Preview: UFC 180 ‘Werdum vs. Hunt’

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WELTERWEIGHTS

Augusto Montano (13-1, 0-0 UFC) vs. Chris Heatherly (8-2, 0-1 UFC)

THE MATCHUP: Mexico native Montano, one of the country’s most accomplished fighters, drops to 170 pounds to make his UFC debut against Heatherly, who lost to Ben Saunders by tapping to a rare omoplata in his first Octagon outing. This should be a classic striker-versus-grappler matchup, as the striker Montano takes on a strong wrestler in Heatherly.

“Dodger” Montano has spent a great deal of time honing his skills at Jackson-Wink MMA in Albuquerque, N.M. He is a long, rangy fighter who moves well and takes good angles, throwing hard kicks to the legs and body as he circles and then leaping in with single or doubled punches. Although he is a solid range striker, he actually does his best work throwing hook-uppercut combinations and following with clinch knees in tight spaces. We have not seen much of his wrestling or grappling games, but they seem to be solid, at least defensively. Montano also has good physical tools, solid power and excellent finishing instincts.

“Stump” Heatherly is a wrestler first and foremost. He shows good explosion and drive through his takedowns, preferring authoritative finishes on his double-legs, but Heatherly also shows the ability to change directions and chain together his takedowns. He is brutally strong and is almost certain to get the fight to the floor once he gets his hands on his opponent. He has a decent passing game but prefers to bomb away with powerful ground strikes and snag the occasional submission -- guillotines and rear-naked chokes -- in transition as his opponent scrambles back to his feet rather than work a methodical game of positional advances. As a striker, Heatherly is largely limited to short, powerful and often wild hooks that he uses mostly to cover the entries on his takedowns.

THE PICK: Heatherly only does one thing well -- wrestle -- but it happens to be a fairly substantial question mark in Montano’s overall game. Given the amount of time he has spent training at Jackson’s, however, I have to imagine he has at least shored up that particular hole. He is worlds better than Heatherly on the feet, and I think he can take a decision on volume if he can stuff even half of the American’s takedowns.

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