UFC Liverpool will take place today from the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England and the fight card will be headlined by Liverpool’s own Darren Till has he will look to make his case as a top welterweight title challenger as he will take on former UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson in a catchweight bout of 174 pounds.
The matchup between Thompson and Till is a catchweight bout due to Till missing weight yesterday by 3.5 pounds and the fighters came to an agreement on conditions for this fight taking place. Along with a financial penalty (30% of Till’s purse), Till has to weight in today at the venue and can not weight more than 188 pounds. From a fight fans perspective, let’s hope that Till is 188 pounds or less and we get to see these guys square off today inside the octagon.
When it comes to the fight, Till missing weight does not effect my pick for the fight. My pick for this matchup has always been Thompson as I just feel he’s at a different level than Till. While Till is coming off a spectacular knockout against Donald Cerrone, this is a fairly big step up in competition for Till. I expect Thompson to stay on the outside, he will eventually frustrate Till, and Thompson will get a stoppage victory sometime after the third round.
Before the main event of UFC Fight Night 130, we will have ten fights and there’s not a lot that sticks out to me. Unfortunately for the UFC, Gunnar Nelson was forced to pull out of this event a couple of weeks ago and Neil Magny is now facing UFC newcomer Craig White. Magny vs. Nelson was an interesting matchup for me and stepping up on short notice to make your UFC debut against a veteran like Magny is a tough task. Magny is the biggest betting favorite on the card (-650) and I expect to see him walk out of the Echo Arena with a convincing victory.
UFC Liverpool Pre-Fight Stats:
– Stephen Thompson is tied with multiple fighters for the 3rd most knockdowns landed (9) in UFC welterweight division history (Thiago Alves #1, 13).
– Neil Magny has the 7th most significant strikes landed (817) in UFC welterweight division history (Georges St-Pierre #1, 1,254) and the 6th most total strikes landed in UFC welterweight division history (Georges St-Pierre, 2,523).
– Magny has the 5th best strike differential (+1.79) in UFC welterweight division history (Georges St-Pierre #1, +2.39) – Minimum 5 UFC fights.
– Magny is tied with Colby Covington for the 5th most takedowns landed (41) in UFC welterweight division history (Georges St-Pierre #1, 87).
– Jason Knight is tied with Dennis Bermudez for the 4th most submission attempts (12) in UFC featherweight division history (Darren Elkins #1, 21).
– Knight has the 3rd best submission average per 15 minutes (2.1) in UFC featherweight division history (Chas Skelly #1, 2.6) – Minimum 5 UFC fights.
– Nordine Taleb has the 3rd best significant strike accuracy (53.5%) in UFC welterweight division history (Alex Oliveira #1, 55.3%) – Minimum 5 UFC fights and 350 significant strike attempts.
– Taleb has the 3rd best significant strike defense (68.3%) in UFC welterweight division history (Georges St-Pierre #1, 73%) – Minimum 5 UFC fights and 350 strike attempts by opponents.
– Eric Spicely has the 4th shortest average fight time (4:48) in UFC middleweight division history (Drew McFedries #1, 2:07) – Minimum 5 UFC fights.
– Elias Theodorou has the 5th longest average fight time (13:36) in UFC middleweight division history (Riki Fukuda #1, 15:00).
– Theodorou has the 10th best strike differential (+1.89) in UFC middleweight division history (Thiago Santos #1, +2.57) – Minimum 5 UFC fights.
– Trevor Smith has the 2nd best significant strike accuracy (59.1%) in UFC middleweight division history (Anderson Silva #1, 61.4%) – – Minimum 5 UFC fights and 350 significant strike attempts.
My UFC Liverpool Picks: Thompson, Magny, Allen, Knight, Taleb, Spicely, Breese, Mazany, Pedersoli Jr., Robertson, and Theodorou.