UFC 125 – Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares Prediction

Fight Overview:  Ultimate Fighter Alum Brad Tavares faces off with veteran Phil Baroni, who is most likely fighting to keep his spot on the roster.  Both of these guys are extremely tough, but Baroni is much more dangerous early in the fight while Tavares has more staying power, so this should be interesting.

Baroni’s Strengths:  Baroni has spectacular power punching, with good accuracy and handspeed and a vast surplus of knockout power.

Baroni’s Weaknesses:  He is fairly one-dimensional and has notoriously terrible cardiovascular conditioning, which prevents him from being effective for much more than five minutes.

Tavares’ Strengths:  Tavares is very tough and well-rounded, with no glaring holes in his game, a solid chin, and a lot of heart.

Tavares’ Weaknesses:  He has a tendency to get reckless and abandon technique in favor of brawling, which could be disastrous against a guy with Baroni’s knockout punching.

The Verdict:  Baroni’s lack of conditioning is going to ruin his chances yet again.  I think this fight should look a lot like Baroni’s loss to Amir Sadollah, in which Sadollah hung on through an early onslaught and then smacked Baroni around once he was gassed out.  Tavares by decision.