Ben Nguyen vs Geane Herrera
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Best known for a viral video that detailed Nguyen getting harassed at a weigh in by a "bully," only to brutally KO the guy (Julez Rabaud) when they actually fought. Nguyen has nice power for a flyweight and poses a threat to most on the feet. Nguyen is 2-1 in the UFC with none of the fights going the distance; 1 TKO win, 1 Submission win and a TKO loss. He is currently training at Integrated MMA is Brisbane for this fight as opposed to Tiger Muay Thai where he has previous trained.
Nguyen's debut was against fellow slugger Alpen Ozkilic, a fight in which despite being tagged and taken down he managed to find his way back to his feet and knock out his opponent with only 1 second to go in the 1st round. Nguyen's 2nd UFC fight was against another heavy handed striker in Ryan Benoit, he started fast and dropped Benoit with punches and a knee in the clinch before landing some heavy and very accurate ground and pound and eventually securing the rear naked choke. Nguyen was now 2-0 in the UFC, both very impressive and fan friendly performances and looked to be a forced to be reckoned with. Unfortunately that came to a halt in his 3rd UFC fight against fellow prospect Louis Smolka. Nguyen landed a head kick early on and proceeded to take down Smolka; Smolka fought his way back to the feet and secured a takedown of his own. From here it was a constant battle of submission attempts and scrambles, Nguyen attacking with Omoplata attempts and sweeps, Smolka switching between Guillotine and D'Arce attempts. Smolka eventually gave up on submissions and mounted Nguyen in the 2nd round and proceeded with a vicious elbow beatdown until the referee stepped in and saved Nguyen.
Nguyen is essentially a powerful punches with accurate strikes both on the feet and on the ground. He has some heavy kicks to match but he also has a very porous defence and poor head movement meaning he often has to take a punch to land one. Wrestling in the weakest point of Nguyen's game, he has some good submission defence once the fight hits on the mat but he will struggle against an opponent with good positional skill and ground and pound.
Geane Herrera is a purple belt in traditional, not Brazilian, jiu-jitsu, Herrera is a terrific athlete than mixes snappy boxing with a very slick grappling game. He is possibly most dangerous in the clinch, although his wrestling is lacking. He trains out of Banks MMA and has a 1-2 record in the UFC. The victory came by TKO and both losses came by decision.
In his UFC debut Herrera faced another Flyweight prospect in Ray Borg. Borg dominated this fight throughout, taking Herrera down and dominating position; Herrera managed to do some damage with elbows in the 3rd round but was outmatched over 3 rounds. His 2nd fight saw him step in on short notice to replace Justin Scoggins against again, another Flyweight prospect in Joby Sanchez. The fight consisted of back and fourth striking exchanges, Sanchez coming forward with flurries and Herrera managing to counter punch with stinging punches to shake Sanchez. Sanchez did manage to catch Herrera flush in the 2nd round and came forward piling punches but once Herrera recovered his bearings he continued to land punches before eventually catching Sanchez with a left hook and follow up strikes to put him out. His most recent outing was against top Flyweight Ali Bagutinov, much like the Borg fight he was outgunned over 3 rounds being outstruck and dominated on the ground. He threatened with a very close Kimura in round 3 but couldn't finish it, still he showed resilience to last 3 rounds in a fight with a former title challenger.
Herrera is a decent counter puncher with a particularly good left hook. He throws some unorthodox leaping kicks as well as flying knees; you could argue though that he is best in the clinch, we've seen this in flashes in the UFC but watching his pre-UFC fights it's clear to see. Much like Nguyen he is working on his striking defence but is still very much open to eating punches, which is dangerous in this fight considering both guys power. Herrera is talented on the ground but doesn't have great offensive wrestling to fully utilise it which will need to improve to round out his game. Herrera often goes for leg lock attempts on the ground, as a means of escaping to try and stand up as well as to get the submission. He did however eat some heavy ground and pound from Bagautinov, failing to let go of the leg when it was clear he wasn't going to get the submission; this could be dangerous against Nguyen who has very power and accurate ground and pound.
This is another very close fight as the odds will tell you. My prediction is Nguyen via TKO in the 1st round; he has the better power of the two and both guys eat punches to land their own so he should be able to land something big. I'm also not sure that Herrera can get Nguyen down; both guys have only lost to superior grapplers in the UFC so this could come down to who can mix up takedowns into their striking. However if Nguyen can't put away Herrera in the 1st I'm very likely Live Bet on Herrera.
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