The Breakdown: Things won’t get any easier with hard-hitting Canadian Sam Stout as Nover’s next opponent. The same-aged Shawn Tompkins student is perhaps the best pure kickboxer the UFC has on its 155-pound roster. “Hands of Stone” has been in and out of the UFC twice in 2006 and 2007, but he has been exclusively fighting for Zuffa since his home promotion TKO went out of business in October of last year.
Stout has already beaten opponents who are even better on the ground in Fabio Holanda and Per Eklund and went the distance with the experienced Rich Clementi and the explosive Terry Etim last year.
The Prediction: Unless Nover can step up his game by two levels, he will be in for a long or short night, depending on how sharp Stout’s hands are on Wednesday. A unanimous decision victory for the Canadian is the safe bet here.