Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown at UFC 96

by Scott Haber on Jan 13, 2009 11:55 AM EST

Promoted to the front page from the FanPosts by Luke Thomas.

MMAWeekly has the report of a welterweight bout for UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio on March 7th:

In what could be a sleeper nominee for Fight of the Night, MMAWeekly.com has confirmed with sources close to Pete "Drago" Sell that he will be making his Ultimate Fighting Championship return on March 7 against Matt Brown at UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio.

Sell (8-4, 2-4 UFC), a long-time training partner and student of Matt Serra, was featured on the "Comeback" season of The Ultimate Fighter. He recently made his first drop to 170, defeating Josh Burkman via unanimous decision at UFC 90 in his welterweight debut.

Matt "The Immortal" Brown (8-7, 2-1 UFC) trains with Team Jorge Gurgel in Cincinnati, and also competed on TUF in its 7th season. A fearsome striker, Brown was able to show off his jiu-jtsu skills in a controversial split-decision loss to Dong Hyun Kim, and most recently at UFC 91 where he submitted Ryan Thomas with an armbar.

This bout could have fight-of-the-night potential, considering both Brown and Sell love to slug it out, but have very good ground skills as well. Sell will probably have the advantage in that latter skill set.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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Big fan of Matt Brown. His last fight in vegas was really exciting. Hes the type of fighter that can really get the crowd riled up early in the night.

by Day Man on Jan 13, 2009 12:11 PM EST reply actions

This breakdown is little skewed in my opinion. Sell is a BJJ blackbelt under Matt Serra AND Renzo Gracie. Sell is excellent on the floor. As accomplished as Matt Brown has looked in the grappling dept, he cannot risk more than a few minutes on the ground with Sell. The longer its on the floor, the more at risk Brown is. The striking advantage has to go to Brown. Sell’s striking is rudamentary at best, and Brown has show a brisk stand up although he seems limited in the combination department. I like the matchup. Its a good barometer for Pete Sell right now. He has had so many injuries and has missed so much time.

by Nick Travaglini on Jan 13, 2009 12:24 PM EST reply actions

agree

He got submitted by Amir.. Pete Sell is levels beyond Amir.

But this fight is going to be sick

by "Mr. NC-17" on Jan 13, 2009 12:36 PM EST up reply actions

Sell has great BJJ, but the problem is, he wants to be a tough guy. He wants to be a K.O. artist. he has good head movement, he puts together some decent combinations, his hand speed is O.K., hell he looked great in the Scott Smith fight, right up until he got KTFO. But Smith would have had no chance if Sell would have taken it to the ground. It’s the same story with a couple of other fights iv’e seen him in. Sell must have friends in high places; with a 2-4 UFC record, i’m surprised he hasn’t been dropped. He was smart to move to welterweight. He has a big frame for that division, and should be able to win some fights by virtue of size and strength.

by Cmad77 on Jan 13, 2009 1:14 PM EST reply actions

Exactly. I have never seen him want to anything but stand and bang. Kinda like Gurgel in that regard…

by lbk on Jan 13, 2009 1:25 PM EST up reply actions

Great match-up. I agree that Sell needs to and will eventually take this fight to the ground. With his size and strenf advantage at WW it’s going to take some serious take down defense to stop him. Gonna be some shit though.

by donkeypunch on Jan 13, 2009 1:44 PM EST reply actions