The UFC’s next outing at their home base of the Apex in Las Vegas will feature an exciting bantamweight matchup. Johnny “Kid Kvenbo” Munoz Jr. will take on “The Mongolian Murderer” Aoriqileng.
Both men are coming off of a loss and a win prior and will look to rebound with a victory this weekend. While Munoz is yet to string two wins back to back in the UFC, he has also consistently avoided two straight losses.
If history is to repeat, it should be his time to add another victory, but Aoriqileng is a jump up in competition. The Inner Mongolia native has fought notable names such as Kai Kara France early in his career as well as Jeff Molina and Aiemann Zahabi inside the UFC octagon.
Betting Odds
The oddsmakers are torn, making this a pick’em fight.
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Fight Breakdown
Johnny Munoz is an accredited jiu jitsu ace and a long time MMA competitor. His boxing is basic but effective and he utilizes his reach and range very well. From a conventional stance, everything from Munoz’s arsenal comes behind his sharp jab. He is good at reaching long with it and keeping his opponent on the end of his reach, snapping out and setting up the right cross behind it as his opponent moves away. However, while Munoz can stick and move with his straights against some opponents, the more educated strikers force him to revert to his grappling roots quickly.
Munoz has a very threatening guard game. Her has great timing on his level changes, and often does finish the double leg entries. If he feels he is going to be sprawled on however, he is quick to pull guard instead because he is so confident off of his back. Expect him to secure his opponents in his guard with a body triangle until he is happy with his arm position, usually trapping one arm and getting a collar around the neck so that he may open his guard and attack triangles or armbars.
The downside however, is the more time it takes for him to get the control over the posture he wants the more he is willing to stay in a closed guard and let his opponents chip away with ground and pound and control time. Munoz’s guard game in general is very do or die, he either gets the submission or loses out on control and damage. When he is attacking with top game BJJ, he is willing to take risks because he doesn’t mind ending up on his back, this includes wild scrambles to the back and passing that involve big swinging or jumping movements.
Although Aoriqileng has good wrestling and grappling skills himself, it only aids him to keep the fight standing. At times we will likely see him utilize his wrestling in terms of takedown defence and perhaps judo counters to Munoz’s takedowns on the cage. That being said expect Aoriqileng to maintain a striking match as much as possible, he is an aggressive counter puncher with a lot of power.
Aoriqileng likes to march his opponents down, it is key that he utilizes feints as Munoz does tend to reach for punches, which will then allow Aoriqileng to fade and counter. What Aoriqileng does so well is small movements as he moves away from shots, so that he can angle slightly and maintain the range he needs to return fire. Especially, watch for the right cross over Munoz’s jab if the jab comes too frequently, and the right uppercut when Munoz looks to shoot for the hips.
Prediction
This is a very competitive fight, however I do think that Aoriqileng’s consistent ability to stay active on the bottom as he attempts to get to the fence and wall walk will make holding him down difficult.
If he finds himself tied up inside Munoz’s guard that could spell major trouble, so this will require discipline on his part. Munoz has a tendency to reach for strikes if he cannot lead the exchanges. If he gets set first and establishes the pace with his jab and makes Aoriqileng react to him, he could definitely stick and move.
However, if Aoriqileng keeps his feints going, and has Munoz reacting, the consequences are more severe as Aoriqileng is the more educated counter striker, Munoz bites big on feints when he does bite and Aoriqileng hits that much harder.
Pick: Aoriqileng to win (-115)
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