Jorge Rivera (-110) vs. Alessio Sakara (-105)
Jorge Rivera (18-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) is coming off of what Joe Rogan called “the best performance of his career”, in his dominating upset win over Nate Quarry. Nicknamed “El Conquistador”, Rivera is primarily a Muay Thai fighter, training out of Team Sityodtong with Mark Dellagrotte. Nearly half of his landed strikes in UFC bouts have been in the clinch! (158 out of 339) He was also a competitor on “The Ultimate Fighter” season 4, but lost a unanimous decision to Patrick Cote in the first round of the tournament.
His most notable victories in recent memory are: TKO over Quarry at UFN: Florian vs. Gomi, KO over Kendall Grove at UFC 80, and a decision over Dennis Hallman at UFC 55. Nearly all of his losses are to accomplished fighters. Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Martin Kampmann, and Chris Leben are on that list. He also lost via triangle to notorious bank robber, Lee Murray.
Alessio Sakara (15-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) is currently riding a 3 fight win streak. “Legionarius” had an impressive run as a boxer before becoming a mixed-martial artist. Sakara was 29-3 as an amateur and 8-1 as a professional. In the grappling department, Sakara holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Originally from Rome, he is now training at American Top Team in Florida.
The only wins he has that are worth mentioning are a split decision over former title challenger Thales Leites, and a recent TKO victory over James Irvin. That was Irvin’s only fight at middleweight and he looked disastrous from the weight cut. His important losses are against Chris Leben at UFC 82 and Houston Alexander at UFC 75.
I love Rivera in this matchup. Sakara has a bit of a history of getting knocked out (3 of his 4 UFC losses were knockouts), and Rivera can strike….hard. Sakara might have an edge in the ground game, but I have no reason to believe he can get it there. He has 10 career takedowns in the UFC, but (and this is a huge but) 9 of them were against Elvis Sinosic! In striking from a distance, Sakara might have a slight edge, but as soon as it clinches he will be in some big trouble. Rivera is a dangerous man in close quarters, and a guy that wants a fight up against the cage should be able to get it. Jorge Rivera via TKO, round 2.