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Opening up the Fox Sports 1 portion of the UFC 165 preliminary card is a battle of bantamweights, as Canada's Mitch Gagnon (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) fights the fantastically named Dustin Kimura (10-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC). Both men scored submission wins in their latest respective bouts.
As is the theme throughout the preliminary card, there's a lot of young talent looking for impressive wins and these two fit the bill. Who knows? Maybe Kimura will actually get his first ever win by kimura! The UFC 165 prelims on FS1 begin at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT and continue until the PPV broadcast, which kicks off at its normal 10 PM ET/7 PM PT timeslot.
How do these two stack up?
Gagnon: 28 years old | 5'5" | 68" reach
Kimura: 24 years old | 5'7" | 71" reach
What have these two done recently?
Gagnon: W - Walel Watson (SUB) | L - Bryan Caraway (SUB) | W - Bo Harris (SUB)
Kimura: W - Chico Camus (SUB) | W - Guy Delameau (KO) | W - Damaso Pereira (TKO)
How did these two get here?
Gagnon has won 8 of 9 fights by submission, and the other victory was a slam KO of Rejean Goulx in a 2011 featherweight fight. His UFC debut came at bantamweight against well known veteran Bryan Caraway at UFC 149, and while he was unable to come away with the victory, he did go home with a $65,000 FOTN bonus. He notched his first UFC win later that September by dropping and then submitting Walel Watson at UFC 152. His year-long layoff is the result of an injury, which canceled a UFC 158 meeting with Issei Tamura.
Kimura is a young prospect out of Hawaii who, like Gagnon, has a penchant for winning by submission. He's taken out 7 of 10 opponents via tapout, and one of those came in his UFC debut against Chico Camus at UFC 156. "The Diamond" came in a a slight underdog when he took on Camus, and in the 3rd round he pulled off a beautiful triangle choke in a closely contested bout. He did miss weight against Camus (by 3.5 lbs), but he's made weight this time and is aiming for his 11th straight win.
Why should you care?
This should be a high-energy, well paced showcase between two prospects trying to climb their way up the bantamweight ladder. The added bonus of Kimura's undefeated record being on the line makes this a good opener on FS1.
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