This Saturday (July 19, 2014) Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweights Gunnar Nelson and Zak Cummings will square off in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 46, airing live at 3 p.m. ET on Fight Pass from O2 Arena in Dublin, Ireland.
No. 13-ranked Nelson comes in off a first round submission of Omari Akhmedov at UFC Fight Night 37 in March. Yet to taste defeat in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, "Gunni" has won three straight in the Octagon after running through Jorge Santiago and DeMarques Johnson in his first two UFC bouts.
The Icelandic warrior will look to make it four against Cummings, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 17 alum who was last seen defeating Brazilian fighter Yan Cabral in a hard-fought decision at UFC Fight Night 40 in May.
After submitting Ben Alloway in his official Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 27, Cummings sits at 2-0 in UFC and has a chance to score his biggest win ever by defeating Nelson.
With "Gunni" having fought all of his UFC bouts in Europe, he'll just have to make a big statement in hostile territory to do it. Let's take a look at the keys to victory for Nelson vs. Cummings:
Gunnar Nelson
Record: 11-0-1 overall, 2-0 UFC
Key Wins: Jorge Santiago (UFC on Fuel TV 7), DaMarques Johnson (UFC on Fuel TV 5), Omari Akhmedov (UFC Fight Night 37)
Key Losses: None
Keys to Victory: Nelson is a dangerous and multi-talented martial artist who boasts black belts in both Goju-ryu Karate and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He amassed a veritable mountain of medals in karate tournaments before winning several more prestigious titles in grappling.
Nelson has three knockouts to his name, but his main skillset is his world-class submission pedigree. He's tapped out 8 opponents in 13 total bouts, and he'll probably look to make Cummings the ninth.
That's not to say Nelson isn't dangerous when the fights starts out on the feet, because he certainly is. He maintains an aggressive pace, and he should transition his powerful strikes into some level changes in an effort to get this fight to the mat.
"Gunni" isn't exactly a huge welterweight, so he could have problems dragging down Cummings, who fought at light heavyweight as recently as 2011. His elite skills should make up some of that difference, but Cummings is far from an easy out.
If Nelson can destroy him like has the rest of his opponents, we'll know he's arrived.
That means Nelson can't look past the veteran. He'll have the full roaring support of the European crowd behind him, and Nelson is about as stoic as they come. His laser like focus will have him ready to push a relentless pace to keep his spotless record intact.
Zak Cummings
Record: 17-3 overall, 2-0 UFC
Key Wins: Yan Cabral (UFC Fight Night 40), Ben Alloway (UFC Fight Night 27)
Key Losses: Tim Kennedy (Strikeforce Challengers: Kennedy vs. Cummings), Ryan Jimmo (MFC 29), Elvis Mutapcic (MCC 27)
Keys to Victory: Fighting in extremely hostile territory, it may seem like Cummings has the deck stacked against him here.
In reality, that isn't exactly true, as Cummings possesses the experience and toughness to potentially score a huge upset in Dublin. One of the keys to doing that will be to set the pace, but he also has to be aware of stiff counter shots when looking to close the distance.
Few rival Nelson's finesse and technique, so Cummings needs to use his strength to turn this into a fight rather a showcase for "Gunni's" bag of tricks.
He proved he could strike with a powerful opponent in his win over Cabral. Cummings stand-up has been progressing as of late, so he might want to keep this match on the feet.
He's never been knocked out but he has tapped, albeit only once. Cummings is far from a slouch on the mat, with a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and nine submission victories to his name.
But it's just going to be next to impossible to submit a decorated grappling wiz like Nelson, and the edge in striking power could go to Cummins.
Regardless, the Texas native will be prepared to fight anywhere the bout goes. He needs to put the pressure of being the enemy in a huge fight out of his mind and implement a pressure-heavy gameplan to win.
Bottom Line from Dublin: The bottom line here is that we're going to see if Nelson is ready to rise up and face some of the top-level opposition present in the ultra-dangerous UFC welterweight division.
He's a growing star for the promotion in Europe, but he's yet to face any ranked fighters in the Octagon. While Cummings doesn't qualify, he is tough and skilled, so Nelson has to stay focused on the task at hand.
It's his fight to lose on paper, and he most likely wants to get it to the ground so he can use his perceived grappling edge to end this bout. It may or may not play out like that, and a lot of that may depend on how Cummings' weight cut went.
He should be the bigger fighter, yet he appeared a bit drawn at the weigh-ins. The overseas travel may have had something to do with that.
On the flip side, Nelson usually doesn't have to cut too much to make 170 pounds.
If Nelson wins with another finish, we could be witnessing the birth of Europe's third biggest UFC star behind Alexander Gustafsson and UFC Fight Night 46 headliner Conor McGregor.
Welterweight may be the most crowded division in all of MMA right now, so both of these fighters have to make a statement by putting a stamp on their opponent tomorrow.
The home field advantage and technical edge go to Nelson, but don't count Cummings out.
He could make this a war, so enjoy the fight.
Gunnar Nelson seeks to continue his heated run against Zak Cummings at UFC Fight Night 45. Will he stay undefeated, or can the hard-nosed Texan score another big upset?