H.I.T. Squad protege and undefeated lightweight, Matt Veach, has been upgraded to the main card on December 5th. He’ll now be stepping in for an injured Kurt Pellegrino to face UFC lightweight contender, Frankie Edgar, at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
Matt Veach is currently 1-0 in the UFC (11-0 total) coming off of a very exciting knock out win over Matt Grice at the end of round number 1. Veach had been given a very limited amount of time to prepare for that fight and was challenged with making a significant weight cut very quickly. But, he was obviously able to prevail in a barn burner that had the crowd on their feet with the back and forth action.
Following that fight, Matt experienced a back injury which has kept him out of action for several months. But, he will be well prepared for this contest – having already been scheduled to face Mark Bocek at the TUF Finale. Veach was the obvious replacement for Pellegrino in this fight as Bocek has already fought and lost to Frankie a few years back.
Edgar (11-1) will have an edge in experience as he’s stepped into the octagon with a who’s who of UFC lightweight contenders: Sean Sherk, Grey Maynard, Tyson Griffin and Spencer Fisher. However, Edgar’s one loss in the UFC may have provided the blueprint to beat him.
Although Frankie’s core fighting base is in wrestling, he was actually out-wrestled in a unanimous decision loss to Grey Maynard. You could point to Edgar’s win over Sean Sherk to defy his potential weakness against wrestlers, but anyone who watched the fight will tell you that Sherk hardly ever went for the shot in that bout – instead attempting to stand with Edgar. This proved to be a bad idea.
Frankie has good footwork and is excellent at finding striking angles. He kept his feet moving and put on a boxing clinic against the “Muscle Shark” last May for an upset that earned them the fight of the night.
So, the fact that Veach is not only an accomplished wrestler, but trains out of the H.I.T. Squad, is definitely in his favor. There, he spars with Matt Hughes and is coached by Marc Fiore. Fiore is a world authority on wrestling for MMA, and is establishing himself amongst the top trainers in the world like Greg Jackson and Mark DeleGrotti.
If Matt can out-muscle Frankie, using his wrestling and slight size advantage to get the win, it would be a catapult for Veach’s status in the UFC’s lightweight division. Expect a well conditioned and in shape Matt Veach to bring a high tempo ground and pound strategy that could make Frankie Edgar the perfect stepping stone. But, make no mistake, Edgar is the real deal. I’m looking forward to this one!
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