One of the better bantamweight prospects on the map just signed his first UFC contract. As is so often the case, he'll be making his debut on short notice and up a division. It's a rough way to make a first impression, but whatever you say about him, Luke Sanders has cojones. He'll be fighting longtime featherweight and former lightweight Pancrase champion Maximo Blanco at UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz in Boston on January 17th. Blanco was slated to fight Dennis Bermudez, but Bermudez was forced out of the bout back in early December with an injury. MMAJunkie reported the new matchup. Joining him today, and fighting on UFC 196 is a light heavyweight newcomer, Alex Nicholson. The UFC announced Nicholson will be fighting Misha Cirkunov in his debut on February 6th. So...
Who is Luke Sanders?
"Cool Hand" Luke is a 30-year old fighter who splits training time between Nashville MMA (which seems to be developing some solid regional fighters) and the much more notable MMA Lab, home to Benson Henderson, Rick Story, Jon Tuck, and a whole host of other UFC talent. He'll be coming to the UFC with an undefeated 10-0 record, with 7 wins by stoppage and the current RFA bantamweight title in his trophy case. His record includes strong wins over Terrion Ware, Jarred Mercado, Darrick Minner, Dan Moret, and Zach Underwood. Basically every fight after his first 3 has been a legit challenge against decent, experienced competition. You don't see many better 10 fight regional records than Luke Sanders'. He was also a state wrestling champion in high school and got his start as a fighter in Toughman competitions before turning to mixed martial arts.
What you should expect:
The defining skills of Sanders' game aren't his striking, his wrestling, or his grappling. He's not a fighter that I would call particularly "technical" anywhere. And yet, he is obviously a very good, improving talent. Most notably he's a fighter that seems to have just about endless cardio, to go with great toughness and constant aggression. He's the kind of fighter that is always going to be in an an opponent's face, always throwing strikes, always working for something, all the time, round after round.
The best part of his technical game is his transition striking. Sanders has a great knack for finding the tiny openings in the fight when moving between ranges. If he fails to take you down, he'll hit you with a knee or an elbow, same if you fail to take him down. If he breaks the clinch, he'll come out of it punching; if he has a second of control on the mat, he'll fill it with strikes. That latter trait doesn't always make him the best control grappler in the world, but he has the athleticism to keep up in scrambles, and the short, powerful stature to make himself incredibly tough to move, even while he's landing shots.
What this means for his debut:
Honestly, it's tough to say. Blanco is a more technical striker (somewhat), a more technical wrestler, and more experienced. He's a little bigger too, maybe, but only listed as two inches taller and with the same reach. Those, along with the short notice nature, are all big points in Blanco's favor. What isn't, however, is consistency. Maximo Blanco is the kind of fighter who can win 4 minutes of a round and then mess up so badly in that last minute that you want to score it against him. He'll be total, unchecked aggression one minute and mind-bogglingly inactive the next. He's coming into the prime of his career, and in the last couple years seems to have settled down some, but if Blanco can't hurt Sanders he may not outwork him.
To get us better acquainted, here's Sanders' 2014 RFA bout against Darrick Minner:
Who is Alex Nicholson?
Alex "The Spartan" Nicholson is a 25-year old light heavyweight who works as a trainer at a UFC gym affiliate in Florida. He's also spent time in the past training out of Pete White Boxing and MMA in New Smyrna Beach. Neither are particularly notable camps for producing MMA talent. He'll make his way into Zuffa with 6-1 pro record and a current five fight win streak. All of his wins are by stoppage with 5 by KO/TKO and one submission via neck crank. To his credit, Nicholson seems to have carved out an exceptionally decent record (really amazing considering light heavyweight) as the guy who crushes guys that crush cans. He's the only loss for three of his opponents, which is pretty remarkable for light heavyweight MMA.
What you should expect:
It looks like Nicholson is more or less an MMA native, with no other major martial arts training behind a reasonable amateur career before going pro. He's got a pretty great frame for light heavyweight, standing at 6' 4" and with what appears to be a pretty long reach. He's not an amazing natural striker, entering in to the clinch on straight lines behind flurries, but he seems like a good athlete and he has some powerful kicks and knees. It looks like he'd prefer to work from range on the outside, but doesn't yet have a grip on keeping distance as he punches.
Without a wrestling background, that's obviously a major point for Nicholson to work on. But, it's also a problem he might be able to survive with against a lot of light heavyweights who, especially at the bottom of the division, aren't notable for their wrestling. The bigger concern is probably striking defense. Because Nicholson tends to enter on straight lines, he eats a lot of shots. And while, to date, his chin has been great, he doesn't react that well to getting hit. Light heavyweight is a puncher's division, and that could be a big problem if he can't fix it soon.
What this means for his debut:
Misha Cirkunov is probably going to have his way with Nicholson. Not because Cirkunov is a great striker (he's not at all), but because he's the rare wrestling/grappling talent at light heavyweight. Cirkunov has a great takedown game, and a fantastic transition submission arsenal. Nicholson is a good athlete, but his habit of running into the clinch when he punches from distance will put him right in Cirkunov's wheelhouse and from there I expect we'll see a quick takedown to submission.
To get us better acquainted, here's Nicholson's fight against Dillon Cleckler from March of 2015: