Joshua Lindsey-USA Today Sports
An amazing featherweight bout has been added to UFC 171 between Jimy Hettes and Dennis Bermudez. Both have the chance to move up the ranks in this division, which has been long dominated by Jose Aldo, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. Both of these fighters are coming off some of their best wins in the UFC, so this fight makes a lot of sense, and props to Joe Silva for getting the match for both.
Coming into this featherweight match up, Hettes sports an overall record of 11-1. His lone loss in his career was against Marcus Brimage, who was able to thwart off the submission attack of Hettes. Hettes rebounded in his next fight, however, defeating Rob Whiteford by way of triangle choke in the second round. Almost every single fight Hettes has had has ended by way of submission, which is a testament to his sick jiu jitsu skills.
Bermudez comes in on a five-fight winning streak. He’s been impressive since coming off TUF show, where he would lose to Diego Brandao in the season finale. Ever since that loss, Bermudez seems to be a different fighter. Although still exciting, he seems to be using his wrestling more, which is to his benefit, as he’s one of the better wrestlers in the division. His latest win was over Steven Siler, which was a dominate display of grappling and striking. A couple more wins for Bermudez and he could very well be fighting for a title in 2014.
It should be an exciting fight, whether it plays out on the feet or ground, and the winner is one step closer to a coveted UFC title shot.
Jeremy Green is a MMA and NFL contributor at RantSports. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus.
