MMA Picks and Preview for UFC Fight Night 134

The UFC will head over to Hamburg, Germany this week for a Sunday event at the Barclaycard Arena.  There are currently 13 fights slated for this event, which will get started on Sunday afternoon at around 2:00 PM ET.  The UFC were fortunate enough to find a heavy German presence on this card with 5 fighters either residing in or coming from Germany.  

The Main Event of the evening will feature Mauricio “Shogun” Rua taking on Anthony “Lionheart” Smith in a 5 round light-heavyweight battle of two talented strikers.  In the Co-Main Event, Glover Teixeira will be taking on Corey Anderson in a three round light-heavyweight battle.

UFC Fight Night 134 Main Card

Mauricio Rua 25-10 vs. Anthony 29-13

Glover Teixeira 27-6 vs. Corey Anderson 10-4

Vitor Miranda 12-6 vs. Abu Azaitar 13-2-1

Marcin Tybura 16-4 vs. Stefan Struve 32-10

Danny Roberts 15-3 vs. David Zawada 16-3

Nasrat Haqparast 8-2 vs. Marc Diakiese 12-2

UFC Fight Night 134 Prelims

Nick Hein 14-3-1 vs. Damir Hadzovic 11-4

Emil Meek 9-3 vs. Bartosz Fabinski 13-2

Khalid Taha 12-1 vs. Nad Narimani 10-2

Justin Ledet 9-0 vs. Aleksander Rakic 9-1

UFC Fight Night 134 Early Prelims

Davey Grant 8-3 vs. Manny Bermudez 12-0

Jeremy Kimball 15-7 vs. Darko Stosic 12-1

Damian Stasiak 10-5 vs. Pingyuan Liu 13-4

UFC Fight Night 134 Main Event Play – Anthony Smith -200

The Main Event for UFC 134 will feature the old vs the new as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will face off with Anthony Smith. Rua comes into this fight riding a 3 fight win streak but has not fought since March 11, 2017, 16-months ago, when he KO’d Gian Villante at UFC Fight Night 106.  Rua is 36 years old and is on the backside of his prime. At times, he has looked really good and at other times, he has looked his age.

Rua will be facing Anthony “Lionheart” Smith, who is 29 years old and just now coming into his MMA prime.  Smith has recently moved over to Marc Montoya and Factory X Muay Thai and since that point, has looked like a completely different fighter.  Since his return to the UFC, he has gone 5-2, with his only losses coming against Thiago Santos and Cezar Ferreira. Smith is a talented striker that likes to use his reach to set up a strong attack with the knees.  

Rua should enjoy standing and striking in the exchange with Smith up until the point that Smith starts landing those knees and elbows.  At that point, it is as good as over for Rua!

Handicapping Selection: Anthony Smith Wins via 2nd Rd KO  

UFC Fight Night 134 Top Play – Darko Stosic -250

Darko Stosic will be our top play for UFC Fight Night 134.  Stosic comes into this fight with a 12-1 record and is riding a 8 fight win streak.  He is the training partner and student of long time UFC Veteran and Future Hall of Famer Mirko Cro-Cop.  This guy is one of the most well rounded, power strikers in MMA and has the look for the UFC to promote. Stosic is a BIG man and looking at him on paper, he appears that he would be a heavyweight but he makes a cut and somehow gets down to under the Light-Heavyweight limit of 206 lbs.

He will be fighting Jeremy Kimball, who is the ideal opponent for someone making their UFC debut, that likes to stand and bang!  He is predominantly a striker, like Stosic but he simply isn’t even on the same level of a striker as Stosic. The odds for this fight aren’t ideal but we still find value with Darko Stosic at -250.

UFC Fight Night 134 Underdog with a Shot Play – Stefan Struve +210

I will start off by saying there really aren’t many underdog plays that are catching our eye here at UFC Fight Night 134 but if you forced my hand, I am going with Stefan Struve at +210.  Struve is going to have a major height advantage and a distant reach advantage. He will be facing Marcin Tybura, who literally has one of the worst gas tanks in heavyweight MMA. Tybura is drastically overrated and I think is in a world of trouble against Struve, who has shown decent cardio in many of his fights.  I think Struve will push the fight into the deep waters and catch Tybura when he tires.