UFC 71

Most people do not enjoy getting hit. In fact… I can’t think of anyone apart from Robbie Lawler who seems to enjoy the process of getting punched in the face. With that being said, 99% of professional fighters are able to mask when they’re hurt. This is an important skill because you do not want to let your opponent know when you’re struggling. When a fighter starts to look uncomfortable when they get hit with normal strikes, it’s a clear sign that MMA is probably not the sport for them.

If you go and watch some of Yaotzin Meza’s recent fights, you’ll see that he’s very scared to engage and he winces whenever his opponent lands a strike. This is never good a good sign because Meza is essentially signalling to his opponent that he doesn’t like what they’re doing. Meza’s last few opponent’s have been unable to capitalize on this because they’ve fought too tentatively, but Sicilia is the kind of guy who will pounce on this kind of weakness and land bombs.

Sam Sicilia is the worst kind of opponent for Yaotzin Meza, because he likes to brawl and a brawl is not the kind of fight that Meza wants to be involved in. Meza would prefer to grapple or work against the cage and this is largely the reason why the majority of his fights are very boring…

Yaotzin Meza has a very strong ground game, but his offensive wrestling is terrible. He’s great on the ground, but he struggles to get his opponent’s down. He’s got a good wrestling base, but he doesn’t shoot in for takedowns because he’s too scared to close the distance incase he gets hit. This means that Meza’s takedown game is not that dangerous, which is backed up by the fact that he has only successfully completed 38% of all takedown attempts in the UFC.

Sam Sicilia isn’t the best grappler, he isn’t the best striker and he might not have the best takedown defence, but he is tough and aggressive and that’s all you need to beat a guy like Yaotzin Meza.

I personally believe that you cannot compete at the highest level of MMA unless you’re completely committed and Yaotzin Meza still has a full time job. He works 6 hours a day at a water plant and then he trains 6 hours a day at the MMA Lab. He also has 3 kids and a wife. I have a full time job and a kid and I have no idea how this guy could possibly squeeze being a Pro MMA fighter into his life. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day.

Sam Sicilia has holes in his game, but I don’t believe that Yaotzin Meza is the guy to expose them. Sicilia is very aggressive and he comes into every fight looking to knock people out. Sicilia is never going to impress people with beautiful technique but his aggressive style of fighting and knockout power is very effective against tentative wrestle-boxers like Meza.

I believe Sam Sicilia will win this fight by walking Meza down, stuffing the majority of his takedown attempts and sealing rounds by landing the more significant strikes and by being more aggressive. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sicilia wins by knockout or TKO.