We featured our first UFC 130 fight preview earlier with Jorge Santiago taking on Brian Stann.
The second UFC 130 fight preview will be a heavyweight matchup between Stefan Struve and Travis Browne.
Stefan Struve comes into this fight with an overall record of (21-4) with 14 wins via submission and 5 via TKO/KO. Struve is (5-2) inside the UFC octagon with his only losses coming against top contenders in Junior dos Santos and Roy Nelson. Struve is 6’11” tall so he usually enjoys a huge reach advantage over his opponents. He also displays an incredible chin with decent striking ability, and is versed in submissions if the fight hits the ground. In twenty-five fights he has only gone to a decision once and has become a fan favorite due to his exciting fighting style.
Travis Browne comes into this fight with an overall record of (10-0-1) with 8 wins via TKO/KO and one win via submission. Browne made his UFC debut last year knocking out TUF veteran James McSweeney, but fought to a draw in his last outing against Cheick Kongo. It should be noted that Kongo was deducted a point in that fight which probably cost him the win. Browne is a huge heavyweight in his own right, standing at 6’7″ tall and close to the 265lb weight limit. He packs big power as evident in his KO/TKO rate, which should make for a very exciting fight.
Linesmaker has Browne as the betting favorite at (-135) with Struve as the underdog at (+105).
This fight will basically come down to Browne’s ability or inability to negate the reach advantage of Struve. I don’t think either fighter will be dying to get this fight to the ground unless someone gets rocked and their opponents follows him down trying to finish with ground and pound. I think Browne certainly has the edge in power, but Struve does have an incredible chin and has shown the ability to absorb punishment and come back to win the fight. If the fight hits the ground, I’d give the edge to Struve because of his length and he certainly has shown that he’ll slap a triangle choke on his opponents with the quickness(he’s won that way 7 times).
Struve has shown the ability to beat lower tier heavyweights, but has suffered defeats against guys with big power in the past. Browne certainly fits that description and that’s why he is slightly favored in this match. I expect him to try to close the distance and possibly put Struve against the cage to load up on power shots. I expect Struve to throw plenty of leg kicks as he normally does while trying to use the reach advantage that he has. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Struve absorb a huge amount of punishment then come back to submit a tired Browne late in the fight either. I’ll have to go with Browne to win this one though.
Did I mention that this fight has ‘exciting’ written all over it?