Thales Leites vs Drew McFedries UFC 90 fight likely with Goran Reljic out

by MMAmania.com on Oct 13, 2008 3:15 PM EDT

Hard-hitting Drew McFedries (7-4) has answered the call to fill-in for the injured Goran Reljic and fight Thales Leites (13-1) at UFC 90: "Silva vs. Cote" at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., on October 25.

We passed along news just yesterday that 24-year-old undefeated Croatian fighter sustained a back injury while training for the upcoming 185-pound fight, forcing him out of the bout with less than two weeks until showtime.

Enter "Massacre."

McFedries has had a rollercoaster career inside the Octagon, winning every other fight and being unable to string together consecutive wins in six attempts with the promotion.

He most recently lost to Mike Massenzio via submission (kimura) at UFC Fight Night 15 in Omaha, Neb., on September 17, meaning the Miletich product will compete twice in little more than one month. If his pattern is any historical indicator, however, then McFedries is poised for a win.

But McFedries will need more than that to defeat the crafty Brazilian.

Fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Leites has rattled of four straight wins inside that Octagon. And that includes a controversial split decision win of perennial contender, Nathan Marquardt, at UFC 85: "Bedlam" back in June.

His only career loss is to Martin Kampmann in his promotional debut back in 2006.

Leites was supposed to take on Dean Lister at UFC Fight Night 15. However, the "Boogeyman" sustained an injury during training and was scratched from the showdown, making McFedries the third opponent for which Leites has had to prepare in just about as many months.

To check out the latest UFC 90 fight card and rumors click here.

Tweet Comment 46 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Props to Drew for stepping up last minute. I hope he’s been working on his submission defense.

by In The Clinch on Oct 13, 2008 3:18 PM EDT reply actions

cant really see drew winning this fight… he better work his wrestling because if he winds up on his back its game over

by brendan on Oct 13, 2008 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Its not like McFedries needs a long training camp to try and come up with a gameplan. His gameplan never changes. Come to fight, throw bombs, try not to get hit, and stay standing. Has anyone ever seen otherwise???

by ViolentMike on Oct 13, 2008 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions

to pretend that he could eat Cote uppercuts!

by santiago69us on Oct 13, 2008 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Mcfedries had Cote beat in that fight!

by Anthony on Oct 13, 2008 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Based on what? Curling up in a ball against the cage until Cote gets tired of punching him and falls over? I didn’t know anyone used the ‘Homer Simpson’ strategy in mma . . .

by GregC on Oct 13, 2008 8:24 PM EDT up reply actions

mania Reljic is 24 not 23.

by Macho Bullshit on Oct 13, 2008 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions

hope he knocks leites out cold.

by jj on Oct 13, 2008 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions

McFedries has some brutal punching power but he really needs to work on his submission defense. Give him props for taking the fight on pretty short notice.

by RiverHorror on Oct 13, 2008 3:18 PM EDT reply actions

Wow, guy above me wrote pretty much the same thing

by RiverHorror on Oct 13, 2008 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Drew “The Joke” McFedries, huh? Easy win for Leites

by the_mexicutioner on Oct 13, 2008 3:19 PM EDT reply actions

I know. Easy sub and his KO power wont mean much against Leites’ chin when he comes in on him for the TD.

by NameNotRequired on Oct 13, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions

agreed. i would be very surprised to see lietes lose against mcfedries( i thought reljic was gonna maul thales though). i give props to drew as well for taking a dangerous fight on short notice.

by b.w. on Oct 13, 2008 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Leites will not loose this fight! McFedries is going to sleep again, curtosy of another arm triangle (thales’s specialty)

by john on Oct 14, 2008 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Drew is pretty much the Huston Alexander of his division. They both need to be dropped.

by NorthStar on Oct 13, 2008 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions

the only reason he is eve in the UFC is because he is/was a training part of Hughes’.

by the_mexicutioner on Oct 13, 2008 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions

drew is better than houston

by roy on Oct 13, 2008 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions

this isn’t as dangerous a fight for Leites as the Reljic fight but McFedries throws bombs and could tag Leitis very easily…depending on the line i got McFedries tossing haymakers and knocking out Leitis in round 1. Either that or a crafty Leitis capitalizes on a wild McFedries and submits or knocks him out

by Breton on Oct 13, 2008 3:21 PM EDT reply actions

In otherwords, you see this fighting any possible way except for Drew submitting Thales. Really going out on a limb for the prediction!

by ViolentMike on Oct 13, 2008 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions

lol VM…ass.

by santiago69us on Oct 13, 2008 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions

I think the best thing about this fight is that it is pretty much guaranteed to end in the first round, whether by a Leites submission (most likely outcome) or a Mcfedries knockout (unlikely but possible). That will leave more room for undercard fights, which is always nice.

