UFC Fight For The Troops 2: The Preliminaries

This Saturday, UFC will host their third event in cooperation with a US military base headlined by lightweight standouts Evan Dunham and Melvin Guillard battling their way up the stacked 155-lbs ladder.

But before the big dogs come out to play, we have six fights to look at which aren’t guaranteed to make the telecast on Spike TV.

At the tail end of the card we have the only bantamweight bout of the night with Will Campuzano (8-3) squaring off against Chris Cariaso (10-2).

Cariaso made his WEC debut in June of 2010 defeated Rafael Rebello but was unable to continue riding his wave of success to the top when he was caught in a rear naked choke by Brazil’s Renan Barao at WEC’s final event.

Campuzano went 1-2 in the blue cage before getting his walking papers from the company but after only one victory in a regional promotion he got the call back to compete on the UFC’s Ultimate Finale 12 event.

Campuzano failed to make weight for this bout so it was contested at a catchweight of 138-lbs and to add insult to injury he lost that night, falling to modified choke from Nick Pace.

Campuzano will be fighting to keep his job when he enters the octagon for the second time and he hasn’t got an easy task ahead of him, Cariaso is a dangerous Muay-Thai striker with a solid chin and great endurance.

The next bout see’s welterweight’s in action as Charlie Brenneman (11-2) faces Amilcar Alves (11-2).

Charlie Brenneman some of you may recognize from the first season of Spike TV’s hit series “Pro’s vs. Joes” but he is also a dangerous 170-lbs combatant sporting an impressive 11-2 record.

Brenneman made his UFC debut this past March against DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix finalist Jason High who he defeated via unanimous decision but failed to get past Johny Hendricks in next outing.

Alves entered the UFC in August of 2010 after several years of competing in Brazil and earning an impressive 11-1 record and a reputation for having a great mat game.

Alves got matched up with a strong wrestler in Mike Pierce, the pressure of fighting in front of such a large crowd and in the United States for the first time proved to be too much for the black belt in Judo who lost via submission in the third round.

Both men are hungry for a victory to keep moving up the ladder in the UFC and with a loss both men’s jobs could be in jeopardy.

Lightweights take centre stage next as Waylon Lowe (9-3) faces UFC new comer Williamy Freire (17-3).

Waylon Lowe is a former NCAA Division II wrestler for the University of Findlay collecting 112 victories during his collegiate career.

Lowe made the transition into MMA in 2006 and began competing for four years before getting the call to compete in the UFC.

In his first trip to the octagon the American Top Team stand out got the unenviable task of facing Melvin Guillard who would finish him in the opening round.

Since then, Lowe has bounced back defeating Steve Lopez via split decision on the preliminary portion of the UFC 119 event.

His opponent, Freire enters the octagon for the first time riding a ten fight win streak capturing Shoot’s Welterweight Championship along the way.

Freire has strung together a number of impressive victories but will the step up in competition prove too much for the Brazilian native? We will find out this Saturday.

In the final un-aired preliminary bout of the night we see featherweight’s Mike Thomas Brown (24-7) and Rani Yahya (15-6) look to set the world on fire.

Brown has been competing in the WEC since 2008 and holds an impressive 6-2 record in the blue cage which includes a run as WEC Featherweight Champion.

However, Brown has lost three of his last five bouts with his most recent loss coming at the hands of Diego Nunes at UFC 125 via a split decision.

His opponent, Yahya went 4-3 in his run with the WEC collecting a number of impressive victories against Mark Hominick and Eddie Wineland just to name a few.

But much like Brown, Yahya hasn’t been on the best run in recent times having lost his past two bouts to Takeya Mizugaki and Joseph Benavidez.

It’s pretty much set in stone that the loser of this bout will be going home without a job to return to so both men will come looking to finish this one in impressive fashion.

The next two bouts will air live on Facebook.com – to be able to stream these bouts all you need to do is “like” UFC and tune in when the broadcast begins.
The first bout streaming on facebook.com see’s welterweight’s DaMarques Johnson (11-8) and Mike Guymon (12-4-1) square off.

Johnson some of you may recognize from the ninth installment of “The Ultimate Fighter” which pitted eight US fighters against eight British fighters.

Johnson would defeat three men in the house only to fall short to Britain’s James Wilks via rear naked choke in the opening round on The Ultimate Finale.

Since then, Johnson has gone 2-1 collecting fight bonuses in both of his victories before falling short to fellow TUF alum Matt Riddle.

Before the Riddle bout, Johnson was unable to make weight after numerous attempts so the bout was deemed a catchweight bout of 172-lbs.

Guymon made his UFC debut at the beginning of 2010 after competing all over the country and collecting an 11-2-1 record.

Unfortunately the step up in competition has proven to be harder than he expected after only picking up one victory after three trips to the octagon.

Both men know their jobs aren’t secure and need a victory to remain employed by the biggest MMA organization in the world, who will overcome the odds?

The final bout streamed live on facebook.com will be a lightweight affair between Cody McKenzie (12-0) looking to catch Yves Edwards (39-16-1) in a guillotine.

Cody McKenzie first graced our television screens as a part of the 12th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” stringing together two victories in the house before falling to Team Koscheck’s Nam Phan.

McKenzie holds twelve official victories to date with every fight except one finishing with a guillotine choke.

McKenzie recently picked up a submission of the night bonus when he caught Aaron Wilkinson in that dreaded guillotine merely two minutes into the fight.

Yves Edwards has fought all over the world since 1997 facing some of the top names in this industry including Nate Marqurdt, Matt Serra, Caol Uno, Joe Stevenson & KJ Noons.

This past September he made his return to the octagon for the first time in four years to defeat John Gunderson and now he has his eye on Cody McKenzie.

Will Edwards fall victim to the guillotine like all the others? Or will his experience be too much for McKenzie.

There’s only one way to find out, the action begins 8PM ET/5PM PT this Saturday night live on facebook.com.

Follow me on twitter @justinfauxmma for my live thoughts on the night’s proceedings.

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