Women’s Bantamweights
Lina Lansberg (8-3) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (10-4): Former Cristiane Justino victims collide in a bout that should help sort out the women’s bantamweight division. Russia’s Kunitskaya has had a strange run since coming stateside. An unknown when she got an Invicta title shot at Tonya Evinger, Kunitskaya shockingly scored the upset and tapped Evinger, but a refereeing error that led to the finish turned that win into a no-contest. After losing the rematch but winning the vacant belt once Evinger signed with the UFC, Kunitskaya then followed in Evinger’s footsteps by stepping in on late notice to take on “Cyborg” at UFC Fight Night 95, where she managed to get Justino’s back before getting finished within three and a half minutes. Back at bantamweight, “Foxy” next takes on Sweden’s Lansberg -- a perfectly fine but somewhat one-dimensional competitor. Owing to her muay Thai career, she’s a strong clinch fighter, but that’s about it, so her fights tend to be ugly, grimy affairs unless one participant can overpower the other. I like Kunitskaya here. She’s the more well-rounded fighter to begin with, but even in a matchup of strength against strength, the Russian does still seem to be the better clinch fighter and submission artist. Lansberg’s going to get the fight she wants, so she has a shot, but give me Kunitskaya via decision. ODDS: Kunitskaya (-190), Lansberg (+165)Lightweights
Gray Maynard (13-6-1) vs. Nik Lentz (28-9-2): Maynard got all the way to a lightweight title fight with Frankie Edgar and took the champ to a draw, but after losing the rematch via knockout, “The Bully” seemed absolutely broken. His wrestling game was still there, but the Edgar loss started a skid of five losses in six fights, often via brutal knockout. It took a cut down to featherweight and stepping down a few rungs in competition, but Maynard has finally managed to stop the bleeding the last few years, winning two of his last three, even if it hasn’t been particularly exciting. We’ll see how a return to lightweight goes against Lentz, who’s probably still best known for his infamous UFC 118 bout against Andre Winner -- a televised prelim so bad that it was credited with hurting the pay-per-view buy rate. That performance got Lentz on the UFC’s cut list as soon as he lost, but Lentz eventually won enough that the UFC decided to keep him around, even if his grinding style kept him buried on the prelims. Lentz is finally starting to slow down, but he should still be able to take this fight as the younger, better athlete. Maynard’s main shot is that Lentz’s gas tank is also starting to betray him, so there’s a chance that Maynard could take over the later rounds. With that said, the pick is still for Lentz to take an ugly decision. ODDS: Lentz (-225), Maynard (+185)Welterweights
Ryan LaFlare (14-2) vs. Tony Martin (13-4): The book on Martin was similar for years. He was a solid power grappler given his size, but since he cut so much weight to make 155 pounds, opponents could wear him out and take over in the later rounds. Martin eventually developed a solid striking game, but the gas tank issues remained, so it was only natural that he moved up to welterweight, where he looked good against Keita Nakamura in April. Martin takes on Long Island’s LaFlare, who has a distinct lack of flair. LaFlare’s an excellent wrestler with a meat-and-potatoes striking game but brings little to the table in terms of excitement. I favor LaFlare here since I think he’s the stronger wrestler, but this feels like a split decision in which LaFlare controls a lot of the fight but Martin does a lot more in terms of activity. The pick is LaFlare via decision. ODDS: LaFlare (-140), Martin (+120)We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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