by GregC on Oct 13, 2008 8:33 PM EDT up reply actions

get real Breton Drew has such a crappy ground game it is not even funny…Thales will get him to the ground and choke him out like the bum on the ground Drew is

by matt on Oct 13, 2008 3:25 PM EDT reply actions

Good call matt. A guy with a great punchers chance will 100% certainly be choked out. Not like anything can happen in MMA. haha seriously though. Anything can happen but you are right, it is likely that Drew will be taken to the ground and submitted.

by RyanHobbs on Oct 13, 2008 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions

ohhh no doubt Drew is a joke on the ground i’m just sayin from a betting stand point you can’t say anything is for sure in the UFC anymore and the main point was the line will probably be heavily in Leitis’ favor so throwing a bet on Drew might now be a bad idea because as the article alluded too Drew has a history of winning his comeback fight soo depending on the line it might be a good idea to throw a little cash on the heavy handed McFedries

by Breton on Oct 13, 2008 3:31 PM EDT reply actions

McFedries’ win pattern is about as worse as his male pattern baldness.

by the_mexicutioner on Oct 13, 2008 3:31 PM EDT reply actions

Can someone say : TAPOUT

by PhilQNY on Oct 13, 2008 3:38 PM EDT reply actions

TAPOUT!

by The Negation on Oct 13, 2008 6:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I see Leites winning this one quite easily.

by belfort_fan on Oct 13, 2008 3:41 PM EDT reply actions

They should of got a fighter coming off a win! sakara? Belcher?

by braveheart on Oct 13, 2008 3:48 PM EDT reply actions

Because fighters on a win streak are much less likely to take a fight on short notice.

by ViolentMike on Oct 13, 2008 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions

macfedries keeps losing! why would they do this?
Is Marquadt not ready right now?
too bad, i really thing UFC should have done an immediate marquadt/leites rematch

by ramon on Oct 13, 2008 4:08 PM EDT reply actions

totally agree. plus wy wasnt Mike Massenzio given the fight? im guessing he turned it down. mcfedries only really has a punchers chance in this one.

by what up g on Oct 13, 2008 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Massenzio may be paired up with Dollaway.

by The Negation on Oct 13, 2008 6:14 PM EDT up reply actions

why should Leites rematch with Marquadt? It’s not his fault that Marquadt had to grab onto the cage and use illegal blows just to make the fight close. Leites won that fight fair and square. The only reason why it was close was Leites was hurt after the illegal blow and that’s why Marquadt poured it on in the third to try and get the KO stoppage.

by Anthony on Oct 13, 2008 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Leites did not want to rematch. This was on Mania a few weeks ago. After that beating, can you blame him? He knew he would be in for a big hurt, enven worse than the last.

by Lucas on Oct 13, 2008 7:39 PM EDT up reply actions

1st round submission easily.

by "Mr. NC-17" on Oct 13, 2008 4:31 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, whats the point of having this fight?

by Amos on Oct 13, 2008 4:46 PM EDT reply actions

the more drew loses the more he moves up in competition?

by randy murders on Oct 13, 2008 4:47 PM EDT reply actions

more importantly, how does Leites go from a win against a real contender like Marquardt to then fighting a relative nobody like mcfedries?

Whoever said he’s the houston alexander of the division is entirely correct. They both come to use raw power and throw bombs and they’re fish out of water once the fight hits the mat.

by Fidel Cashflow on Oct 13, 2008 4:57 PM EDT up reply actions

They should have put Jason MacDonald up against Leites.

by J on Oct 13, 2008 5:30 PM EDT reply actions

This would have been a much better matchup. Not sure if Jmac has a fight coming up though.

by NorthStar on Oct 13, 2008 9:03 PM EDT up reply actions

i was hoping at least mcdonald or nate the great rematch this match should not be on main card

by bryant on Oct 13, 2008 5:48 PM EDT reply actions

anyone know why mcfedries doesnt work on his ground game. is he stupidly stubborn, really bad a juijistu, or just like to lose? all that punching power for what?

by COR on Oct 13, 2008 6:02 PM EDT reply actions

i dont care who wins this fight really but i know it’ll be a sick scrap so i cant wait. mcfedries might get tapped but he might also knock the shit outa leites…either way, its a good scrap!

by allamerican on Oct 13, 2008 7:00 PM EDT reply actions

Gotta love contrasting styles….I’ll tap McFredries right now, but I sure won’t stand with him….

by Ground-Game on Oct 13, 2008 8:37 PM EDT reply actions

mcfredries has alot of heart. the fight with the himan was great he didnt even tap. if he could even tap. i enjoy watching his fights allways fun. go drew.

by the still operator on Oct 14, 2008 10:10 AM EDT reply actions