On October 28 in Canada, within the framework of the tournament organized by the most popular mixed martial arts organization in the world UFC, a fight between a Latvian fighter with Russian roots living in Canada, Misha Tsirkunov and American Patrick Cummins, will take place.

Misha Tsirkunov

Fighter Misha Tsirkunov is 31 years old, has been in the UFC since August 2015 and during this time he managed to hold 6 fights, the statistics of which are 4-2, both defeats followed each other and Tsirkunov left the top 10 ranking of the best light heavyweights in the world.

As part of mixed martial arts, he had 17 fights and was better than his rivals in 13. Initially, Misha Tsirkunov was a good judoka and has good skills fight, which is dangerous for any elite fighter. The Latvian also has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Misha's height is 190 cm with an arm span of 196 cm. Most of his victorious fights ended with a choke or pain, but he won his debut fight in the UFC by knockout, so Cirkunov is also capable of hitting.

But still, Misha cannot be attributed to the elite wrestlers of the division. In the early stages of his career, he twice lost to opponents in this particular component, so you can’t rely too much on his BJJ belt.

Cirkunov is on a two loss streak at the hands of Volkan Özdemir and Glover Teixeira, both losing by knockout in the first round. Misha's most significant victory was a victory over promising Ukrainian light heavyweight Nikita Krylov with a guillotine choke.

Patrick Cummins

American fighter Patrick Cummins has been in the UFC since 2014 and has a record of 6-5. He performs very unstable, but lost to almost one top athletes, including Daniel Cormier and Glover Teixeira.

Cummins, 37, is in the twilight of his fighting career and has gone through many tough battles. IN mixed martial arts he has been performing since 2010, when he made his debut in the prestigious Strikeforce promotion on the undercard for Dan Henderson.

Patrick has never had a heavy punch, although he prefers to work hard in the stand, despite his wrestling background. Cummins even became a multiple winner of the national wrestling championship.

He won the most significant victory in the UFC over Jan Blachowicz (who now occupies the third line of contenders) by a separate decision of the judges. In the last fight, he lost unanimously to Corey Anderson and lost his position in the ranking.

It is very likely that several losses in a row will drop the age-old fighter from the top 15 and his contract with the UFC will be in big question. Therefore, it is necessary to win against Tsirkunov, but the problem is that the opponent has the same wrestling base, only in an improved form.

Forecast and odds

Misha Cirkunov is the favorite among bookmakers, the odds for his victory vary from 1.18 to 1.31. The underdog is the American Cummins, on whose victory you can bet with odds from 3.85 to 4.30.

Tsirkunov is rightfully the favorite, because he has a more improved wrestling than his opponent and is more accurate in the fight in the stance. Cummins' height advantage won't be a problem for the Latvian, who is unlikely to hit all three rounds.

Patrick's takedown defense is not as well developed and Cirkunov will certainly be able to use it. And in the stalls, Misha, like a fish in water, will be able to wear down the opponent and perform a painful hold, he has as much as 15 minutes for this.

Forecast P1 painful / suffocating 3.60 ()

October 27 as part of UFC tournament Fight Night 138 in the ring will meet two interesting fighters in their own way: Misha Tsirkunov and Patrick Cummins. Both athletes during their professional career have achieved a lot, and this time they are ready to once again confirm that they are still on high level and are able to win in battle against the most difficult opponents.

Misha Tsirkunov

Representative of the Latvian school of martial arts, with early childhood interested in this sport. Also in early age he showed the makings of a universal fighter who, if possible, could fight both at close range and at long range. In addition, the athlete has proven himself well in wrestling duels, being able to turn the fight in a different direction at any time. Such universalism is in many ways the key to his success in performances in the professional ring.

Latvian statistics: 17 fights, 13 wins (4 by knockout, 2 by decision, 7 by submission), 4 losses (2 by knockout, 2 by submission). Now the fighter is far from being in the best condition, and this is largely the reason for his last two performances. The last two fights seriously spoiled his statistics, because in both meetings he was defeated by knockout in the first round. Before this unsuccessful series, the fighter had 8 victories in a row.

Patrick Cummins

American light heavyweight fighter weight category and sometimes demonstrating quite spectacular fights there. Despite his 37 years, the athlete looks good in fights against stronger opponents. His strong feature is considered to be punching direct blows, which repeatedly brought him an early victory. In addition, Patrick is not bad in battles against attacking fighters, holds a blow well and sometimes carries out dangerous counterattacks.

