so sanchez has never been finished.
pineda has never won a decision (he has only ever won by finish)
fight is in houston (pineda from houston).
discuss. cause i've gone back and forth on this fight in my head for a few days and i can't settle on anything. would love some input.
I didn't cap this too in depth but basically both guys seem to be grappling oriented. Like you said, Pineda in his hometown, ufc vet, kill or be killed. I think Pineda comes out really aggressive and goes for the sub hard. Sanchez trains out of a better camp up at Roufus, if I'm not mistaken, and he's younger so you'd think that'd mean he's improving every time out.
One thing that gets me, though, is that Pineda absolutely dominated Lawrence in his performance with a nasty one armed kimura iirc and Sanchez won a really close sd against Lawrence last time out. Probably doesn't mean too much but it shows how devastating Pineda can be on the ground, his kimura especially. I had to take Pineda as a dog, especially in his hometown and b/c I expect this to be a grapple heavy fight. If Pineda gets on top early then Sanchez is gonna be in a lot of trouble imo.
Even if he can grind out the first couple rds, then as long as he can survive the 3rd, which is obviously a big if, then I can even see him eking out a Dec. Although, as you mentioned, he's never won a Dec before, I still think stylistically it's possible and there's a first time for everything, right, lol?
Experience heavily in Pineda's favor as well, only 5 years older but 32 fights to only 14 for Sanchez. I like Sanchez but I think it's gonna be a tough matchup for him here. That's my opinion at least, think this should be closer to a pk, liking the value on Pineda as a dog. Even if he has obvious flaws, he can still be very impressive when he's on his game.