Emmett vs Mitchell
(10 PM EST/6:30 PST)
Josh Emmett is an interesting fighter to open the main card; he possesses unrivalled knockout power at his weight but has struggled to find knockouts in the later part of his career. Part of this is because of his style which dedicates itself to neither pressure work nor evasion, letting the opponent dictate the fight but avoiding truly wading into the fire. Bryce Mitchell is a wholly grappling oriented fighter, an archetype Josh Emmett has been able to stifle through his career, though age is a factor that could make this time go different.
Fights can play out in a million different ways, but this one seems binary. Josh Emmett wins if he keeps it on the feet, where he can really hurt ‘Thug Nasty.’ Bryce wins if he takes it to the ground, which he may be able to do by bypassing normal wrestling positions, where Emmett excels, and getting to a more dominant, jiu-jitsu style position like a back take. Dominant control from Mitchell could be boring, though his grappling occasionally produces fun moments for even casual fans. Otherwise, it could be a bit of chaos given these fighters’ unusual, and sometimes awkward, striking style. And with Josh Emmett there is always potential for a visceral knockout, making this fight potentially very exciting.
Josh Emmett defeats Michael Johnson
via KO (punch) at 4:14 of Rd3Emmett returns this weekend. Fear the Falmer. #MMA pic.twitter.com/Y9gK6SeopV
— Ocelot MMA (@Ocelot_MMA) December 7, 2021
Irene Aldana vs Karol Rosa
(9 PM EST/ 6 PST)
Recent UFC title challenger Irene Aldana looks to rebound from a disappointingly flat loss to the GWOAT, Amanda Nunes against ninth-ranked women’s bantamweight Karol Rosa. Despite that loss, Aldana has proven to be one of the few women in the division with true knockout power, as she knocked out Yana Santos, Ketlen Vieira, and Macy Chiasson in her last five fights alone, ranked fighters all. The Nunes fight does not necessarily foreshadow a bad fight this time out; the ‘Lioness’ is simply head and shoulders above the rest of her competition, and Rosa should present Aldana with a more even fight, one where she can showcase her slick, Lobo Gym style of boxing.
Karol Rosa is a name not as familiar to the average fan, and her record shows a lot of decisions which may turn them away. However, she is not a boring fighter by any means, it is simply hard to get finishes in her division. Rosa is a striker and clinch fighter who fights at a high pace usually. In fact, Rosa holds the mark for third most strikes by a fighter in a fight in her division’s history. She is also tied for tenth with none other than Irene Aldana. This fight may not be a barn burner – some fans may even hit snooze when they see a women’s fight come on the TV – but Aldana and Rosa should put on a decent show as they are two fighters who are determined to hurt their opponent, not just bank points with potshots and ground control.
Garbrandt vs Kelleher
(8:30 PM EST/5:30 PST)
Cody Garbandt’s career has been fascinating. He went from undefeated prospect to surprise champion to five losses in six fights. What is his identity now, on the other side of the losing streak? Well, he is no longer ranked in any weight classes, but he won his last fight over Trevin Jones. It was no thriller; ‘No Love’ beat Jones with a well-rounded MMA game and landed two big takedowns which remind one that Gabrandt was a state champion wrestler in high school. I do not doubt that the Cody who ‘sees red’ in a fight and swings for the fences with no self-regard is still inside him somewhere, but it seems he is attempting to be calmer now at age thirty-two. Still, the potential for a knockout is there.
That is in part because Brian Kelleher tends to be thrown back when he steps up to fight more well-known and higher-level fighters. He is now coming off two losses by finish at age thirty-seven. ‘Boom’ has shown himself to be a more-than-capable gatekeeper, but the question now is if that is all he can be. He will have an uphill battle to beat Garbrandt after losses to Umar Nurmagomedov and Mario Bautista, but he has the capability to do it with his own well-rounded MMA game. This fight does not look like a snoozer on paper, but fights are not played out on paper. Kelleher has been in wars before, he has multiple performance bonuses of both varieties, but this fight does not scream action-packed on that paper either. Garbrandt could always shake that up though, as one never knows which version of the former bantamweight champion fans will witness whenever he enters the Octagon.
