The UFC Fight Night 47 scheduled for August 16th in Bangor, Maine will be headlined by the Ryan Bader vs Ovince St Preaux Light Heavyweight 5 rounder. Right now at BETDSI, Bader sits a (-160) favorite over St Preaux, who returns (+140).
Bader holds an overall 10-4 mark in the UFC, with his losses coming to the likes of Lyoto Machida, Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira and Tito Ortiz. Though he would surely like to have the Tito fight re-done (he lost to a guillotine in under 2 minutes) and he has been stopped against the other three fighters, it is a high level of competition he is keeping. Wins over Quinton Jackson and Rogerio Noguiera were considered solid wins, but he undid the progress stemming from the win by losing his next outing.
Bader has put together a two fight streak since losing to Teixeira, winning two UDs against Anthony Perosh and Rafael Cavalcante. Bader needs a win to continue his momentum as another loss would interrupt his progress and establish his ceiling, leaving him open to a possible UFC cut due to ‘remorse’.
St Preux is riding a hot streak of his own, as he started his MMA career 3-4 but has gone an impressive 13-1 since, with his only loss being to highly ranked Gegard Mousasi. St Preux went the distance with ‘The Dreamcatcher’ in his lone loss, and he has won all four of his UFC matches by stoppage.
This match will be a good stepping stone for St Preux if he can get the win, as Bader is more tested than has opposition to date. St Preux is tough and he has shown he does not fade in fights, so if he is able to meet Bader head on and handle Bader’s initial outbursts, he could pull off the upset and take Bader out in the later rounds.
The fact that it is a five round fight could favor St Preux, though neither fighter has any experience in the ‘championship’ rounds. Bader is probably going to want to keep St Preux in close, so St Preux will have a chance to strike and do damage to Bader on the way in. He needs to be effective with his strikes early in the fight so that he can tire Bader and perhaps find an opening to take him out in the alter rounds.
