10 reasons to watch 'UFC Fight Night 37: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa'

No more sitting in limbo, UFC fans. If you want to keep up with the promotion’s international schedule as it happens, you need to get off your free-trial perch, put that fifth cancelation email in the junk folder, and authorize a monthly charge of $9.99 for UFC Fight Pass (or basically, do nothing). For Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 37 event, that’s the only way you’re going to be (legally) able to watch the punches and kicks fly.

The good news is, now that we’re about three months into this online digital network experiment, it’s a better product. Because of broadcast restrictions, you’re going to have to wait a few weeks to watch Lyoto Machida dance by Gegard Mousasi at UFC Fight Night 36. But you can catch up on just about every recent fight in the octagon, or nestle in for your own private film festival of NHB-era fights, like when Mark Kerr fought Moti Horenstein and bad things happened to karate.

Of course, it boggles the mind why the folks at Neulion, the techno-geeks who designed the interface, still haven’t incorporated a Netflix-style search function for events, fights and fighters. Let’s hope the developers speed things up and get with the times, because the meter’s ticking.

But speaking of time, there is another good piece of news for stateside fans who tune in Saturday: a 12:30 ET start for UFC Fight Night 37's preliminary card. That’s almost five hours’ more potential sleep to enjoy after the 4 a.m. start of this past weekend’s TUF China Finale or enough to put this past week’s bender to shame.

Whether you watch the event live or on replay, though, you’ll definitely want to see what happens to headliner Alexander Gustafsson, who didn’t commanded much attention outside the hardcore fanbase until he nearly beat light heavyweight champ Jon Jones at UFC 152. The two were headed toward an immediate rematch when Jones decided he’d instead fight top contender Glover Teixeira. But the word from UFC brass is that Gustafsson’s fight with Jimi Manuwa is his sole hurdle to a second fight with “Bones.”

That makes Saturday’s event, which takes place at London’s O2 Arena, perhaps the most relevant headliner yet to stream online via UFC Fight Pass. That might not be a great consolation to Gustafsson, who recently said he’d gladly trade relevance for a pay-per-view bonus, but, for now, it works out well for those who need their fight fix.

1. The final countdown

After watching  Jones slice through the light heavyweight division with little more inconvenience than a broken toe and popped elbow, his performance against Gustafsson offered the best evidence to date that he was beatable inside the octagon. Gustafsson, meanwhile, lost little of the momentum he built on his way to the title shot and cemented his spot at the top of the weight class.

That Jones opted not to give the Swede an immediate rematch came as little surprise, as another fight like the first wouldn’t bode well for his long-term health. But assuming Gustafsson (15-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) can stay sharp and stay away from the heavy-handed Manuwa (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), who replaced a better-qualified spoiler in Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Jones won’t have much of an argument to deny another opportunity. Gustafsson should be crowned the No. 1 contender, which, of course, tempts the fate of the upset gods.

2. Manuwa’s breakthrough

Guaranteeing anyone a title fight with a win historically can be considered bad luck in the UFC, where so many would-be contenders fall short on the final step toward contendership. In that sense, Manuwa can relax and enjoy his spoiler status. He’s got little to lose, and while on paper he’s the inferior fighter to Gustafsson, he possesses the striking power to throw resumes and reputations out the window.

3. Old and new kid on block

At times, the UFC journey of Melvin Guillard (31-12-2 MMA, 12-8 UFC) seems Sisyphean. He goes on a tear, smashing everyone, and then is forced to reset at or near the top of the lightweight mountain. Historically, he’s dominated guys he was supposed to beat and fallen short against top-tier competition.

The question with his next fight is into which category his former training partner Michael Johnson (14-8 MMA, 6-4 UFC) falls. Johnson, too, has suffered setbacks, but they’ve been of the opposite variety. He’s lost to guys he probably should have beaten and, in recent times, beaten guys above his ranking. Johnson, who replaced an injured Ross Pearson, could earn his biggest win to date if he’s able to weather Guillard’s early storm. Whether he can against such a dangerous opponent is what makes this fight one to watch.

4. See ‘One-Punch’ fly

As a UFC bantamweight, Brad Pickett (23-8 MMA, 3-3 UFC) could beat all but the opponents at the top of the  foodchain, and almost every time he competed, he made it a bonus-winner. For an intense competitor, that’s nice and all, but a title is everyone’s ideal end of the road.

So Pickett is giving the flyweight division a shot, and while he would have instantly put himself on the title map with a win over Ian McCall, an injury to “Uncle Creepy” means he’ll acclimate to the division by facing newcomer Neil Seery (13-9 MMA, 0-0 UFC). Knowing Pickett, he’ll find a way to make it a show against the underdog.

5. After the pain

Welterweight Gunnar Nelson (11-0-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) stole the hearts of hardcore fans as a submission-savvy Icelander with the monosyllabic appeal of Mark Hunt. A knee injury took him off the scene for a year, and now, he’ll attempt to restart the hype train against Omari Akhmedov (12-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), whose gonzo fight with Thiago Perpetuo electrified Brazilians at UFC Fight Night 32. Akhmedov seems to know only full speed, so can the laconic Nelson slow him down? We’ll see.

6. Snake away

OK, so light heavyweight Cyrille Diabate (29-9-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) didn’t have the most illustrious career in MMA. It always felt like his gifts in striking were squandered by his lack of ground savvy. But if an opponent stood with “The Snake” in the octagon, they always got a tough fight.

Unfortunately, Diabate didn’t have as much time to round out his deficiencies as others, so on Saturday, he said he will pack it in against Ilir Latifi (7-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who’s best known for his minute’s notice fight against Gegard Mousasi at UFC on FUEL TV 9. There’s no reason to think Latifi won’t try to make this a ground fight, but you kind of hope he gives Diabate a little time to dazzle us on the feet.

7. ‘TUF’-en up

Luke Barnatt (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) looked good in the early stages of “The Ultimate Fighter 17? but ultimately couldn’t hang with Dylan Andrews on the reality show. It looked like he might have a short octagon life.

But an upset win over Andrew Craig, who had previously beaten Chris Leben, was an impressive turnaround, and against European grappling specialist Mats Nilsson (11-2-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), he’ll dust off his sprawl and try to break from the middleweight pack.

8. Smash again

After a good run on “The Ultimate Fighter: Smashes,” welterweight Brad Scott (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) looked a bit flat against Robert Whittaker in the finals and fell short on points. He rebounded with a first-round submission win over Michael Kuiper and now tests his skills against newcomer Claudio Henrique da Silva (9-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), whose submission skills put him in the potential upset role.

9. Another ‘TUF’ chance

Bantamweight Davey Grant (8-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) availed himself well on “The Ultimate Fighter 18? only to see show favorite Chris Holdsworth dominate him in the reality show finals. He now gets a second chance to show he’s of octagon caliber against “TUF 14? veteran Roland Delorme (9-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC), who, despite a recent setback Alex Caceres, is the more experienced and successful UFC fighter with a 3-1 record.

10. Manic panic

Louis Gaudinot (6-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) burst onto the national stage as a green-haired bantamweight on “TUF 14.” He fell short on the reality show but went on to dominate would-be flyweight contender John Lineker. He said an eye poke informed his loss to Tim Elliott at UFC 164, so he’ll get a chance to reset against Brit Phil Harris (22-11 MMA, 1-2 UFC), who’s in a must-win situation after a 1-2 record at 125 pounds.

For more on UFC Fight Night 37, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.