Being excited for an event while also dreading staying up till 6AM is a terrible dilemma to find yourself in, but not quite of the same magnitude as the situation that makes these prelims unmissable. For starters, Andre Winner vs Anthony Njokuani has the potential to be fight of the night, but will they fight with reckless abandon, hoping that losing an exciting fight is worth the same kudos as a win, or do they play it safe just to post a ‘W’ to stay in a job?
Secondly, Brian Bowles vs Takeya Mizugaki could have been the headline event of a WEC card but instead they head up the prelims, fighting for a possibly half filled arena. The UFC bantamweight division is only 24 fighters strong so both fighters need to post exciting fights here, without getting knocked out which is as likely as watching Mad Men and not commenting on Christina Hendricks’ cleavage. Hey, I’m not judging.
On top of that, Aaron Simpson was arguably taking a big step up in facing Jason Miller but has now been relegated to the prelims to face the unbeaten Brad Tavares, who will no doubt want to prove a point as well as go 8-0. Tough fight for Simpson, but superlative for our entertainment. When you consider the whole night kicks of with Jeff Hougland and Donny Walker busting their UFC cherries, it looks like I’ll be a very grump Scotsman on Sunday, and I’m putting it down to MMA fatigue (http://twitter.com/#!/BenCartlidgeMMA/status/85809407031648256) right now. It’s a real thing, dammit!
