UFC Fight Night 33 in Australia on Friday night (Saturday morning if you’re an Aussie) provided one of the best fights in MMA history with Mark Hunt vs Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva. That fight ended the card on a massive high and people will be forgiven for not thinking past that fight. However, the card told us a lot and gave us hints at who will be next out the door in the UFC.
Starting on the preliminary card, two-time ‘FOTN’ and constant scrapper Nam Phan (18-12 MMA, 2-5 UFC) dropped his second straight unanimous decision loss. He has now fought seven times in the UFC and incredibly every one of his fights inside the Octagon have went the distance. Although his three-round fight with Takeya Mizugaki (19-7) was a war there is only so much the UFC can justify having someone around with a lopsided loosing record. The future is looking bleak for the TUF veteran.
Julie Kedzie (16-13) was another fighter I immediately tipped to be cut once she lost her fight against Bethe Correia (7-0), he fourth straight, but Kedzie decided pre-fight that regardless of the result that it was time for the nine-year veteran to hang up her gloves.
Next up is Anthony Perosh (14-8 MMA, 4-5 UFC) who lost his fight via unanimous decision to the highly-rated Ryan Badar (16-4). The 41-year-old has had more success this time in the UFC, than his initial 0-2 run, after going 4-3 over the past three years. ‘The Hippo’ has a win over recently released Vinny Magalhaes sandwiched between two losses so it could be time that the UFC may let go of the veteran. Perosh has been mainly utilized on Australian cards and with the influx of fighters from Down Under coming in from TUF:The Smashes and TUF:Canada vs Australia, the Aussie representation could be met by younger fighters. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC gave him another shot.
This last one breaks my heart. Pat Barry (8-7 MMA, 5-7 UFC) suffered this fourth first-round KO of his MMA career as Soa “The Hulk” Polelei (20-3) smashed him on the ground. ‘HD’ is one of the most lovable and most exciting fighters to watch in the UFC since his debut in 2008. Barry always adds excitement to a card but he has yet to win successive bouts in the UFC. At 34 he could still try reinvent himself as a light-heavyweight, a division many consider Barry’s natural weight, but time is running out there. I admit it is a bit of a longshot that the UFC would release such an exciting fighter but there could be a crossroads coming up for Barry who might actually consider to leave MMA and return to his beloved kickboxing. With close friend and confidant Mirko Cro Cop fighting kickboxing bouts on some exciting shows, it is a possibility that Barry might follow suite and he would have an array of promotions, including GLORY, seeing him as an ideal signing.