UFC 129 Fight Card: Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia Preview
Another fantastic fight at UFC 129: St. Pierre vs. Shields is a bantamweight (135lbs.) clash between Ivan Menjivar and Charlie Valencia. It'd be inappropriate to label this fight as some sort of contendership eliminator, but it holds promise for excitement and pits highly experienced veterans against one another.
I explain more in the video above, but Menjivar is the fighter I have my eye on here. He’s got a special relationship with UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (again, watch the video), but that’s not exactly why I care. I prefer Menjivar more for his high octane, hard offensive output style. Menjivar assaults opposition and not with reckless abandon, although he can sometimes improvise instead of sticking to a gameplan. But he’s strong, he’s technical, he’s good almost everywhere and creates excitement when he fights.
Valencia is exciting as well and will prove to be an excellent foil to Menjivar. He’s less exciting to me, though, because he’s a little shopworn and can stumble in the face of focused pressure. It’s fair to say, however, that it’s not clear where Menjivar’s current level of ability lies. He’s historically been a strong competitor, but this is only his third fight since semi-retiring.
Either way, though, this should be an excellent, dynamic fight on April 30. Both fighters are durable, both are defensively sturdy, both have a wide arsenal of attacks and both need this win to stay employed in the UFC.
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