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UFC on FX 8: Canadian Roger Hollett underdog vs. Maldonado

  • Frank Doyle's Author profile. Frank Doyle

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At 34 years old, Halifax, Nova Scotia native Roger Hollett has seen a lot in the fight game. He has 17 MMA bouts under his belt, but is still waiting for his big break. He’s hoping Saturday night’s fight against Fabio Maldonado at UFC on FX 8 in Brazil is just that. Hollett has his work cut out for him as a +200 underdog at Sports Interaction.

It’s been a tough road for Hollett lately. He dropped his first UFC fight against Matt Hamill at UFC 152 and looked anything but impressive in that bout. Hollett was actually pulled from that fight due to a contract issue with Bellator but then was called back into action to face Hamill just two weeks before the fight. That didn’t exactly leave him much time to prepare and it showed in the loss. This time, with a full training camp, Hollett is looking forward to this second shot at making a first impression against Maldonado.

“You train your ass off with lots of conditioning, and you have it in your head that you’re going to be in for a war,” Hollett told reporters. “You’ve got to be mentally ready, too, for a guy like this. He’s definitely tough. It’s going to be a great fight for me, I think, and I think the fans are really going to enjoy the show.”

That seems to be the general consensus. Maldonado is a heavy hitter and might need this victory even more than Hollett. Maldonado won his UFC debut against James McSweeney but has dropped three straight since. The pressure will be on the Brazilian native fighting in front of his hometown fans too.

“This is probably the fight where he’s going to get cut (from the UFC),” Hollett told The Chronicle Herald recently. “It will be his fourth loss in a row.”

Still, he had better not take Maldonado lightly. The 33-year-old out of Sau Paulo has excellent boxing skills and has been working on his Jiu Jitsu with the Team Nogueira camp, so he’ll be ready to go. Hollett is the underdog here for a reason, but if he can control the pace of this fight and survive the early push from Maldonado, he has better than a puncher’s chance at an upset. At this price, Hollett is worth a shot.