The Ultimate Fighter Live: John Cofer vs. Vinc Pichel Preview

The UFC will be back in full swing this weekend, with UFC 145 taking place this Saturday in Atlanta. But even with the promotion putting on great pay-per-view cards, fans can’t overlook what The Ultimate Fighter on FX has to offer.

On this Friday’s show, it will be John Cofer and Vinc Pichel finally getting their shot to fight. Coach Urijah Faber made the match-up believing his fighter, Cofer, has the tools to defeat Pichel. But will Pichel and Team Cruz have an answer that will end Faber’s winning streak?

The MMA Corner’s own Corey Adams is back again this week to breakdown the match-up, and also give a little insight about who will have their hand raised on Friday.

Cofer and Pichel come into this fight with two different styles, making this a striker vs. grappler match-up.

The Georgia native Cofer got his chance to compete on the show after compiling four wins in a row. But of those victories, two have come by submission and two by decision. Once Cofer competed in the Octagon for the first time, he was forced to take Mark Glover to the judges’ decision to earn the “W”.

From what  little that has been seen of Cofer, he doesn’t appear to be someone with tremendous knockout power, but is a smart fighter that has grappling skills, as well, as durability.

His opponent Pichel is a different enigma.

To get into the house, Pichel submitted Cody Pfister in what was a grappling showcase. The two men went back and forth on the mat, with Pichel overcoming to force the tap out.

But in his local competition, Pichel has put away opponents with ease. All six of his wins have come by knockout, all of which coming before the third round. The 29-year-old will play the head hunter role in this bout, and will likely try to finish this fight early to take home knockout bonus cash.

Out of every fight that has been made, this one may very well be the most difficult to predict.

Both men are evenly talented, and will put on a closely-contested fight come Friday. It will all come down to how the coaches develop a game plan. Cruz will likely tell his fighter Pichel to keep the fight standing, knowing Cofer is more of a grinder. Cofer will have to avoid the heavy strikes Pichel will look to throw, and work to secure a takedown.

This fight will go one of two ways. Either Pichel is able to stuff the takedown attempts, force the fight to stay standing, and catch Cofer on the feet, or Cofer could come into the fight with a strategic game plan, take Pichel down, and edge out a decision.

After teetering back and forth, the verdict is John Cofer by decision. Team Faber is on a roll right now, and knows there is something about this match-up that they can exploit. It will be a close fight, but Cofer will do just enough to get the win.