DANNY ROBERTS Send us your reaction to THIS monstrous @DanHotChocolate KO. #UFCHamburg pic.twitter.com/ROBbcmj8NF
— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2018
Welterweights
Danny
Roberts (15-3) vs. David
Zawada (16-3)
Odds: Roberts (-380), Zawada (+315)
This is probably the best guarantee of great action on this main card, as England's "Hot Chocolate" Roberts has lived up to the hype as far as providing entertainment value. A former boxer, Roberts went the Cage Warriors route to make his way to the UFC, and despite his striking accolades, suddenly tapped out veteran grinder Nathan Coy in his 2015 UFC debut. Since then, Roberts has often been in the best fight of whatever cards he's been on, though in terms of wins and losses, the results have been mixed. When Roberts is on, he's absolutely electric, as knockout wins over Bobby Nash in 2017 and Oliver Enkamp this past March were beautiful bits of violence. But Roberts may rely a bit too much on finesse, as facing opponents with power, durability and a willingness to pressure has raised some concerns about Roberts's ability to survive a war. Roberts's loss to Mike Perry at UFC 204 was a knock-down, drag-out affair, but in a fight that Roberts was probably winning up to that point, Perry was eventually able to bite down on his mouthpiece and run over Roberts in the last minute for a brutal knockout win. This past December, against Nordine Taleb, it was a similar story before Roberts even got out of the starting gates; within a minute, Taleb had walked Roberts down and knocked him out with a vicious combination of a head kick and punches. Roberts rebounded with the quick win over Enkamp to remind everyone just how impressive he can be, but having just turned 31, Roberts is a bit older than you'd expect, and time is ticking for him to become much more than an action fighter.
Roberts was initially slated to face Alan Jouban in what would've been the favorite for "Fight of the Night" honors, but with Jouban injured, the UFC did well to get an interesting local replacement in Dusseldorf's David Zawada. Zawada's made a name for himself in KSW, earning a reputation as one of the more exciting welterweights on the European scene. But he's been more than just an action fighter; Zawada has wins over UFC vets Andreas Stahl and Maciej Jewtuszko, and he has also shown a decent propensity for wrestling in the rare instances he's felt the need to use it. Another advantage for Zawada, particularly in comparison to Roberts's concerns, is that he's tough as nails; his last win, a submission victory over Polish prospect Michal Michalski, saw Zawada absorb a ton of abuse before scoring the late finish. Zawada fits right into the UFC's carousel of exciting mid-tier welterweights, and this is a big opportunity for him to get his UFC career off to a hot start.
Even with the loss of Jouban, this is still one of the favorites for "Fight of the Night" on paper. Both guys are willing to engage on the feet, and it's an interesting matchup, as Roberts is the quicker fighter who likely has more knockout power, but Zawada is much better when it comes to actually taking a punch. I'll favor Roberts since he is the better boxer -- unsurprisingly, given his background -- and should be able to hit the cleanest shots of the fight, but Zawada should be able to make him work for 15 minutes in a similar fashion to Roberts' fight against Perry. And even if Zawada looks to wrestle, Roberts has shown enough of a propensity for submissions that, at the very least, he can remain active and keep that part of the bout somewhat even. I'm excited to see how Zawada fares going forward, as what I've seen of him impressed me, but my pick is Roberts via decision.
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