Welcome to the UFC, Sanchez and Holtzman

Two more fighters are making their way into the UFC, as it appears that Zuffa has opened the floodgates to new signings of late. This time around it's former XFC lightweight champion Scott Holtzman, and rising flyweight prospect Joby Sanchez. Sanchez has been tabbed as a short notice replacement for Tim Elliott against Wilson Reis at UFC Fight Night Brasilia on September 13. The card change was announced via press release on UFC.com. At the moment, no debut date or opponent has been announced for Holtzman, his signing was made public via his Twitter page.

Who is Scott Holtzman?

"Hot Sauce" as he is otherwise known, is the former XFC lightweight champion. The 30-year old Shield Systems BJJ team member also training out of the MMA Lab makes his way to the UFC on the back of an 7-0 undefeated record. At the Lab he's working alongside the likes of Ben Henderson, John Moraga, and the many other well known fighters out of that camp. Unfortunately, outside of his camp and beyond being undefeated, Holtzman doesn't have a lot of depth to his record. Almost all his wins are over lower tier journeymen, so there's not much that can be taken from his experience in tough fights. He hasn't been fighting cans, so that's a positive, just not stellar competition either.

What you should expect:

Holtzman tends to have very aggressive, come forward striking style. He mixes combinations to the body at times and strikes freely with kicks punches and knees on the way in. He can be flummoxed a bit by fighters with decent footwork and movement, and is less comfortable staying on the outside than he is moving in and out of phone booth range. Mostly, his time on the outside is spent looking for opportunities to blitz his opponent with a flurry of strikes on his way into the clinch and into a controlling position against the cage. In the clinch he tends to go for trips and foot sweeps over more wrestling oriented takedowns, and isn't always a particularly busy fighter inside. When he does get the fight to the ground, he's shown some decent, powerful ground and pound, but isn't really a dominant controlling force on top. He is only two years into his MMA career at this point, so he has a lot of time to round out his game.

To get us better acquainted, here's Holtzman's last bout against George Sheppard:

Who is Joby Sanchez:

The 23-year old flyweight comes to the UFC fighting out of Jackson-Winklejohn MMA, training alongside Donald Cerrone, Tim Kennedy, Jon Jones, and the general wealth of talent down in Albuquerque. He'll enter the octagon for the first time with a 6-0 unbeaten record. Most recently, Sanchez notched the biggest win of his career, a second round TKO over WEC vet Antonio Banuelos. He's steadily increased his level of competition beating some decent regional prospects on his way to taking on a real, seasoned vet. At his age and with his experience, a win over a fighter like Banuelos is a pretty serious testament to his potential (even with Banuelos on a bit of a skid of late). Beyond MMA he has a background in kickboxing and a TMA hybrid, Kajukenbo.

What you should expect:

Sanchez is very light on his feet and has a very natural kickboxing stance and rhythm. He tends to carry himself a little bit tall, but moves well on the outside cutting angles and staying active. He appears to be a probing kicker at range, using front and body kicks to maintain distance. For as good as his kicks look, Sanchez's hands still appear a little tentative. He throws a probing jab without a lot on it and tends to be reluctant to sit on his combinations in the pocket. He has power in his hands, but just hasn't developed the consistency with his boxing. Sanchez has also shown some decent takedown defense, a good skill for a fighter principally looking to strike, and has a track record as a finisher with all of his wins coming by TKO or submission.

What this means for his debut:

This fight is going to tell us a lot more about Reis than it should about Sanchez. Wilson Reis has a ton more experience against better opposition than Sanchez does, but if he cant fight comfortably at 125 lbs, Sanchez has the technical striking ability and scrambling athleticism to stay on his feet and pick Reis apart. However, if Reis can do his thing and shows real explosive grappling talent at 125 lbs, I seriously doubt that Sanchez could match him there. Sanchez is a skilled prospect, but Reis should be too much too soon, should being operative there.

To get us better acquainted, here's Sanchez's last fight against Antonio Banuelos: