UFC 129 Complete Collection Part 4 Of 12: Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia

Welcome back fans and friends to another entry into my new “maxi-series” entitled “ufc 129 Complete Collection”. UFC 129 is one of the can’t-miss events of the year, and in a rare move, all twelve fights will be available to fans over three mediums: Facebook, Spike TV, and Pay-Per-View. Even better, all twelve fights have their own interesting stories, backgrounds, and dynamics. It just might be the best MMA event of 2011 and even of the last several years, so I’m going to take the time to cover all twelve fights in full-length articles. For the previous entry in this series, click here. Now it’s time to focus on the fourth of five free Facebook preliminary fights: Charlie Valencia vs. Ivan Menjivar.

The Salvadoran-Canadian Ivan Menjivar celebrated his tenth year competing as a Mixed Martial Artist back in January of this year. The first loss of Menjivar’s career was to the one and only Georges St. Pierre. Menjivar has also competed in the UFC on one single occasion before this bout, losing to Matt Serra all the way back in 2006. Since that loss at UFC 48, Menjivar strung together some good wins and faced some humbling losses before getting his shot inside the WEC at WEC 53, the final event of the WEC era. Menjivar would end up losing to Brad Pickett by Unanimous Decision. While Menjivar’s overall record stands at a respectable 21-8, it should be noted that he’s lost three of his last four fights. However, it should also be noted that all three of those fights went to a decision, and one loss was due to Split Decision.

Charlie Valencia celebrated his tenth year as an MMA fighter back in March of last year. Valencia’s record currently stands at 12-6, and he’s most well-known for his long time spent grinding it out inside the blue cage. All told, Valencia competed for the WEC promotion a total of nine times, his last fight occurring at WEC 51. Valencia managed to assemble a 5-4 record that included one submission and one KO. Valencia’s most notable losses were to Miguel Torres, Brian Bowles, and Dominick Cruz, all of which have held the WEC Bantamweight Championship, with Cruz being the current UFC Bantamweight Champion after the WEC was absorbed into the UFC.

Combined, these two fighters have over two decades of experience. That’s a whole lot of fights, and a whole lot of wars. And sometimes you’ve just got to appreciate a good war, which is why I think I’m going to like this fight.

Let’s be honest: both men didn’t look too impressive in their most-recent fights, which were losses. But that shouldn’t overshadow the work they’ve put in and the many miles they’ve logged as professional fighters. There’s a reason the WEC continued to call on Charlie Valencia time and time again: win or lose, he loves to show up and entertain. When it comes to Ivan Menjivar, he may have lost to some big competition, but he’s also beaten some notable fighters, namely Joe Lauzon and Jeff Curran.

At the end of the day, you’ve simply got to respect two veterans that will fight anyone and everyone. And when it comes to a veteran fighting a veteran, that can result in a pretty entertaining fight. Judging from what I’ve seen of both in the past, this is a solid match-up that could produce some interesting fireworks.

And that wraps up the first day of “UFC 129 Complete Collection”, fans and friends. Stay tuned right here, since over the next few days I’ll be covering all the other fights, from the lone remaining Facebook fight to the Spike TV fights to the super-stacked Pay-Per-View card. But for now: what do you think of this match-up?