UFC 101 Preview: Amir Sadollah vs. Johnny Hendricks

A former two-time NCAA national champion at Oklahma State, Hendricks completed his storied college wrestling career with a final record of 127-13. His MMA career is certainly off to a great start as well. He has thus far compiled a professional mark of 5-0 and his opponents have a very respectable combined career win percentage of 57% (source Sherdog.com). Hendricks has 3 wins by way to KO and 1 by way of submission.

Amir Sadollah is a guy that is pretty well-known by most casual MMA fans. Amir had accumulated a 4-0 amateur mark before being cast on TUF season 7 and remains the first competitor in the series history to win the competition despite having no prior professional fights. In the brief amount of footage we have of him, Amir appears to possess a decent standup game to compliment his obvious submission skills. Amir brings a 1-0 professional record to the table. The win-percentage of his lone previous opponent is 89%.

So much for lobbing a softball at either guy. Here you have two really talented welterweight prospects. Although it's unfortunate that one of these guys have to get an ‘L' on their record, the fans really benefit as they get to see two hungry and talented prospects battle it out. One wild card here is the fact that Amir is finally fighting at his more natural weight class of 170. However, as Sadollah mentioned recently in an exclusive interview with MMA For Real, he's now headed into a division with an even richer overall pool of talent. Will the wrestling skills of Hendricks help him dictate what happens in the fight? Will Sadollah be able to pass another very difficult test in just his second professional fight? If pressed, I'd have to pick Sadollah in this one. He has shown an ability to be able to survive in the cage against a very highly skilled wrestler. Sadollah also has some decent striking skills.  This will be an entertaining matchup for the fans and a very tough fight for both competitors.

Who do you like in this one and why?

UFC 101: Declaration coverage