UFC Event

UFC 133 Fight Card Primer: Ivan Menjivar vs. Nick Pace

By Tim Burke@TB_Money Aug 6, 2011, 1:27pm EDT

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ivan Menjivar (22-8, 1-1 UFC) will look to build on his brutal knockout win at UFC 129 when he takes on submission innovator Nick Pace (6-1, 1-0 UFC). This bantamweight UFC 133 fight will take place on the preliminary portion of the card, which will be streamed live on Facebook. The Facebook stream begins at 5:45 p.m. ET/2:45 p.m. PT. Both fighters are coming off wins in their UFC debuts and it looks to be an exciting, evenly matched bout. Menjivar used some brutal standing elbows to beat Charlie Valencia and Nick Pace virtually invented a choke hold to beat Will Campuzano.

How do these two stack up?

Menjivar: 29 years old | 5'6" | 64" reach
Pace: 24 years old | 5'7" | 68" reach

What have these two done recently?

Menjivar: W - Charlie Valencia (TKO) | L - Brad Pickett (UD) | W - Aaron Miller (SUB)
Pace: W - Will Campuzano (SUB) | L- Demetrious Johnson (UD) | W - Steve DeAngelis (SUB)

How did these two get here?

Ivan Menjivar has seemingly been around forever despite only being 29. He has been fighting for over 10 years, and was George St. Pierre's first-ever opponent. He even fought Matt Serra back at UFC 48. Pretty crazy for a guy that fights at bantamweight now. After back-to-back losses to Caol Uno and Bart Palaszewski in 2006, The Pride of El Salvador left the sport for four years before making an impressive comeback last year. He had one fight in the WEC, a very exciting and close decision loss to Brad Pickett, before coming over to the UFC. His coming-out party was at UFC 129 where he destroyed Charlie Valencia, finishing him with a standing elbow that broke his nose.

UFC 133: Interviews | Results | Fight Card

Nick Pace is a Tiger Schulmann disciple that started his career in the Ring of Combat promotion in New Jersey. He ripped off five straight wins there and won the RoC bantamweight championship before he was called up to the WEC last year. He dropped an exciting decision to current title challenger Demetrious Johnson, but was brought over to the UFC anyway. Despite missing weight in his first UFC fight, he impressed everyone with an extremely rare pillory choke finish of Will Campuzano, that he dubbed "The Pace Choke".

Why should you care?

If you're ever going to pick one time to listen to me, this is it - watch this fight. Ivan Menjivar is a beast, and Pace is no slouch himself. Take two excellent, innovative fighters, throw in the fact that they're bantamweights, and you have a fight of the night candidate on your hands for sure.