Jessica Eye and Jessica-Rose Clark faced off today (Saturday, June 23, 2018) at UFC Fight Night 132 from inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore, live on UFC Fight Pass. At stake was a place in the upper rankings at women’s flyweight, and a claim to be the best ‘Jessica’ in the game. They came out looking to work disciplined striking games; Eye was working behind a sharp jab setting up her straight right. Clark was looking to counter with her own jab, roundhouse kicks to the leg, and slipping to come back with hooks. Eye landed a kick of her own up the middle. Clark ate a right straight to land a left hook in return. Eye triple jabbed and landed another right straight; Clark came back with a sharp hook that connected. Clark flurried but it was Eye who landed at the end of the round, knocking Clark backwards. They traded inside leg kicks to start the second round. Eye stepped in with a straight to the body. Clark feinted a hook and landed a nice overhand right. Eye threw a nice combination off a body kick and Clark countered with a hook. Clark stepped in, slipped to her back. Eye tried to get top position and had front headlock position but Clark did well to get back to her feet and into open space. Eye landed a front round kick. She triple jabbed forward but fell short on her right hand. Clark landed a hard leg kick. Eye threw a right hand and the head kick afterwards appeared to connect. Clark landed an overhand right and a moment later, a hook. Eye landed a jab as Clark moved forward to pressure. They exchanged. Eye stepped in with a switch knee to the body and Clark countered with a winging hook. Clark pressed forward as the round ended and landed an overhand, a hook, and a knee to the body from the clinch. The closely matched flyweights came out kicking, Eye landing a nice lead body kick in combination. Clark came forward and landed a couple hooks but got backed up by Eye, who connected on several straight punches. Clark landed a pretty lead hooking elbow, then a body kick. Eye popped her jab. They clinched, Eye looked for a takedown briefly. They clinched again and Eye landed a nice trip takedown into half guard. In a closely matched striking battle, getting top position could very well have won the round for Eye. She pinned Clark’s arm looking for an Americana and landed short elbows to the body and then the head, finishing out the fight in side control with her knee on Clark’s head. Jessica Eye was elated and emotional when her name was read, saying “y’all judged me because I wasn’t a bantamweight... but now I’m the bigger girl!” She said she is a gamer, showing up every time, and said she is championship material. That’s understandable; after losing four straight fights at bantamweight, this is her second win in a row in the flyweight division. Official result: Jessica Eye def. Jessica-Rose Clark via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28x2) For complete Fight Night 132 results, including play-by-play, click here<doc-sep>Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is back on UFC Fight Pass tomorrow morning (Sat., June 23, 2018) with the UFC Fight Night 132 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which features a welterweight main event between Donald Cerrone and Leon Edwards, who battle for a spot in the 170-pound title chase. In the UFC Fight Night 132 co-main event, held inside Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore, light heavyweight contender Ovince Saint Preux collides with Australian up-and-comer Tyson Pedro in a 205-pound clash of styles. Elsewhere on the four-fight main card, former strawweight Jessica Eye looks to win her second straight for the first time in over five years when she battles streaking flyweight bruiser Jessica-Rose Clark. In addition, Japanese upstart Daichi Abe tries to slug his way back into the win column at the expense of welterweight veteran Jingliang Li, who’s won four of his last five. A solid line up for those folks who subscribe to the promotion's digital streaming line up. To see what’s happening on the UFC Fight Night 132 preliminary card, which also airs on UFC Fight Pass (and kicks off at 4:30 a.m. ET), check out Patrick Stumberg’s preview and predictions here and here. Odds and betting lines for all the combatants throwing down in Singapore can be located here. Now, with that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at the UFC Fight Night 132 main card line up, starting bright and early at 8 a.m. ET. 170 lbs. : Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (33-10, 1 NC) vs. Leon “Rocky” Edwards (15-3) There has been some concern over the last year or so about the durability of Donald Cerrone, and rightly so, after a dreadful 2017 fight campaign that saw his 2017 record end at 0-3 with two finishes. In the old days, the only fighter who could beat “Cowboy” was himself, evidence by lame duck performances against Nate Diaz, among others, promoting a visit to the shrink. They say time heals all wounds; well, it also deteriorates all warriors. Cerrone turned 35 back in March and will enter his 45th professional fight on Saturday against a younger, faster southpaw who’s never been finished. What chance you give Cerrone this weekend in Singapore may depend on how much stock you put in is rebound win over Yancy Medeiros last February. After all, the unranked “Kid” is a venerable brawler ... and