[UFC 110]: Nogueira vs Velasquez - preview: la preliminary card (21/02/2010)
Read on and get down with the knowledge so you can impress your mildly buzzed friends come pay-per-view time. And remember, drunk people will take any bet no matter the odds.
Chris Lytle vs. Brian Foster
The Breakdown: Say hello to your favorite fight of the undercard, as Lytle looks to win his fourth straight Fight of the Night award by taking on the youthfully hyperactive Foster.
A lot of Lytle’s recent run of violent excitement is owed to his habit of simply going along with whatever his opponent wants to do. Not a good idea against Foster, who is rapidly developing into a nasty striker and physically dominating wrestler as evidenced by his stunning dismantling of Brock Larson at UFC 106. While seeing Lytle adopt a more aggressive style has been a welcome change from his passive approach of old, he doesn’t have the brute physicality to keep up with Foster in a firefight.
Lytle is certainly the more fundamentally sound striker. Odds are he’s going to end up on his back, though, dealing with Foster’s ground-and-pound long before he can measure a kill-shot. Again, Lytle may be the more technically proficient grappler, but it won’t matter much if he can’t corral Foster’s offensive onslaught.
Banking on youthful mistakes and veteran savvy is Lytle’s best and likely only bet, which doesn’t bode well for his chances. Foster will not only control where this fight goes and when but also the pace. That right there puts Lytle in a Grand Canyon-sized hole.
The Bottom Line: While Foster will get the better of Lytle throughout, bank on a quality scrap with Lytle testing his quicksilver counterpart every step of the way. Foster will pass those tests en route to an impressive unanimous decision nod.
