Lux is back with their 4th card this year and it's stacked with Mexican talent.
Raúl Zaragoza (5-0) (-170) vs Hugo Flores (13-5) (+110) - LUX Lightweight Championship
The welterweight champion Raúl is going down to 155 to challenge for the championship. In his latest fight against Carlos Arena (7-3), Raul showed some nice striking with head kicks hurting Carlos multiple times before he was able to finish him in the third round. He did gave up some ground control in the second when he was taken down.
Hugo is coming off a win against Luis Marquez (5-3) where he wasn't able to capture the lightweight championship because he missed weight. This fight was a rematch where Hugo was knockout by a lead hook in their first fight. In the rematch, Hugo was able to dominate the grappling exchanges with trips against the cage in what was not the most exciting fight.
Raul should be the bigger guy in there at 6'0 with a 6'2 reach compared to Hugo at 5'10 with a 5'7 reach. The big key for this fight is wheither Raul is going to be able to stop the takedown. On the feet, Hugo has clean striking but his volume is too low against the scrappy Raul who comes forward with combination of jabs and head kicks.
This will be a good showcase to see if Raul is ready for the UFC. My prediction is that Raul will be able to find the finish with a head kick even though he might get controlled for part of this fight.
Andrea Vázquez (7-2) (-159) vs Dana Garcia (7-1) (+105) - LUX Straweight Championship
Andrea is coming off her title win against the undefeated chilean Jazmin Navarrete (7-0). Although she started the fight mostly kicking, she started to use more and more her boxing as the fight went along and she was able to overpower Jazmin hurting her straight punches and rear hooks.
Dana is young prospect at 24 years old. Her last last fight against Daniela Melendez was very close with Dana pressuring her with jabs and Daniela landing some clean jab-straight with her longer reach. Dana doesn't have the quickest punches which can leave her to be countered like we saw in her fight against Hannah Ramos where she was dropped by a lead hook before getting the guilottine.
Although Dana is good at keeping her hand up to defend head punches, Andrea should be able utilize her front kick to the body to drop those hands. I wouldn't be surprised if Andrea gives up the first round because she usually start her fight slow but she should be able to start using her speed and power by the second round.
My prediction is that Andrea will finish her with a body kick or knee in the clinch by the third round.
Andrea Vazquez to win at -159.
Isaac Ruelas (7-6) (+185) vs Irvin Amaya (11-5) (-304) - 145 lbs
This will be the 12th fight in LUX for Irvin. He's on a 2 fight winning streak since moving to featherweight. In this last fight, he won a crazy sequence with a double knockdown but he recovered quicker and finished his opponent Edgar Cabello (20-8).
Isaac Ruelas is fighting on short notice remplacing Jefferson Vargas. As seen in his last against Pedro Peña (9-2), he's a muay thai fighter with big overhand punches that can put you to sleep. If you watch his fight against Guiherme Antunes (5-1), you can see that he's lost on the ground and was much slower than his opponent on the feet.
Irvin will need to watchout for the power of Isaac but he will have a major speed advantage on the feet. If it goes to the ground, Irvin should also have the upper hand.
My prediction is that Irvin will outstrike Isaac on the feet and he will take down Isaac while he's loading up on big punches. Irvin should get the submission afterwards.
Anuar Aburto (7-1) (-233) vs Alexis Miranda (7-1) (+145) - 170 lbs
Anuar is a giant at 6'6 for this welterweight division. He has a fun muay thai style with lead elbows, head kicks and some nice jab-straight. In his latest fight against Erick Batista (6-3), he was able to dominate him on the feet and displayed some good leg kick defense.
Alexis is coming from the rival promotion UWC where he had 5 wins and 1 loss. He also has a muay thai style with more emphasis on calf kicks with a good jab and hooks. In his fight against Fausto Gómez, he was able to destroy the leg of his opponent before finishing him with a body shot.
The most important weapon in this fight might be the calf kick from Alexis. If he's not able to employ it effectively, Anuar should be able to pick him apart with his speed and more refine striking game.
My prediction is that Anuar will win this fight by dominant 30-27 decision.
Alejandro Cerquera (5-2) (+155) vs Alejandro Corrales (7-3) (-250) - 145 lbs
Alejandro Corrales is coming off a loss in a title fight against Edgar Delgado (14-6). In this fight, Corrales had 2 knockdowns but Edgar was able to reverse the position on the ground to take the back and get the rear naked choke.
Alejandro Cerquera is also coming off a loss in a title fight for the 155 lbs belt against Rodrigo Vargas (15-6). He was thoroughly dominated on the ground by Rodrigo where he was taken down multiple times before being submitted by a guillotine choke.
Although he has long arms with a 6'2 reach at 5'9, Cerquera's striking game is not really high level with him having low accuracy with his punches and kicks. Corrales on the other side has shown great boxing dropping multiple opponents with hooks and straight punches.
Corrales grappling should be good enough to keep the fight on the feet and he should be able to dominate Cerquera from there. I'm predicting a second round knockout from Corrales.
