Preview: UFC Fight Night 117 ‘St. Preux vs. Okami’

Featherweights

Rolando Dy (8-5-1) vs. Teruto Ishihara (9-3-2)

With a natural brawling style, entertaining broken English promos and a penchant for strippers, Ishihara became a UFC fan favorite almost immediately. Unfortunately, as his last two bouts against Artem Lobov and Gray Maynard can attest, he is far from a finished or polished product. More experienced fighters can exploit his recklessness with basic fundamental tactics, be it strong counters or straightforward wrestling. Fortunately for him, Dy is not that kind of fighter.

In his UFC debut in June, Dy was effectively a sitting duck for Alex Caceres, who dropped him early and busted his eye badly, eventually leading to the stoppage after 10 minutes. The Filipino fighter typically fights in bursts, baiting his opponent before exploding with flurries. Against “Bruce Leeroy,” he was taken out of his game so early he essentially showed nothing but heart and toughness for two rounds. Ishihara, despite his penchant for fisticuffs, also likes to take his time before launching into assaults, so both featherweights should find the other’s style copacetic, theoretically allowing them to do what they do best.

For both fighters, the best and really only defense is their offense. The problem for Dy is that he is more prone to being countered when he does open up and Ishihara has the tougher chin and more power. While Ishihara is a dynamic kicker, he uses his feet more as window dressing for his herky-jerky, powerful punching attacks. Dy, on the other hand, is more of a natural kicker who opens himself up to counters when he gets lazy with his feet, as was evidenced multiple times against Caceres. On top of that, Ishihara’s wrestling may have looked non-existent against Maynard and he could not buy a takedown against Lobov, but he does possess enough in the takedown department to put Dy on the mat if it comes to that.

Ishihara has more ways to win and he is getting his druthers with the style match, facing a fellow striker who will look to lead the action before giving him the opportunities to unload the crushing counters that have brought him the majority of his pro MMA success. There may be bouts of inactivity as each man looks for openings on the feet, but when Dy feels froggy and jumps, Ishihara will be right there to smack him out of the air for the knockout somewhere in the middle of the contest.

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