The UFC Boston main card is still, more or less intact at the top, but the prelims have gone through hell. Late notice injuries to six fighters on the undercard have meant that the promotion has been forced to make a number of last minute changes. I've already talked about the signings of Luke Sanders and Joey Gomez, but now there's three new fighters to talk about. Following visa issues for Russia's Mairbek Taisumov, Chris Wade announced via Instagram that he would now be facing lightweight newcomer Mehdi Baghdad.
Following Baghdad into the UFC are Augusto "Tanquinho" Mendes and Elvis Mutapcic. Mendes will be moving up a division to take on featherweight Charles Rosa, as first reported by Olimpo MMA. And Mutpacic will be moving up from middleweight for a short notice light heavyweight bout against Francimar Barroso, the UFC announced the latter change via press release, following a last minute meniscus tear for Abdul-Kerim Edilov. So...
Who is Mehdi Baghdad?
The 30-year old French-Algerian lightweight will enter the UFC as the former RFA lightweight champ and with a 9-3 professional record. He was a contestant on TUF 22, fighting for Team McGregor, and won his opening round bout over Artem Lobov. He then lost in the second elimination round, via Majority Decision, against Julian Erosa.
As he explained in a 2014 interview with Bloody Elbow, the Team Black House fighter got his start in MMA as a sparring partner for Ricardo Arona and Kazushi Sakuraba in Japan. For a number of years he also worked with Team Quest and Dan Henderson, before finding his current home at Black House. Essentially, he's a fighter with a long pedigree of working with other top talent. Starting back in 2007, his record has mostly been built on wins over middling journeyman competition, with a couple of notable losses to Charles Oliveira and Juan Manuel Puig. To go along with his MMA career he's fought as a kickboxer as well, laying claim to a WKBC Muay Thai title. He also has a background in Kempo Karate.
What you should expect:
True to his Muay Thai style, Baghdad tends to be a bit of a stationary target as a striker. He likes to plant his feet square in front of his opponent and sit down on powerful combinations. He mixes well to the head and body, throws hard kicks, and has a nice, practiced clinch game. The downside of this is twofold: While his defense isn't bad or inactive, he does tend to duck his head and depend on hand position a lot for avoiding strikes. As such, he gets hit by active punchers quite a lot more often than it seems like he should. The second problem from planting his feet so firmly? He's just not the most mobile fighter. Guys that are willing to move around a lot and keep up a high output from range can outwork him just because he doesn't reset that well. It also looks like he's open to being taken down, as he often gets off balance in prolonged exchanges.
What this means for his debut:
Wade is an interesting matchup. He keeps a high output standing, but isn't exactly a whirlwind of dynamic movement. Mostly he's a decent enough technical kickboxer who keeps a good pace, but doesn't pack a lot of power. Behind that striking, he's a very good, controlling wrestler, but not a great power takedown machine. Often, against good athletic fighters Wade ends up in prolonged clinch battles along the cage. Baghdad is a pretty good clinch fighter, so Wade's wrestling may be nullified if he can't get in on good shots. I feel like Wade's output and control will get him a win, especially on short notice. But, Baghdad is the much more powerful finisher and he could take real advantage if Wade is forced to try and outpoint him standing.
To get us better acquainted, here's his 2014 fight against Evan DeLong:
Who is Augusto Tanquinho?
Augusto "Tanquinho" Mendes is a 32-year old Brazilian BJJ champion at the black belt level training out of Soul Fighters BJJ where he is a head instructor and the MMA Lab where he works with a large squad of UFC level talent. He's a 2013 World BJJ champion and a 2012 and 2015 World No Gi champion just to name a couple of his many grappling accolades. Alongside being a notable competitor, Tanquinho is also a well known referee in BJJ competitions. He's on his way to the UFC with a 5-0 record, having just turned pro back in 2014. His record is about what you'd expect for a guy in his first five fights: some cans, a prospect or two, but mostly just other really raw fighters. All of his wins are via stoppage with four coming by way of submission.
