The UFC 135 fight card that will take place in Denver, Colorado, will feature a heavyweight bout between rising heavyweight Travis Browne and Rob Broughton. This fight is of little consequence to casual fans, but if Browne is able to capture another highlight reel knockout it would definitely put him on the map as a heavyweight on the rise. Broughton will be looking to make a statement in his second UFC fight after fighting almost exclusively in England. Let’s see how the fight breaks down.
Rob Broughton comes into this fight with a career record of (15-5-1) with 7 wins via TKO/KO and 4 technical submissions to his credit. He was last seen in action back at UFC 120 choking out Vinicius Queiroz in the third round. He has won his last five fights and has only been stopped via TKO(cut) once in his career. Broughton trains with Team Wolfslair and most of those fighters are versed in most aspects of the game but not great at any of them. The same seems to apply to Broughton, but he is a legit heavyweight at 6’3″ and near 250 pounds.
Travis Browne comes into this fight with a career record of (11-0-1) with 9 wins via TKO/KO and 1 technical submission to his credit. He was last seen in action back at UFC 130 with a highlight reel KO of the granite chinned Stefan Struve. Browne is a mountain of a man standing at 6’7″ and over 250 pounds. He has knockout power as evident by the number of opponents he has put away. Browne trains at Team Greg Jackson’s so you know he is getting some quality training in and should be improving each time out.
Browne is the betting favorite going into this fight as he should be. He has fought slightly better competition and also trains with a better camp in my opinion. He’ll have a big reach advantage over Broughton which should serve him well. I expect him to keep the fight standing with Broughton although Broughton may want to take him down to negate his power and reach advantage. He may feel he has the advantage in regards to submissions, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to keep Browne down as he’ll look to get back to his feet if taken down. I think Browne will hurt Broughton with punches and finish him off in this fight. It’s true that Broughton has never been knocked out, but I doubt he has faced anyone with the power that Browne has during his career. He wins this one and takes the next step to asserting himself as a UFC heavyweight contender.