Mike Swick Favored Over Paulo Thiago At UFC 109

Sports News - January 27th, 2010 - Written By John

Mike Swick and Paulo Thiago face off on the fight card at UFC 109, from Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The two have never faced each other in the ring, but it should set up for a very entertaining welterweight fight. Swick was selected as a replacement for Josh Koscheck, and steps in with a 14-3 overall MMA record.

Swick chose Jon Fitch as his training partner for his upcoming bout with Thiago. Fitch is the only man to defeat Thiago in the octagon.

"Jon Fitch is my training partner and he's the only guy to ever beat Paulo Thiago," Swick said during an interview. "It's a good insight to prepare me for this fight."

If Swick is to have success in this fight, he must keep the match from the ground. Thiago has submitted his opponents in seven of his 12 MMA victories. Despite that, Swick expresses confidence in his "ground and pound" game, should the fight result to the floor.

"I'm more of a striker so I'm obviously going to take this fight to the feet," Swick remarked. "If the fight does go to the ground I feel very good with my jiu jitsu and my wrestling to handle this fight on the ground as well, even though he is a very qualified jiu jitsu guy. And that creates a challenge that I like."

Swick is coming off a bad defeat, in which he lost to Dan Hardy during UFC 105. It was Swick's first defeat since back in January of 2008. He will be looking to get back to his winning ways against Thiago on February 6th.

On the other side of the ring, Thiago is one of the most dominating welterweights in MMA today. He has only the one loss in his career, to Fitch. Thiago will look to get this fight to the ground as quickly as possible. He is an expert at submitting his opponents, and would have the advantage over Swick in this department. Thiago must be weary of the leg strikes that Swick will try and lay down on him. The longer that the fight stays away from the ground, the more the fight plays into the hands of Swick.

Swick has been installed as the as a slight favorite to defeat Thiago in this UFC 109 match up according to the UFC Betting Lines at Bookmaker. Swick is installed as a -225 favorite to hand Thiago his second MMA loss. Thiago assumes the underdog role and is currently set at +185.

The fight can be seen live on Pay-per-view on Saturday, February 6th. Consult your local cable company for more details.