UFC 316 options probably the most extremely anticipated Octagon debuts in a while when Patchy Combine makes the stroll for the primary time.
The previous Bellator champion has lengthy been thought of to be one of many easiest abilities exterior of the UFC earlier than he was signed to the promotion final month.
When Marlon Vera withdrew from UFC 316, Mix stepped in to face the #10-ranked Mario Bautista with the 2 males exchanging feedback forward of June 7.
There are excessive expectations for the brand new bantamweight contender with Mix himself believing that he can pose issues to Merab Dvalishvili, who is about to defend his 135 pound title in the principle occasion.
A UFC legend went so far as to rank the brand new arrival above Sean O’Malley, who looks to reclaim the belt in his rematch with Dvalishvili, earlier than Mix has even stepped contained in the Octagon.
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Frankie Edgar explains his choice to rank Patchy Combine increased than Sean O’Malley at bantamweight
In the course of the UFC’s morning weigh-in present, former UFC light-weight champion Frankie Edgar joined the panel of Daniel Cormier and Laura Sanko to preview UFC 316.
The dialog finally landed on Patchy Combine’s debut with the three analysts being tasked with inserting the previous Bellator star into the UFC rankings primarily based on what they’ve seen from him previously.
Cormier and Sanko had very comparable lists, with Combine solely being one spot aside of their rankings after Cormier ranked him at #6 whereas Sanko had him one increased at #5.
‘DC’ made the argument for why, in his opinion, Song Yadong deserves to be within the prime 5 however Edgar’s rankings had been considerably completely different.
He positioned Combine within the #4 spot, with solely Cory Sandhagen, Petr Yan, Umar Nurmagomedov and the champion Merab Dvalishvili forward of him.
Edgar went on to elucidate why he has Combine increased than former champion Sean O’Malley, who hasn’t fought since he misplaced the title to Dvalishvili final september.
“Pay attention, this isn’t a knock on him as a result of I positively assume O’Malley has likelihood of profitable this weekend too, and he might beat any of those guys and he has beat a few of them. However, I don’t assume he beat Petr Yan.”
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Patchy Combine comes into the UFC with excessive expectations for good cause
With a report of 20-1 with 15 finishes, it doesn’t take lengthy to appreciate the place the hype has come from relating to Patchy Combine’s UFC debut.
Mario Bautista may be an missed opponent because of this, and he definitely has the flexibility to spoil this debut, however you solely want to take a look at Combine’s latest run of leads to Bellator to see why persons are so excessive on him.
The 31-year-old’s final 5 fights have all been in opposition to opponents with extremely spectacular performances and he was in a position to safe the end in three of the 5 outings.
Opponent
File
Occasion
End result
Magomed Magomedov
20-3
Bellator Champions Sequence: Paris
Break up Resolution
Sergio Pettis
23-5
Bellator 301
Submission – Spherical 2
Raufeon Stots
19-1
Bellator 295
Knockout – Spherical 1
Magomed Magomedov
19-2
Bellator 289
Submission – Spherical 2
Kyoji Horiguchi
29-4
Bellator 279
Unanimous Resolution
If Combine is ready to hit the bottom working with an enormous efficiency at UFC 316, he could be one battle away from a title shot, particularly if it means him locking horns along with his former coaching associate, Merab Dvalishvili.
