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UFC Fight Night: Munoz vs. Mousasi
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Published: 5/31/2014  at  2:24:00 AM
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UFC Fight Night: Munoz vs. Mousasi

Saturday, May 31 – 4:30 p.m. ET
Berlin, Germany

Mark Munoz (13-4) vs. Gegard Mousasi (34-4-2)

5-Round Middleweight bout
Line: Mousasi -270, Munoz +212

Mark Munoz looks to bounce back from a tough loss when he goes up against Gegard Mousasi at UFC Fight in Brazil on Saturday afternoon.

In his last fight against Lyoto Machida on Oct. 26, Munoz was dominated from the opening bell, getting knocked out just 3:10 into the fight. That gives half of his career defeats in the span of his past three fights, with the other loss coming to Chris Weidman. Munoz is at his best when he is able to turn the match into a striking contest, where he has the ability to end a fight with one punch. However, he has a tendency to get careless with his striking, and it has cost him in his last two losses. Munoz will have to be on top of his game in this fight, as Mousasi also has the ability to end a match in a hurry. Like Munoz, Mousasi is coming off a loss to Machida on Feb. 15, but that was a much more competitive fight. Mousasi was able to take Machida the distance, losing by way of unanimous decision. In that fight, Mousasi held a 36-28 advantage in significant strikes and showed that he has a chance to be special in the octagon, and MOUSASI will build off that performance with a dominating victory against Munoz.

Mousasi has 34 victories in his career, with the majority of them (19 wins) coming by way of knockout. However, he has also shown the ability to win by submission (10 wins) and five by way of decision. Mousasi will have a slight advantage when it comes to significant strikes (3.50 per minute for Mousasi and 3.35 for Munoz), but Munoz is a little more accurate when it comes to striking (52%) compared to Mousasi (50%). At 28 years old, Mousasi is six years younger than Munoz, and now entering the prime of his career. He is in tremendous shape, and is also much more accurate when it comes to takedown accuracy (59%), compared to only 27 percent for Munoz). If he is able to set the tone early and turn the fight into his style, then Mousasi will have a chance to wear Munoz out. However, Munoz is an experienced fighter, and understands how important it is for his career to get a win on Saturday.

"The Filipino Wrecking Machine" Munoz has 13 victories in his career, with seven of them coming by way of knockout. He also has six victories by way of decision. While he has an advantage when it comes to grappling with a 2.57 takedown average (1.55 for Mousasi), he uses his takedowns to wear his opponents out to get the victory in the latter rounds of the fight. Munoz has the striking ability to go toe-to-toe- with Mousasi. However, he will have to be careful and not just start sporadically throwing punches. If Munoz picks his spots and gets some confidence early, then he has a great chance to steal the victory from his opponent.


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