonagh def. Randy Costa (3-2) – Fight Island 7
Doug Murray def. Bryan Barberena (2-1) – Fight Island 8
Shawn Bitter DRAW Mike Rodriguez (1-1) – UFC 257
Dalton Rosta def. Jay Anderson (7-2) – UFC Vegas 18
Austin Arnett def. Heath Harshman (2-1) – UFC 258
Everything is tied 2-2 with 1 draw.
Here’s how it works: both writer and fighter must pick the winner of the main event, co-main event, and featured main card bout. A correct pick will earn one point. Both must then pick a “lock” — the fighter they are most sure will win their fight — from the entire card. That’s two points. The “dog” comes next, and a correct underdog pick earns three points.
It’s that simple. Five picks: Main, co-main, and featured fight winners, lock, and underdog. To the winner go the spoils. Not actual spoils, but bragging rights anyway.
This week, I (Daniel Vreeland) will be stepping up for the writers to try to snag the lead back. My worthy adversary? UFC strawweight Sam Hughes, who will try to give the fighters their first lead of the year. Let’s see where we differed.
The top three fights are virtually identical with Hughes and I both agreeing that Ketlen Vieira and Charles Rosa will get it done in their respective bouts. The difference lies with the main event, where ‘Sampage’ feels that Derrick Lewis is prime to complete the upset while I’m sticking with the chalk pick at the top.
Of course, we can’t pick chalk all the way through, which is why we have the underdog pick. Hughes decided to go with heavyweight Alexei Oleinik to take out Chris Daukaus – and even offered that she expects a d’arce choke to get the job done. I’ll be riding with flyweight Shana Dobson, who I think has a great chance to beat another young up-and-comer in Casey O’Neill.
Finally, we have the locks, which is where things get particularly interesting. We both sided with different fighters in the same fight. Hughes will be taking Phil Hawes, whereas I’ll have Nassourdine Imavov – opposite sides of the same middleweight tilt.
May the best writer/fighter win! We’ll have the results up after the event!
Results: It wasn’t a good night for the writers. Sam made the right pick with Lewis, while both writer and fighter missed out on the Minner-Rosa and Kunitskaya-Vieira fight. Sam Hughes came through again with Phil Hawes, for a total of three points. Both Sam and Daniel saw their underdog pick fall through, meanwhile. Sam Hughes wins this one 3-0!
