...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Houston Alexander's next fight could be his last with the UFC if he cannot stop a three fight losing skid against Andre Gusmao on the May 23rd UFC 98 card. MMAJunkie.com reports that a bout between the two is close to being finalized for the Las Vegas event.
Gusmao's only had one fight in the UFC, losing a unanimous decision to Jon Jones at UFC 87. A former fighter in the now defunct IFL, Gusmao was set to return this month before an injury set him back. He'll be looking to make his case for sticking around in the organization.
Houston Alexander cannonballed into the deep end in the UFC with quick first round knockouts of Keith Jardine and Alessio Sakara but has since dropped three straight fights (all in the first round), the most recent of which was a submission loss to Eric Schafer. A win and he can attempt to re-climb the ladder; a loss and he's on the outside looking in.
UFC 98 is set to come live on pay-per-view on May 23rd from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
Penick's Analysis: Houston Alexander doesn't know how to have an unexciting fight. Unfortunately for him, he's been on the wrong end of that excitement three times straight. He's in that mix with Jardine of fighters who have shown a propensity for explosive and decisive victories, yet have come up on the short end of that exact same scenario at other times. He desparately needs a win at UFC 98, and he's going to need be working on his overall game to show he has more than he did in that Schafer fight. He was no match for Schafer's ground game and it cost him in his hometown. I certainly hope he can turn it around, as you're always sure to have fireworks in an Alexander fight, but hie tenure in the UFC could end on May 23rd.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
