Cody Donovan vs. Nikita Krylov Set For UFC Dublin

Cody Donovan vs. Nikita Krylov Set For UFC Dublin
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

Cody Donovan will meet Nikita Krylov at UFC Dublin in a potential loser goes home match up.

UFC Dublin takes place July 19th at the The O2 Arena. Tickets for will go on sale to the general public at 10am on Friday 6th June and can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ie and www.theo2.ie

Fighting for the 4th time in his UFC Career, Cody Donovan (8-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) will be faced with the prospect of needing a win to save his UFC career when he takes on Nikita Krylov in Dublin in July.

A product of Grudge Training Center, and a Brazilian Jui Jitsu black belt under Nate Marquart, Donovan began his UFC career with a knockout victory over Nick Penner at UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson as a last minute replacement for injured Eddie Mendez. Taking the bout on just 9 days notice, Donovan was able to despatch of Penner in the first round in an entertaining bout which earned Fight of the Night honors.

Following his victory over Penner, Donovan faced Ovince St. Preux on August 17, 2013 at UFC Fight Night 26, to whom he lost by first round TKO. In his most recent outing the 33 year old from Iowa, who has previous competed in Bellator, lost to Gian Villante, again by TKO to extending his losing streak to 2, making it vital he picks up a win in his next bout. 

At Just 22-years old former heavyweight Nikita Krylov (16-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC), is one the youngest fighters on the UFC roster. A native of Ukraine, Krylov has not been short of leaving lasting memories - good and bad, since making his UFC debut in 2013.

Joining the UFC on the back of a 15-2 record, with 2 career losses coming to Vladimir Mishchenko, Krylov made his UFC debut at heavyweight against Australia's Soa Palelei, in a bout which Kingdom MMA staff named the worst fight of 2013 with both men gassing badly, and Krylov eventually losing by TKO in the 3rd round.

Krylov returned in January, in the opening bout of UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Thomson, to face Walter Harris, who he defeated with a highlight reel, 25-second headkick TKO. Following the bout Krylov told journalists he would be dropping to Light-heavyweight.

Krylov made his 205lb debut against Ovince St. Preux - a common opponent to Donovan, at UFC 171 however he was unsuccessful in his new weight division losing by Von Flue Choke in first round.

Stay tuned to KingdomMMA.co.uk for all the latest on UFC Dublin

Kingdom MMA Awards 2013: Worst Fight of the year

Kingdom MMA Worst Fight of the Year Award 2013: Soa Palalei vs Nikita Krylov

by Ben Heather @benheather

Although 2013 has been a great year for MMA it has also had a few stinkers. So this is the wooden spoon award of the year. Thankfully for us all this was actually quite a hard award to think of a winner for because we really have been treated to some amazing fights in 2013.

However, we had three contenders which were put forward as the worst fight of the year, our first contender was the fight between Jake Shields and Tyron Woodley at UFC 161 where the pair clinched for most of the fight in which Shields failed to get Woodley to the floor in the first two rounds alone with a staggering 11 attempts. The fight was either spent tied up in the clinch or pushed up against the side of the cage but nothing of serious note happened. All in all a stinker of a fight. However, Shawn Jordan must have been watching and gave the fans something to cheer about as he knocked out Pat Barry within a minute in the next fight.

Then in July Rory MacDonald vs Jake Ellenberger met at UFC on FOX 8 was certainly a fight with very little happening during the fight. Rory was waiting for Ellenberger to make the move and when he did, did just enough to win the fight without doing much in the process. Thankfully Demetrious Johnson vs John Moraga came on after that fight and put on a show for the fans to make them rightfully forget that fight ever happened.

Our winner though comes from UFC 164 at the end of August when Soa Palelei faced off against Nikita Krylov. Before the fight both guys had impressive records, Soa was returning to the UFC after a one fight stint years before and Nikita was making his debut in the UFC so both really wanted to impress..... unfortunately for both men and us fans that did not happen on this night. The fans were instead treated to over 11 minutes of fighting between two clearly gassed fighters before Soa put Nikita out of his misery and picked up the TKO win. Soa however announced after the fight that he went in to the fight with an injury, having suffered a fractured rib the week of the fight which led to him putting on a lack luster performance.

Thankfully Soa made up for this recently as the UFC returned to his home nation and he quickly knocked out Pat Barry making people forget all about his previous fight.

We are sorry to do this, but the award for worst fight of 2013 goes to Soa Palelei vs Nikita Krylov. Please forgive us and we hope to see you perform well again in 2014.

Soa Palelei set to fight Nikita Krylov at UFC 164

Heavyweights Soa "The Hulk"Palelei vs Nikita "The Al Capone" Krylov booked for UFC 164

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

Palelei was due to face Stipe Miocic at UFC 161 but the match was rebooked with Roy Nelsen taking his place. Paleli, or "the Hulk" as his fans affectionately call him. From Australia he has won 8 straight fights including a knockout win over UFC Veteran Sean McCorkle in his last outing.

In a battle of cool nicknames promotional newcomer "the al capone" Nikita Krylop will be in the opposing corner. Krylop has only been a pro for 2 years. However he has won all 14 of his fights all by stoppage and all in the 1st round. He has been kept remarkably busy for a young Heavyweight making his way in the game.

The bout will got down on August 31st in Milwaukee.