UFC 104 Preview: Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer

Josh "The Dentist" Neer (25-8-1, 4-4 UFC) vs. Gleison Tibau (19-6, 5-4 UFC)

The Story So Far: How is it that two middle of the pack lightweight fighters are the third fight of a pay-per view fightcard?

That's a good question and it doesn't have anything to do with Neer or Tibau's recent victories. Instead it has to do with former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk. Sherk was suppose to be on the 104 card and he drew Gleison Tibau who was coming off a controversial split decision loss to Melvin Guillard. Sherk was also coming off of a defeat to Frankie Edgar and many saw the Sherk-Tibau fight as a possible rebound match for the former champion.

Sean Sherk withdrew from the fight due to an injury and in stepped Josh Neer who is also coming off of a loss to Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 101.

Conventional Wisdom: Gleison Tibau will use a wrestling attack to try and stop Neer's brawling style.

WKR Analysis: It all depends on whether Neer can successfully defend a takedown. At UFC 101 we saw Kurt Pellegrino shoot for the takedown over and over again and Neer was ineffective stopping it. If Josh comes out again unable to stop a takedown we could see the same thing all over again.

Fun Fact: Gleison Tibau is a ring name, sort of like a pen name or a screen name, well, you get the idea. Tibau's real name is Janigleison Herculano Alves. Good thing he decided to go with a ring name.