Two rising stars in the UFC’s welterweight division meet at UFC 120 when John Hathaway of the UK takes on Mike Pyle of the USA on Saturday, October 16, 2010 in London, England.
The UFC 120 odds have have Hathaway has the heavy favorite paying just -600 while Pyle pays +400.
John Hathaway (14-0-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has been steadily rising up the ranks of the UFC with his biggest victory coming over Diego Sanchez at UFC 114. The Englishman has a solid ground game, but he excels at stand-up using his reach to control the fight.
That stand-up control was on display against Sanchez when, after rocking Sanchez with a knee and dominating on the ground for the first round, Hathaway stayed on his feet going after Sanchez while using his reach to keep Sanchez from really threatening.
Mike Pyle (19-7-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has been inconsistent at the UFC looking alternately dangerous and out of his depth. The originally self-taught Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner is one of the top submission artists anywhere with 17 victories coming by submission. His top achievements include submitting John Cole in 17 seconds and being the only fighter to submit Jon Fitch.
Pyle’s stand up game has been showing signs of improvement, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise if it is even better at UFC 120. It probably won’t be enough that he can win standing up, but it should at least reduce the amount of punishment he takes by forcing Hathaway to respect his standup more.
Both of these fighters are tall and lanky and used to having the reach advantage over their opponents. However, in this matchup, it is Hathaway that has the advantage so one of the big challenges for Pyle will be adjusting to being the smaller guy in the ring.
Even if Pyle does get the fight to the mat, Hathaway won’t be an easy guy to submit and if he gets control on the mat his ground and pound can be just as dangerous as Pyle’s.
The safe pick for this fight is Hathaway, but at -500 it is not worth the risk. Pyle has the tools to win this fight and at +400 is definitely the better play.
