Fight Night Foxwoods Study Guide

Jacare Souza
Former Strikeforce champion Ronalda “Jacare” Souza enters Fight Night Foxwoods on a six-fight win streak that includes three submissions and two knockouts. Souza, whose nickname means Caiman in Portuguese, has long been considered one of the best Brazilian Jui-Jitsu practicitioners of his time and will be out for revenge when he takes on former DREAM foe Gegard Mousasi tonight in Mashantucket. Jacare has gone 10-1 since that KO loss to Mousasi back in 2008, notching wins over the likes of Robbie Lawler, Tim Kennedy, Francis Carmont, and Yushin Okami during that stretch. Against Okami, who entered the bout on a three-fight win streak, Souza landed 27 vicious strikes before stopping the UFC veteran in the first round. Check out the full fight below!

 
Gegard Mousasi
Gegard Mousasi has been regarded as one of the best strikers in mixed martial arts for a long time. Throughout his 41-fight career, Mousasi has 35 victories, with finishes in 30 of those wins. That’s adds up to an 85.7% finishing rate and a guy many wouldn’t want to see across the Octagon. Not only are the odds against his fights making it to the judges, but Mousasi’s 27 first-round finishes significantly decrease the odds that opponents will even make it to their corner to regroup between rounds. Just ask Mark Munoz, who fell victim to Mousasi’s all-around game and short-fight history at Fight Night Berlin early this year.

 
Alistair Overeem
Former Strikeforce champion and PRIDE competitor Alistair Overeem took the UFC by storm when he all but ended the MMA career of former dominant champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 141. Since then, however, The Reem has seen his share of ups and downs in the Octagon, including back-to-back losses to Travis Browne and Bigfoot Silva. Overeem rebounded from those losses with a blistering five-round destruction of Frank Mir at UFC 169 but will need another strong performance in Foxwoods if he wants to crack the heavyweight top five.  

 
Ben Rothwell
Ben Rothwell’s first fight in the UFC was against Cain Velasquez. That shows how much confidence UFC brass had in the then 27-year-old Rothwell, who had started him MMA career with six straight wins, including four by first-round knockout. Since that loss to Cain, however, Rothwell has struggled to string together victories going 3-4 over his last seven fights. But it isn’t from lack of effort, as the Kenosha, Wisconsin native has shown that he is willing and able to throw hands with just about anyone, notching knockouts against Brandon Vera and Brendan Schaub.

 
Matt Mitrione
Heavyweight Matt Mitrione entered the tenth season of the Ultimate Fighter as a heavy-handed striker with limited abilities on the ground. But the experience on the show proved fruitful for the Mitrione, as the former football player started his UFC career with five straight wins with four knockouts. Mitrione’s ground game has continued to improve in the four years since The Ultimate Fighter, but it’s still his hands that opponents have to worry about. Despite a 3-3 record over his last six bouts, Mitrione has recorded knockouts in all three wins and showed he’s always a threat on his feet in his most recent bout against Shawn Jordan at Fight Night Macao.   

 
Derrick Lewis
According to the Department of Corrections’ 2013 Recidivism report, 6 in 10 released inmates are either rearrested or reincarcerated within three years of release from prison. So far, Derrick Lewis has done a phenomenal job of not being a statistic. Despite spending three years behind bars following a probation violation back in 2005, Lewis has shifted his focus to becoming a well-round mixed martial artist, a good husband to his fiancée, and father to his two children. That focus and determination has led to an eight-fight unbeaten streak, back-to-back knockouts in the Octagon, and all all-around different Derrick Lewis. The New Orleans native now only fights in the Octagon and the entire heavyweight division will be on notice with a big win over Mitrione this weekend.  

 
Joe Lauzon
Joe Lauzon has long been regarded as one of the one of the best submission specialists and overall dangerous fighters in the UFC. J-Lau finished his first NINE wins in the Octagon and didn’t post a decision victory until his December 2013 win over Mac Danzig. Following that win, Lauzon decided to take some time away from the Octagon to tend to his newborn son, Joey, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in infancy. Fast forward to July, and little Joey has, in Joe’s words, “kicked cancer’s ass.” And now that Lauzon has helped little Joey through his battle, he is ready to step back onto the battlefield himself and make one more run at the lightweight title. A win over up-and-coming fighter Michael Chiesa in Foxwoods could propel Lauzon into the top 15.

 
Michael Chiesa
Michael Chiesa finished three of his four fights on The Ultimate Fighter Live. The Team Faber member continued that streak in the finale, when he dispatched Al Iaquinta via rear-naked choke midway through the first round. Since then, Chiesa has notched submissions in two of his three wins in the Octagon, including a second-round stoppage of Ultimate Fighter season 16 winner Colton Smith at Fight For the Troops: Fort Campbell. Chiesa is quickly establishing himself as a force in the lightweight division and will do nothing but improve that standing with a win over Lauzon in Foxwoods.