UFC 102 Preview: Hyped Todd Duffee to Debut Against Tim Hague

While UFC 102 isn't filled with a vast amount of battles that fans will be overly excited about watching, the card does feature an extravaganza of heavyweight match-ups that will, at the very least, give us a sense of who some of the lower-ranked fighters in the division are that could move into the mid-echelon of talent. One of those bouts will feature former kindergarten teacher Tim Hague (10-1) taking on American Top Team-trained Todd Duffee (4-0). Duffee will be making his UFC debut while Hague is coming off an upset victory of Patrick Barry at UFC 98.

Hague has a similar story to that of the UFC's Rich Franklin in that he's a former educator turned MMA fighter. He has a Bachelor of Arts from Augustana University College and an Elementary Education degree from the University of Alberta. He was formerly a kindergarten teacher in his hometown of Boyle, Alberta before becoming a professional MMA fighter. Hague's position was cut after the school only received two enrollees for the following year's kindergarten class, so he began training in MMA while also playing Junior B hockey and powerlifting as part of a collegiate team.

He had his first professional bout in September of 2006, and he was called up to the major leagues three years later at UFC 98 in what was perceived as a showcase fight for Patrick Barry. Barry had previously wrecked Dan Evensen at UFC 92 via powerful leg kicks that are a result of his career as a WCL and K-1 fighter. While Hague has admitted that Barry's speed was surprising, he managed to get Barry to the floor after Barry showed a completely thoughtless gameplan of actually punching with Hague. With no kicks to be found in Barry's strategy, Hague gained the takedown and used his Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt skills to gain a guillotine choke and submit Barry. The upset win eased Hague's concerns about his potential in the professional fight game, but he'll need to become a much more well-rounded fighter if he plans to truly make an impact in the future.

His opponent, Todd Duffee, is molded from a similar style that Hague has used throughout his years in King of the Cage Canada. Like Hague, Duffee uses his fists to do the talking in the cage. At 4-0, Duffee has been talked about by many fans as potentially being a very good mid to upper-echelon talent within the UFC's heavyweight ranks. Why are fans giving Duffee a little bit of hype?

Duffee currently trains out of one of the best camps in the country in American Top Team down in Coconut Creek, Florida as well as HardCore Gym in Athens, Georgia. While his record seems minuscule in comparison to Hague's record, Duffee did manage to actually finish former UFC fighter Assuerio Silva at Jungle Fight 11 back in September of 2008. Silva isn't exactly the type of fighter who is easily finished, yet Duffee managed to punch him to stoppage in two rounds. Quite impressive.

A Southern Illinois boy who didn't want to wrestle because he "didn't want to wear the whole leotard thing", Duffee moved down to Atlanta, Georgia with his mother in his late teens and became interested in MMA when he got involved in a more extensive boxing gym than what he had been working at in Illinois. He began training two times per day, every day once he had entered the mind set that he wanted to fight professionally. A plethora of amateur fights and four professional bouts puts the 23-year-old where he is today with a UFC contract.

Duffee has been described by some fans who've watched him as relentless. He has tremendous power, but his most significant attribute is probably his work ethic in the cage. From some of the footage I've seen of Duffee, he's a guy that will outwork his opponents. While he isn't a jiu-jitsu black belt or wrestling phenom, he definitely has the knowledge of how to defeat those types of opponents. Hague isn't going to be the type of fighter to truly bring a dangerous ground game like Assuerio Silva presented, so this may be the perfect fight for Duffee to make a statement that he's a legit up-and-comer in the division.

This battle has a tad of interest from me because of some of the hype surrounding Duffee. Duffee is still a very young fighter, but he's being molded by some great camps and trainers. He has a heavy-handed striking game, but he's one of those cardio machines that will give almost anyone problems if you let him. Hague, while possessing a ground game and some power in his hands as well, has some glaring weaknesses. One of his biggest problems, a problem that Patrick Barry should have researched, is that Hague can be easily devastated with leg kicks, and Duffee should probably take note of that in this showdown. If he can work leg kicks to set up his powerful hands, this could be a quick win for Duffee.