UFC 129 Fight Card: Ivan Menjivar Vs. Charlie Valencia Preview

Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia, a bantamweight fight (135lbs) arguably has the greatest potential to be exciting among all of the other fights. Menjivar is a high-octane offensive output machine. Valencia, no slouch in that regard either, is also a grizzled veteran with most of his losses coming against the elite of the division.

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.

In a perfect world with perfect abilities, Menjivar is the more talented overall fighter. You can also make the case he won his fight against Brad Pickett in his last WEC bout. Still, his layoff from MMA is something to be aware of. I'll go with Menjivar here, but wouldn't be overly shocked if Valencia pulled it out.