This Saturday, April 19th, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida the UFC on FOX 11 card comes to us with a main event featuring Fabricio Werdum and Travis Browne. On the under card is an interesting lightweight battle between Pat Healy and Jorge Masvidal, two well traveled veterans of the sport who only recently settled in the UFC. Right now, at the sportbooks, Masvidal sits as a roughly 2 to 1 favorite with the line at -210, while Healy is returning around +155.
This is a match up of two very evenly matched fighters. Both men prefer to stand up, while Healy counts on a wrestling background and Masvidal has a Jiu Jitsu base. Both men are very tough to finish, and both men have a tendency to get into matches where they do not look to finish when they are up and have the advantage.
Both men are going to have to avoid the initial tendency to go the distance. If the fight remains standing, it is Masvidal who has a wider array of striking options. Masvidal may in fact be underrated as a striker, with his combination of good fundamental boxing and surprising kicks, Masvidal will likely have the overall edge as far as striking.
Ther is a limited amount of rivalry between the two, as they have fought on the same shows in the past and Masvidal owns a victory over Pat’s brother Ryan Healy back in 2008. Ryan is a lot like Pat, except Pat has found another level, but Ryan was generally considered a better boxer and Masvidal handled him.
The bottom line is that both men have lost their last UFC outings, and they are in a crowded weight class. In fact,t here are 2 fights in the weight class aboce them on the card, so both men must realize that to lose this fight is a precipice as far as your longevity and UFC career go. If both men fight with that type of urgency, we could be in for a hell of a match.
