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#6 Darko Stosic vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
Despite the emergence of a few high-level prospects, 205lbs remains one of the thinnest divisions in the UFC right now – and so it makes sense to attempt to showcase a couple of up-and-comers here. Both Kennedy Nzechukwu and Darko Stosic lost their last fights and didn’t exactly look great, but they’ve both got some potential and could improve and become contenders yet.
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Nzechukwu perhaps has the higher ceiling; an excellent athlete, he was largely taking the fight to Paul Craig in his UFC debut in March and came close to putting the Scotsman away on a couple of occasions, but he also allowed himself to be caught in some horrible positions and that’s how the fight ended, with Craig catching him in a triangle choke with seconds remaining in the fight.
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Stosic meanwhile looked great when he took out the notoriously brittle Jeremy Kimball in his UFC debut, but then he was comprehensively outworked by Devin Clark in his last fight and tired out quickly, giving the decision away despite a couple of high points. While he’s clearly a powerful fighter, the lack of decisions on his record suggests he’s the type to fade unless he can pick up a quick victory.
Where the Serbian does have an advantage is in experience; he’s got 7 years and 15 fights to his name compared to just 3 years and 7 fights for Nzechukwu. Throw in the fact that despite all of his athletic gifts, Nzechukwu struggled with Craig simply because he didn’t go away quickly, and it’s somewhat worrying for him. With that said, he does have a couple of decision wins on his record – and could well have improved since the Craig fight.
This one’s tough to pick due to the fact that neither man seems to be great down the stretch and their potential remains largely untapped right now, but I think I’m leaning towards Stosic; Nzechukwu looked good in spits and spats against Craig but he felt extremely unreliable and his tendency to put himself into bad positions could cost him badly against someone who’s more violent on offense than Craig was.
The Pick: Stosic via third-round TKO