The fighter's stats are as follows: 15 fights, 10 wins (4 by KO, 4 by decision, 2 by submission), 5 losses (4 by KO, 1 by decision). As for the condition and preparation of a fighter for this fight, it is rather difficult to say something optimistic. Patrick lost his last fight, although before that he also had a far from the best series of fights. On the this moment the athlete is actively preparing for such an important meeting in every sense, which will decide a lot.

Odds 1xBet

The bookmakers have a clear opinion about this fight, in which they see Misha Cirkunov as a clear favorite, the odds for his victory are 1.28. As for the victory of Patrick Cummins, the probability of such an outcome is estimated at 4.24.

Forecast fight Tsirkunov - Cummins

Given the far from the best physical condition of both fighters, our opinion regarding this fight comes down to the fact that we obviously will not see an early victory in it. Both athletes hold a punch well and know how to fight against attacking opponents.

Misha Tsirkunov always reserved when it comes to his UFC career and related events. Moving from grappling to MMA, and soon making his debut in the UFC, he was surrounded by serious hype. But he never let it get into his head and just stayed focused on learning and progressing. To get as much experience as possible, and be fully equipped when it comes time to fight the TOP UFC fighters.

Such an attitude, and the ability to steadfastly withstand the blows of fate, were very useful to him in the last six months. Since for the first time in five years, he will have to enter the octagon after the defeat.

“Fights are one of those things where it doesn't matter who you are. Here everything is decided by one blow, ”says Tsirkunov. “You can win a fight, but a single blow can end things against you. Sure, you can freak out about it and get frustrated, but you have to get back to work, train harder, and get better in the next fight.

It all comes down to just that, and that's what I'm trying to do. In every fight I feel like I'm getting stronger so on December 16th I'm waiting best version myself, and I'm only worried about doing a great job. Because that's all I can control in this situation."

After racking up eight wins in a row, including four UFC finishes, Cirkunov lost via knockout to Volkan Oezdemir. A little later, Volkan will repeat the success in the fight with Jimmy Manuva, and will win a chance to fight the champion light heavyweight Daniel Cormier.

Missing on long time after this defeat, Cirkunov was eventually rewarded with a duel with Glover Teixeira - the TOP star opponent that Misha had wanted to get for a very long time. As in the case of Tsirkunov, Glover's last fight took place in Sweden, and also with a negative result - the Brazilian could not cope with the technique and speed of Alexander Gustafsson.

The fight, originally scheduled for October, was moved from Brazil to Canada, as a result of which it received a new date - December 16th. The Brazilian's hand injury was to blame, which took longer to recover than expected, but this additional pause did not affect Tsirkunov's determination in any way.

“I trained a lot, worked hard. I added some things to the process, some I changed, in addition, I trained in Thailand for a couple of months. Initially, the fight was scheduled for October 28, and I wanted to get used to the local climate, but then everything was moved to Canada, so I spent the last month and a half here, ”recalls Tsirkunov.

“I am happy that I was finally given the one I think I deserve. Because I have already fought in the UFC several times, I did great, and I asked for a big fight with someone famous. I've fought tough guys a few times in the UFC, some of them were undefeated, but almost all of them were rookies. All I wanted was to fight a veteran to get further in this game, and I finally got it.

Don't get me wrong - this is hard fight. I have never challenged anyone thinking I am better and have never been a bully. I'm here for the tough fights, and since you're fighting the tough guys, fight the guys everyone knows. That's what drives me, and what I finally got.

For Cirkunov, a fight with the 32-year-old veteran and former title contender is another way to close the loss to Özdemir, and take away some of the bitterness that comes with any loss. After two years in the UFC, ranked #7 light heavyweight, he will face the #3 fighter on this list. While the only guy who turned out to be stronger than him in all the years of his career will prepare for title fight.

And if Misha wins in Winnipeg, Canada, he will end this year exactly the way he would like.

“Sometimes, we forget to turn around and take a look at our entire path, because as soon as you have achieved something, you are only interested in one thing - what will happen next? You only want to see the future. And in the end it's heavy sport, but I have to get back into the saddle, which I intend to do in December,” says Misha.

“If you beat someone at Glover's level, it brings everything back to where it was. I won't be that far away from a rematch with Özdemir and I'll be at the top of our game. This is exactly what I wanted when I moved to the UFC. It's a tough sport, but losing is part of our sport. It all comes down to how you come back after all that, and that's what I'm planning on doing - coming back in great style."

But old Glover Teixeira also does not intend to drive another nail into the coffin of his career, and will fight for victory with all his might. Therefore, a truly intriguing duel awaits us.

Translated by Roman Romanchuk / MMABoxing based on materials from ufc.com