Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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Nottingham, England and Capital FM Arena are home to the latest UFC fight card this afternoon and there is a great local flavor on tap for all of us here is Cleveland.  Stipe Miocic is a young heavyweight contender from our own backyard and is the main event on what should be a fantastic fight card. The event will air live at 4pm n Fuel TV.

Miocic, currently at 9-0, graduated from Eastlake North and Cleveland State where he was a standout athlete. His great wrestling skills and desire to compete at a high level got him into the world of mixed martial arts where he has been thriving. Training at Strongstyle Mixed Martial Arts in Independence for a number of years has gotten him ready for the bright lights of The Ultimate Fighting Championship.

With three fights already in the UFC, Miocic gets a taste of a main event for the first time in his young career. His opponent today will be a very tough task, Stefan Struve. This has a making of one of the better fights this year.

Struve, who is only 24 years old, has a record of 28 wins with 5 losses. His UFC record is 8 and 3 and he has been in with some of the elite such as current champion Junior Dos Santos, Roy Nelson, Pat Berry, and Lavar Johnson. Experience is a huge advantage today for Struve.

Another advantage is that Struve stands at 6 foot 11 and those types of training partners are hard to come by. Miocic was able to train with former UFC title holder Tim Sylvia to get ready for the crazy height factor. Stipe is 6 foot 4 and will have a reach disadvantage as well.

Both fighters are extremely well rounded. Wrestling and striking are clearly in Miocic’s favor. Struve has great submission skills and it would be in his best interest to try and but Stipe on his back. The longer this fight stays standing, the better chance Miocic has to keep his undefeated record in tact.

This is a huge fight in the heavyweight division as the winner keeps climbing the ladder to a title shot. With a win, Miocic would move to 4 and 0 inside the octagon and would be in line for a top five contender. I’m in Stipe’s corner today and fully expect him to get a win. It’s going to be a tough test but I think he’s up for it.

Dan Hardy versus Amir Sadollah is another fight that should be crowd pleasing. Look for a standup war which would give the edge to Hardy. Sadollah has superior ground skills and if he can take Hardy down, it might be a quick fight.

Hardy is a guy who has one punch knockout power and loves to stand and bang. His ground game is average at best but it is something he has said he is always working on. We should see today if that’s true but I’m looking for Amir to test his submission defense.

My sleeper pick for fight of the night is out of the 135 pound division.  Brad Pickett takes on Yves Jabouin in what should be a treat. You have two very well rounded fighters that are lightning fast. Both guy’s gas tanks are on high and like to scrap at 100 miles per hour. Don’t miss this one.

Full fight card:

MAIN CARD

• Stipe Miocic vs. Stefan Struve
• Dan Hardy vs. Amir Sadollah
• Yves Jabouin vs. Brad Pickett
• Paul Sass vs. Matt Wiman
• John Hathaway vs. John Maguire
• Duane Ludwig vs. Che Mills

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Kyle Kingsbury vs. Jimi Manuwa
• Akira Corassani vs. Andy Ogle
• Brad Tavares vs. Tom Watson
• DaMarques Johnson vs. Gunnar Nelson
• Robert Peralta vs. Jason Young

This card has the potential to be one of the best we have seen this year. There are no huge name guys or any title fights but I wouldn’t miss this one. Tune in this afternoon if you want to see top notch mixed martial arts action