Due to the rash of MMA events we've had the privilege of watching lately (and just utter laziness on my part), the Bodega has not kept up with the times. However, despite the fact that there are actually two cards of note taking place this weekend, the Bodega shall re-open it's doors for business for at least one more week.
Our featured fight, or should I say fighter, is one who was supposed to make his return to action at UFC 106, but due to circumstances which for lack of a better term were out of his control. Dustin Hazelett has provided MMA fans with some of the more creative submissions over the past couple of years, but has been on the shelf since November of 2008 with a very serious knee injury. His return was scheduled to take place tomorrow night against Karo Parisyan, however due to what could be a myriad of reasons, Parisyan pulled out of the fight at the last minute.
Anyways, since we don't get to see 'McLovin' tomorrow night, I figured now would be a good time to take a look back at one of the earlier fights in his career, in fact, his MMA debut against Justin Hons. Check out Hazelett's MMA debut on the other side.
So yeah, Hons was about three weightclasses lighter than Hazelett, and didn't really look to have much in terms of polished skills, but you can definitely see where Dustin's ground game developed from (the beard is another story, since he doesn't even look like he'd hit puberty in that fight). Very few fighters can transition from mount into a triangle with as little space as McLovin did in that fight, and that was in his MMA debut. Right from the very start, Hazelett had what the kids refer to as "skillz". I'm looking forward to the UFC scheduling his second return match in short order, because the kid is fun to watch, and could be a factor against the entire WW division sooner than you may think.
We missed out on McLovin this weekend, so instead discuss his awesomeness, how he's lucky that Karo pulled out, and what's going to be in his future.
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Supporting the recent entrance music of Joseph Benavidez and Taisuke Okuno
Great choice. You know who else would be an awesome fight for him? A motivated Karo Pari... oh.
Also, I think Howard/Hazelett would be fun. Stun Gun, Grant and Villefort (if he didn't get cut) would also make for really fun matches.
Hazelett has so many options moving forward. I know they want to get him a breakout win, but after a year out, they need to build him back up to the casual fan.
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Supporting the recent entrance music of Joseph Benavidez and Taisuke Okuno
Brad's Friday Fight Bodega - Hazelett vs. Hons
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