Fabio Maldonado In For JDS, Faces Miocic In ‘TUF Brazil 3 Finale’ Headliner
Brazilian slugger, Fabio Maldonado has stepped up to save ‘The Ultimate Fighter Brazil: Sonnen vs. Silva’ Finale event and will face Stipe Miocic in the evening’s headliner.
The Brazilian has agreed to move up to the UFC’s heavyweight division in order to make this bout a go.
The TUF Brazil 3 Finale event is set to take place on May 31 from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
News broke yesterday that former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos was injured and out of his scheduled bout. With little time left, the UFC opted to use the lighter replacement instead of canceling the bout all together.
Maldonado brings in a three-fight winning streak as a UFC light-heavyweight.
Interesting Decision. Maldonado, is gonna get hit a lot, I think he likes getting hit. Not a terrible replacement but I think Miocic will look dominant in the end, maybe even finish him. Well, that is your main event.
Maldonado ain't no heavyweight... he wanted a big fight, looks like he has one. Honestly, he has nothing to lose...people won't (or shouldnt) judge him to harshly if he loses. Miocic on the other hand, has everything to lose... just winning won't do against this lhw...
I don't know anything about Brazilian laws... but i expect most wouldn't be able to get a visa to fight there on such short notice. So i wouldn't expect the pool of credible headliners was all that big.
Maldonado is tough as nails. Mad respect. He got his wish for an upper tier opponent, although at a higher weight class. It's a good thing he can take a beating because that's exactly what he's going to get.
Given his attitude, this isn't a surprising step for him. While I think he could be fit to fight at MW, in reality, given his fighting style and skill, he probably has a better chance of being marginally successful one day at HW more so then LHW and MW.
Jokes aside, I don't consider being entertainment a negative aspect in UFC. Maybe a characteristic. After all we all got entertained by some crazy fights they made happen out of nowhere.
I loved Toney/Couture and I loved Brock coming and I still think there should be more purely entertaining super fights mixed together, even cross categories open weight challenges. Why not?
This is a fantastic replacement fight. A courageous underdog (literally) stepping up to save a card. Sure this fight means zero for any title contention, but as entertainment goes, it just became even more interesting.
Maldonado is indeed a fat LHW. He could easily be a MW, but he's heading toward a dangerous HW out of nowhere.
That is the kind of thing that will grant him utter respect from the promotion and gather him a few more fans, even though we all know he is not very well in his head, but likable fearless guy, no doubt. raise01:
Dude, same here about the negative rep thing. I remember one time I predicted a big fight and it happened exactly the way I said it would so I quoted myself to show you guys. Needless to say, I got a negative rep saying "for quoting yourself... Sad" It would be funny if they are all from the same guy. Harsh of him to crush my temporary arrogance, haha. Repped.
Anyways, Miocic by decision unless Fabio succeeds on working the body. Unlikely, but possible.
Miocic should follow the Jones road and in no way accept this opponent swap short notice. After all, he was prepared to face JDS, not a lower weight class fighter stepping up to fill his place. :wink03:
i hope maldanado wins just because miocic getting the win does absolutely nothing and is completely uninteresting. he beats a middle of the road light heavyweight, so what? i feel like yawning just thinking about it. if fabio wins, at least it will be funny and have some shock value
if he can get those body punches rolling early, maybe he can wear him out? i kinda hope so.
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