UFC 100 Preview: C.B. Dollaway Progressing Into Potential Star?

In preliminary action at Saturday night's UFC 100 event, Ultimate Fighter season 7 runner-up C.B. Dollaway (8-1) will take on Ultimate Fighter season 8 contestant Tom Lawlor (5-1) in a bout that will give Dollaway another chance to showcase his improvement since his stint on TUF. While this isn't the most intriguing match by any means, it will give us a glimpse into what Dollaway is adding to his skill set.

Dollaway is currently 8-1 in his career with a lone loss coming from injury-riddled Amir Sadollah at the Ultimate Fighter season 7 Finale back in June of 2008. Interestingly enough, Sadollah also fought Dollaway in the house, and he defeated him via armbar in the third round of their semifinal matchup. After Jesse Taylor was kicked off the show, Dollaway fought Tim Credeur for the spot against Sadollah in the finale. Dollaway won that fight, but he subsequently dropped the finale fight in the same manner Sadollah had defeated him previously.

After the loss, Dollaway has been on somewhat of an impressive run in his last two fights. He submitted Jesse Taylor at UFN 14 via a Peruvian Necktie submission in quick fashion, and he surprisingly recovered from being caught on the chin by a very game Mike Massenzio at UFC 92 to transitioning to back control and punching Massenzio into a stoppage. Both fights ended in the first round.

There is also a significant chance that Dollaway will only become better as he moves up in competition. Training out of Arizona Combat Sports in Tempe, Arizona, elite-level training partners are plentiful for Dollaway to test his mettle. Names like former WEC champion Carlos Condit, TUF Season 8 winner Ryan Bader, current UFC fighter Aaron Simpson, Steve Steinbess, BJJ phenom and up-and-coming welterweight Jacob McClintock, and when healthy, WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner are all training partners for Dollaway.

Tom Lawlor won't exactly be a victim to Dollaway's skills in the cage. Lawlor, best known for knocking out "Diamond" Dave Kaplan after Kaplan insisted he couldn't be knocked out, has been training out of one of the best MMA camps in the world in Coconut Creek, Florida-based American Top Team. He has a solid background in wrestling, but ATT seems to be a camp that can mold fighters into devastating Muay Thai practitioners coupled with a solid grappling base. Whether or not Lawlor has become an "assimilated" member of the ATT family has yet to be determined, but he has an ample amount of unbelievable training partners in his own camp that will help him achieve success.

Gesias "JZ" Calvancante, Denis Kang, Marcelo Garcia, Jeff Monson, and Thiago Alves all call ATT their home, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Lawlor should be able to find some of the best training in the world at ATT, but can he manage to take all the wisdom given to him from fellow competitors and turn it into an upset victory over Dollaway?

My gut tells me that this is C.B. Dollaway's fight to lose. Lawlor didn't show an overly different style in his battle with Kyle Kingsbury, and Dollaway has the skills to nullify Lawlor's wrestling game or easily transition into submissions if Lawlor is aggressive in trying to take Dollaway down. The only real advantage I can see is that Lawlor is dropping down in weight to middleweight for this fight, and he could have a sizable weight advantage come fight time.

Dollaway is being brought along nicely by the UFC and matchmaker Joe Silva. The Mike Massenzio matchup was a solid test due to their past history in collegiate wrestling with Dollaway barely defeating Massenzio on the mat, and Dollaway passed the test in the MMA cage with flying colors against a surging Massenzio.

This is a more toned down battle than the Massenzio matchup, but it is obvious that the UFC has some plans for Dollaway as he hasn't been thrown into any big matchups yet. He should progress nicely into a mid-echelon middleweight at this rate, but he'll need a huge push to become one of the elite fighters in the division in the years to come.

photos via ufc.com

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