not much else. That’s not to suggest that Edwards has been laying waste to the cream of the crop, but we shouldn’t punish him for something that’s out of his control. At the same time, we can’t overlook his five-fight winning streak, which includes his blistering technical knockout win over Peter Sobotta last March. He’s pretty solid everywhere the fight goes and has a sneaky straight left with decent pop. I think the worst we can say about “Rocky” is that he was outwrestled by Kamaru Usman at UFC on FOX 17, but “The Nigerian Nightmare” has done that to just about everyone, including Demian Maia. Cerrone proved he can hang at welterweight by smacking around the likes of fading veterans Matt Brown and Patrick Cote, just to name a few, though I would argue there is a difference between hanging and belonging. “Cowboy” was at his best at 155 pounds and with a focused fight camp was among the top fighters in the world. I get the sense his move to welterweight was an admission he was either too lazy (or too shopworn) to keep making the cut and just wants to show up, put on a show, and collect his “Fight Night” bonuses. That approach works against middling wrestlers like Rick Story, but I’m not sure it gets the job done against the next generation of hungry combatants. Prediction: Edwards def. Cerrone by technical knockout 205 lbs. : Tyson Pedro (7-1) vs. Ovince “OSP” Saint Preux (22-11) Ovince Saint Preux is ranked No. 7 at 205 pounds, which feels overly generous when you look at his body of work. His two biggest accomplishments in UFC are dry cleaning Mauricio Rua and taking Jon Jones the distance. You can argue that “Shogun” has long since been shooting blanks while “Bones” was coming off an extended layoff. That doesn’t make “OSP” a bum, but he’s 0-3 against Volkan Oezdemir, Glover Teixeira, and Ilir Latifi, who are all ranked in the top five. He also went down in flames to No. 6 ranked Jimi Manuwa, so I think you understand my point. Saint Preux is good, but not great. Whether or not his “good” is good enough to overcome Tyson Pedro remains to be seen. Not a whole lot is known about the power-punching Aussie outside of the fact that he also lost to “The Sledgehammer” when they went to war last fall. It was the only time in his professional career the bearded bruiser traveled to a decision. Pedro was able to rebound with a victory over Russian import Saparbek Safarov earlier this year, thanks to a slick submission in the opening round of their UFC 221 affair. What I can say is he’s adept at finishing his fights, evidenced by five submissions and two knockouts. I’m not sure we’ll see the scorecards here, either. This looks to be a pretty even fight on paper. Height and reach are practically the same, but Saint Preux is now 35 as opposed to 26 for Pedro, though he makes up for that in experience. The latter has never faced anyone the caliber of “Bones” or Teixeira so he must instead hope that “OSP” has begun to deteriorate from both age and mileage. In short, Saint Preux is going to be fighting a younger version of himself and I have to assume that he knows what mistakes he made at that age and how to capitalize on them. If not, it’s going to be a long flight home from Singapore. Prediction: Saint Preux def. Pedro by submission 125 lbs. : Jessica-Rose “Jessy Jess” Clark (9-4, 1 NC) vs. Jessica “Evil” Eye (12-6, 1 NC) This is a weird fight to break down because both Jessica-Rose Clark and Jessica Eye have gone to so many damn decisions. “Jessy Jess” has been to the scorecards eight straight fights while “Evil” went in front of the judges in her last five bouts. Combined, they had five split decisions during that span. To be honest, I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by both fighters and I’m not expecting that to change tomorrow in Singapore, either. Clark is coming off her recent victory over Paige VanZant. I’m not sure how much stock we put into that performance because A) VanZant fought with a broken arm and B) “12 Gauge” is merely an average fighter (4-3 in UFC). As for Eye, she handled Brazilian import Kalindra Faria on the same card and walked away victorious; but again, I’m not breaking out the party hats for a win over a fighter who was choked out in her UFC debut. When you consider that both Clark and Eye are primarily strikers and will look to box their way across most of the three rounds, the “Evil” height and reach advantage become more significant. I also won’t discount the level of competition Eye has been fighting over the past five years, which includes three former title contenders, two former champions, and one TUF season winner. This is her fight to lose and if she can work in some wrestling like she did against Faria, this is likely to be her night. Prediction: Eye def. Clark by unanimous decision 170 lbs. : Daichi Abe (6-1) vs. Jingliang “The Leech” Li (14-5) All eyes are on Daichi Abe this weekend in Singapore as the Japanese import was handed his first professional loss at UFC 221 back in February and needs to demonstrate he’s plugged a couple of glaring holes.. Unable to seal the deal with his powerful left hook, Abe suffered mightily from a lack of conditioning, huffing and puffing his way to the scorecards against Luke Jumeau. Why the judo black belt isn’t air-mailing opponents across the cage is a mystery, but I think losing will make him reevaluate his fight I.Q., as well as his