Welterweights
Alan Jouban (16-7) vs. Jared Gooden (17-4)This should be an interesting gauge in terms of seeing exactly what Jouban has left in the tank. Jouban has always been hittable thanks to his willingness to start a brawl, but the early days of his UFC career were marked by his amazing ability to recover. Save for his fight against Albert Tumenov, Jouban could get dropped and immediately bounce back to continue a war he had likely ignited. Jouban has always had more skills than just being a brawler, however, so it was nice to see him put together a breakout 2016 run with wins over Belal Muhammad and Mike Perry, which in turn set the stage for bigger things. What looked like Jouban’s potential breakthrough instead wound up starting the worst stretch of his career. Jouban was handled rather easily by Gunnar Nelson before getting blasted by Niko Price. The latter loss is a bit less concerning now that Price has continued to put his power on display, but it was still a disheartening setback. Jouban regained some shine with a win over Ben Saunders but has gotten lost in the shuffle in the two and a half years since. His last bout was a flat decision loss to Dwight Grant, and he has spent the last 18 months on the shelf. Jouban returns here against a promotional newcomer in Gooden, who has some intriguing skills that have yet to coalesce into anything particularly reliable. At his best, “Nite Train” is a solid boxer who looks to march down his opponents, but things quickly become a mess in the face of any strong resistance. To his credit, Gooden has been able to outlast a lot of opponents and do well if they attempt to wrestle him, but again, there is not much in the way of a consistent approach. Jouban’s chin has become a bit of a worry, so Gooden could certainly catch him here, but the Black House product should be able to navigate trouble and could even come out the better if this just devolves into an all-out war. The pick is Jouban via second-round knockout.
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