Fury FC’s Bruce Whitehead is getting this fight because I imagine the UFC is having a hard time booking Jacobe Smith fights. Whitehead is 29-years-old from Houston, Texas, training out of the WAT Training Center. He’s 8-2 on a two-fight win streak and 4-2 in the last three years.
I can see the appeal in signing Whitehead, as he is typically a guy who is either kill or be killed. He has five finishes as a pro – all coming in rounds one and three in under a minute. His last loss came to UFC’s Victor Valenzuela in a fight where he scored a knockdown but was soon knocked out. A loss that’s not aging well, and the loss to Devon Dixon is a bad look as well.
Whitehead is a blue-collar fighter. He wasn’t born with many athletic gifts, so he has to get by on toughness and durability. The problem is that he does get hit a lot, rocked, and Valenzuela slept him bad. If he can’t rely on his chin, he’s gonna find it difficult to find success. He needs durability because his best moments come in vulnerable exchanges. Whitehead isn’t gonna impress anyone with his technique, but his power is what keeps him alive in fights. He’s at his best when in the pocket trading with his clubbing hands, knees, and elbows.
The thing is, he’s open in the pocket and advances recklessly. He has a bad tendency to reach with his punches, which will cost him dearly eventually. Although he does have fight-stopping power, he doesn’t set anything up. When he lands, it’s in exchanges, or he finds the button when crashing in. There’s a reason the guys he’s finished are bums.
Whitehead has two submission wins – a Kimura and an RNC. He also threatens a front headlock. Just as I said before, the guys he’s catching are really low-level. When he fought Devon Dixon, his TDD was exposed, and he was submitted fairly easily. Dixon is just a decent regional-level guy so it’s a bad look for Whitehead.
Overall, I see Whitehead struggling badly in the UFC. I only see him knocking out chinny guys like Leon Shahbazyan, but that’s the only free win I see. Whitehead is just too stiff and slow, and mix that with a suspect ground game and chin, and he’s fighting an uphill battle.
Quick prediction on the Smith/Whitehead fight:
Smith wins this any way he wants. He has the ability to knock out Whitehead on the feet. The clearest path is to take Whitehead down and squeeze him like a blackhead to an eventual submission/TKO.