cardiovascular training. He won’t be able to get away with anything less against Jingliang Li, a venerable Chinese slugger with serious power and aggressive output. His loss to Jake Matthews left a sour taste in my mouth thanks to some ugly eye pokes, but that doesn’t overshadow his skills as a cage fighter. While he’s less effective in terms of accuracy, Li will match Abe in volume and can win this fight by outworking his less-experienced foe. My problem with “The Leech” is how many times he’s been dropped in recent fights and despite an otherworldly ability to recover and keep on truckin’, I have trouble picking him against a younger, speedier fighter with something to prove. Li’s rock ‘em, sock ‘em bumrush puts him on his back somewhere in the opening frame. Prediction: Abe def. Li by knockout There you have it. MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Fight Night 132 fight card on Saturday morning (click here), starting with the Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 4:30 a.m. ET, followed by the main card start time of 8 a.m. ET, also on Fight Pass. For much more on UFC Singapore click here.<doc-sep>
UFC Singapore snuck up on us and with good reason. The Saturday morning card is far from great, as it lacks star power, yet UFC Singapore does offer some decent match ups along with the wonderful pacing of UFC Fight Pass. The event features an important welterweight bout in Donald Cerrone vs. Leon Edwards in its featured attraction, a key fight for light heavyweight prospect Tyson Pedro, who takes on veteran Ovince Saint Preux, and a scrappy bout pitting Jessica-Rose Clark against Jessica Eye. What: UFC Singapore (UFC Fight Night 132) Where: Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. When: Saturday, June 23. The eight-fight UFC Fight Pass preliminary card begins at 4:30 a.m. ET, and the four-fight main card begins at 8:00 a.m. ET also on UFC Fight Pass. Man, Donald Cerrone will really fight anyone, anywhere. This bout with Leon Edwards is a dangerous fight and one that doesn’t do a whole lot for his career and résumé, as Edwards is not a big name in MMA, at least not yet. By now we know what “Cowboy” brings to the table. Cerrone is a talented striker that mixes things up well with kicks and punches. Cerrone has plenty of power and he’s capable of putting away almost anyone at lightweight or welterweight. The 35-year-old fighter also has a pretty advanced ground game with good positioning and dangerous submissions. It seems that Cerrone has lost some steam in the last year or so, but he’s still far from washed up. Today, Cerrone remains very competitive in the UFC. Meanwhile, Edwards is a very technical striker with a great takedown defense. The Englishman can put together quick, solid combinations that can cause a great deal of damage. Edwards is not really a power puncher, but he’s very precise with his shots and has stopped some of his opponents in the past. Grappling-wise, Edwards is not dangerous, but he has a solid submission defense and a good ability to stuff takedowns. Fun fight. This one is a bit tough to predict given Cerrone latest performances. I think Edwards carries the momentum here and I also think he has more knowledge on how to beat Cerrone than Cerrone has to beat him. Cerrone is always game and wouldn’t surprise me if he were to win. Yet, I think this is Edwards’ time to shine. Pick: Edwards This fight makes complete sense. Ovince Saint Preux is coming off a loss and needs to get back on the winning circle, and Tyson Pedro needs to start facing some of the more established names at light heavyweight. OSP is massive for the division. The 35-year-old fighter is a competent striker with a good deal of power behind his attacks. OSP is also a good wrestler, but for some reason he chooses not to use his takedown abilities often. He also possesses strong submissions and a strong submission defense. On the other hand, Pedro is a young, promising prospect who doesn’t have a ton of experience, but probably enough to start facing opponents the caliber of OSP. Pedro is a good grappler. He’s got solid submissions, takedowns, and positioning. Striking wise, Pedro is a bit unorthodox. He’s really good at sneaking shots in, especially his kicks, and he has good pop behind them. I really like this booking. I think Pedro has a good shot here. He’s had issues before in the past with wrestlers, and OSP can certainly give him problems there given his size and wrestling skills. However, OSP has gotten away from his takedowns, so I don’t believe that should be a factor here. I see this being a stand-up fight where Pedro should land the better shots. Pick: Pedro Jessica-Rose Clark vs. Jessica Eye This fight could be a fun one. Jessica Eye is a very tough and well-rounded fighter. Her ground game is good and so is her striking. She doesn’t particularly excel in any area, but she can do a little but of everything. Eye was also pretty undersized at bantamweight, so at flyweight she can be more competitive. Eye also has a good amount of experience compared to her fellow flyweights. Clark is another tough fighter that possesses decent movement and striking. She also has a strong grappling game. Clark is very strong for the division and fights at a good pace. Skill-wise, these two are somewhat even. I think Clark might be the stronger grappler, but Eye might have the more polished striking.