What you should expect:
He's definitely a green talent. No matter what fans and promoters want to expect out of fighters transitioning from another combat sport to MMA, they still usually end up pretty raw. Tanquinho is a good athlete, a strong puncher, and (nicely) a pretty powerful wrestler too. He's good at tangling opponents up in the clinch and finding the trip or the drag takedown, and he can shoot in on a power double and pick up a slam if he has to. But like a lot of raw fighters, his clinch entries are pretty poor. He tends to come in with both arms out and his head on line, swinging wild with his chin up, to force his way inside. That could and probably will change in time, but until it does, it's a liability.
On top, his preferred position is to cut straight into mount and from there use his stocky frame and powerful base to ride his opponent while landing stiff ground and pound. Once they give up an arm he'll take that for an armbar, or if they roll to their stomach he'll be right there for back control. It's the same sort of core ground game as fighters like Shinya Aoki and Demian Maia, in terms of his use of mount as a way to create pressure and from that pressure, submissions.
What this means for his debut:
Charles Rosa should win this fight. Not because Tanquinho can't be the better fighter in the long run, but fighting up a division, on short notice, against a much more experienced opponent... That's not a recipe for success. The biggest thing in Tanquinho's favor is that Rosa is a very willing grappler. He's a competitive scrambler and a decent submission threat himself, but that might be precisely his downfall against a BJJ champ like Tanquinho. If Rosa can't help keep himself from mixing things up on the ground, then he could easily lose. However, if he can stay competitive on the ground, I think Rosa should have a big advantage standing and may even be able to get the TKO.
To get us better acquainted, here's Tanquinho's Legacy FC 38 bout against Evan Martinez:
Who is Elvis Mutapcic?
"The King" (of course) is a 29-year old Bosnian-American fighter and an old-school product of the Miletich Fighting Systems out in Des Moines, Iowa. He's currently training out of Roundkick MMA (although last I heard he was potentially transitioning between camps) alongside flashy regional talent Rakim Cleveland. He's coming to the UFC with a strong 15-3 record, including wins over Sam Alvey, Kelvin Tiller, Cezar Ferreira, and Zak Cummings. He's the former MFC middleweight champion and his only loss since 2011 is to powerful wrestler Jesse Taylor back at WSOF 7. Mutapcic is basically an MMA native, coming to the sport through the amateur club fighting circuit out in Iowa. You can read more about his start in MMA in this interview, here.
What you should expect:
While he's an exceptionally well rounded fighter, Mutpacic generally spends a lot of time working as a striker from range and int he pocket. He was something of a technical-brawler in his early career, but having started all the way back in 2007 he's rounded out his style into something more purely technical these days. He throws tight combinations with his hands, extremely powerful kicks, and moves well when striking to avoid counters. He takes his head off line when throwing, steps out on angles when finishing combinations, and just generally does a lot of the little things right.
While he's not a bad wrestler, he can get caught with reactive takedown, especially when he's planted his feet on a combination. However, he's a very good scrambler off his back and when he can stuff the shot on offense, he's got really good clinch takedown game. He does a great job hitting trips and drags from the bodylock. Mutapcic is also a pretty decent top control GnP artist and mixes his wrestling in well as a change of pace from his striking. In some ways, his biggest strengths are his biggest weaknesses too. Because he's not the most powerful fighter in the world and because he is a very aggressive, high volume striker (and one with a relatively short reach) he does a lot of work striking in the pocket in prolonged exchanges. He's not uncomfortable doing it, but it means he eats his share of shots. And the fact that he's usually right in front of his opponents working his offense means he's there to get stifled as well by grinders good enough to do it.
What this means for his debut:
The biggest thing going against Mutapcic here is size and power. He's a more technical, more aggressive fighter everywhere than Francimar Barroso, but Barroso is a big, powerfully built light heavyweight and Mutapcic isn't even the biggest middleweight around. If Barroso can just lean on him and tire him out, or land a few big shots at range, I could see him being able to make Mutapcic miserable. But, I otherwise have to favor Mutapcic here, he's faster, probably better conditioned (even on short notice), and more technical everywhere.
To get us better acquainted, here's Elvis Mutapcic's MFC 36 fight against Sam Alvey: