A Closer Look At UFC 130: Stefan Struve vs. Travis Browne

Once again, fans and friends, it’s time for “A Closer Look at UFC 130”. My special three-day mini-series has now officially entered its third and final day and will now feature the last three fights of what should be an awesome UFC 130 fight card. And before we get to the two big Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight  fights that are anchoring this event, it’s now time to focus on a match-up between two up-and-coming Heavyweights with plenty of skill and lots of knockout power. It’s Stefan Struve vs. Travis Browne, and this is the first entry in the three-part finale of “A Closer Look at UFC 130”.

2011 marks Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve’s sixth year of active MMA competition, and his fight at UFC 130 will be his seventh fight inside the Octagon. Struve entered the UFC with a very respectable 16-2 record and on the heels of having won five straight fights with five submissions. Unfortunately, Struve was matched up against Junior dos Santos in his UFC debut. JDS quickly proved that his surprise TKO’ing of Fabricio Werdum in his first UFC fight wasn’t a fluke: he knocked Struve out in fifty-four seconds. It was the first proper TKO loss of Struve’s career.

Struve quickly rebounded with three straight wins, with two submissions, one of which earned him a “Submission of the Night” award. He then ran into another giant (no pun intended) roadblock: “Big Country” Roy Nelson. And just like Junior dos Santos, Nelson punched his ticket to the top of the Heavyweight rankings by TKO’ing Struve in the first round, in under one minute. However, Struve would rebound once again and is currently on a two-fight win-streak with back-to-back (T)KO’s.

His opponent, Travis Browne, entered the UFC a perfect 9-0 with only one decision on his record. Browne also walked into the Octagon with six of his nine wins occurring in the very first round of action. Browne quickly lived up to the hype when he defeated James McSweeney by TKO’ing him in the first round.

Browne was then matched up against the tough Cheick Kongo, who continues to be one of the premiere gatekeepers of the UFC’s Heavyweight division. After a close fight that went all three rounds, the judges scored the bout a Draw. It should be noted that the main reason for this decision was Cheick Kongo, who was deducted a point for holding onto Browne’s shorts.

I think this fight is going to be interesting for several reasons, and I’m going to go out on a bit of a limb and predict a semi-upset. I think both men love to strike early and often, they’ve been in some good brawls and they’ve shown some real skill. I don’t doubt that both men belong in the UFC. But I have to doubt Struve’s chin, especially when his only two UFC losses have both been by first-round TKO.

Meanwhile, Browne took Cheick Kongo to a three-round decision. And despite all his flaws, Cheick Kongo is a fantastic stand-up fighter. I think Browne’s chin will be able to weather the storm once the punches start flying, and Struve’s won’t. Struve’s only option then will be to take the fight to the ground and slap on a submission, which admittedly could very well happen. But overall, I think this is Browne’s fight to win.

There are only two more entries into “A Closer Look at UFC 130”, fans and friends. Stay tuned.