A Closer Look At UFC 133: Jorge Rivera vs. Constantinos Phillippou

“A Closer Look At UFC 133” continues into its second day of in-depth examination of the full UFC 133 card. This is the fourth part of a planned seven-part series. Part 1 is available here, Part 2 can be seen here, and Part 3 is right here. Now it’s time to focus on an interesting Middleweight match-up that pits Jorge Rivera against Constantinos Phillippou.

Before we discuss the merits of Rivera and Philippou, it should be noted that this fight was one of the hardest struck by the injury-plagued UFC 133 card. Originally, Rivera was expected to fight the tough Alessio Sakara after two failed attempts to put the match together. On two separate occasions, injuries forced the cancellation of the bout. UFC 133 was supposed to be “third time’s the charm”… until Alessio Sakara had to pull out due to injury. Rivera recently joked that their fight must be “cursed”.

Jorge Rivera has been fighting for over a decade, and is a veteran of almost thirty fights. Rivera first debuted in the UFC all the way back at UFC 44 in 2003, but would struggle to find stable employment inside the Octagon until 2006, after a stint on the fourth season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, a season that was built around former UFC fighters fighting over a chance to get back in the Octagon and even challenge for a championship.

From 2009 to 2010, Rivera went on a bit of a rebirth, winning three straight fights with two (T)KO victories. He was then matched up against brash British bad-boy Michael Bisping, and proceeded to tear Bisping several new holes in a series of hilarious pre-fight promos and skits. Bisping didn’t take too kindly to that, and it showed during the fight when he landed a blatant illegal knee that many felt should have resulted in Bisping getting disqualified. The fight would end up continuing, and Bisping would TKO Rivera in the second round and afterwards spit at Rivera’s corner.

Rivera’s opponent, Constantinos Phillippou, has only been fighting since 2008. In that time, he’s pushed his record up to a respectable 7-2 with one No Contest. Five of his seven wins have been stoppages, although he did lose his UFC debut to Nick Catone by Unanimous Decision. Philippou probably took solace in the fact that the bout was a 195-pound catchweight fight.

Now that he’s going to be fighting at his normal weight class, I think Phillippou has a real shot of beating Rivera. Another aspect to consider in this fight is the mental game: Philippou wants to prove that he’s ready to become a UFC fighter, while Rivera has publicly talked about retiring following the tough loss to Bisping.

Then again, you simply can’t count out Jorge Rivera. That loss to Bisping was almost solely dependent on the illegal knee strike that badly messed him up. Before that, Rivera had been looking pretty good against decent competition. Rivera is definitely a journeyman, but he’s a good fighter and a wily veteran.

All in all, I think it’s going to come down to which Jorge Rivera shows up. If it’s the one that beat someone like Nate Quarry by out-striking him and then stopping him, than Phillippou is in for one tough fight and probably isn’t ready for a fighter as experienced as Rivera. But if it’s a Rivera that’s considering retirement and not fighting with his full heart, then I think Phillippou may be able to pull off the upset.