UFC on FX 3: Brenneman vs Silva – Preview and Prediction

On Friday, June 17th, fast-rising welterweight Erick Silva will meet Charlie Brenneman in the co-main event of UFC on FX 3. The event takes place at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. In addition to the FX-televised main card, the prelims will be split between FUEL TV and Facebook.

Silva is a very talked about new addition to the UFC. He dominated Luis Ramos in his UFC debut, stopping him in 40 seconds. In his second outing, he stopped Carlo Prater in a mere 29 seconds. Though his win was reversed to a disqualification due to illegal shots to the back of the head, his performance lead fans to root for the finisher.
Silva’s aggressive striking and fight-ending explosiveness has him set as a favorite over his more experienced opponent. He is in an interesting situation, because many aspects of his game have still not been tested in the octagon. Can the Brazilian striker deal with a wrestler?

Brenneman’s UFC career has been to a peak and a fall very quickly. In his second fight under the organization, he was bumped up to replace Nate Marquardt against Rick Storey at UFC Live 4. As a huge shock to most watching on television, Brenneman outwrestled Storey to a clean Unanimous Decision win.

His success would soon be stopped, as he was bullied by an overweight Anthony Johnson at UFC Live 6, being knocked out with a head kick mid-way through the first round. Though Brenneman has since rebounded with a win over Daniel Roberts, he will need a dominant victory over Silva to catapult him back where he once was in the division.
Silva’s method of winning is to blast Brenneman with strikes. He needs to light him up in clinch situations with knees and elbows, and be offensive and dangerous while on his back. Silva will have to dig deeper in this fight, and we will finally find out what kind of tools he possesses.

For Brenneman, the game-plan is simple; get on top. He is a wrestler, and he should try and embrace his roots in this match-up. If Brenneman can effectively defend against Silva’s guard, he may have this one already won.

My official pick is Brenneman by Unanimous Decision