Call me foolish or accuse me of romanticizing the past, but does anyone else get the sense - beyond the problems the style match-up plays - that Cub Swanson is cruising for a bruising in his fight tomorrow with Jens Pulver? While he hasn't quite written off Pulver, he certainly believes this fight is his opportunity to usher in the retirement of a fighter well beyond his best days. Notable quote:

I seriously doubt 23-year old Swanson can get in Pulver's head. Perhaps the nerves stemming from fear that dropping a third consecutive loss would do irreperable damage to his career is affecting Pulver himself, but I seriously doubt anything Swanson does or says rattles Pulver. We all saw the video of Pulver taking offense to the insinuation by Swanson that their fight was delayed because Pulver's injury wasn't serious enough. While that may have angered Pulver, Lil' Evil is too much of a veteran to then turn that anger into recklessness inside the cage.

And there's the style match-up. Swanson does have better BJJ, this much is true. The question, though, is does that matter? Pulver has only been submitted once since 2000 and that was by B.J. Penn. His submission defense is good and his experience gives him confidence to spot the antecedent moves that lead to finishing submissions.

Pulver's takedown defense is serviceable and will likely be better here than we've seen in recent performances. Remember, Pulver was a wrestler before he was a striker. The smaller cage will make the atmosphere more wrestling friendly, but it will also make Swanson - an aggressive fighter - a tad more reckless. That, I think, will be his undoing. Swanson's wrestling isn't that great, which means meaningful portions of this fight will take place on the feet - a location where Pulver has a distinct advantage. What's worse? Swanson has publicly stated he plans to at least engage with Pulver on the feet in the early going. Notable quote:

Pulver's more technical boxing combined with vicious KO power and decent takedown defense should seal the deal for the former UFC Lightweight champion. Swanson has a lot of the right tools to become a champion at a later date, but he matches up better with fellow jiu-jitsu fighters. Pulver's style is tweaked just far enough outside of the MMA jiu-jitsu game to give Swanson lots of trouble.

Pulver, by KO, 2nd round.