XMMA 3 is set to take place this Saturday night at the Watsco Center in Miami, Florida. The card will be headlined by UFC veterans John Dodson and Cody Gibson. The co-main event will be former Bellator lightweight Daniel Straus taking on Keith Richardson. Kicking off the card will be Alex Caceres’s brother, Jose Caceres taking on Angelo Trevino.
Main Event
This will be John Dodson’s first fight since being let go from the UFC. He was originally slated to fight Cody Gibson at XMMA 2 in July but the fight was postponed due to Dodson being involved in a car accident just before the fight. Dodson fought for the UFC from 2012-2020 racking up a 10-7 record within the company. A run that included wins over Tj Dillashaw, Jussier Formiga, Pedro Munhoz, and Nathaniel Wood. Dodson has a professional record of 21-12-1 with 12 of his wins being knockouts and 10 of them being by decision. He has never been finished in his career with all 12 of his losses being by decision.
Cody Gibson has a professional record of 17-7. He was in the UFC briefly from 2014-2015 going 1-3 in his time with the company. In that time, he knocked out Johnny Bedford and lost to guys including Aljamain Sterling, Manny Gamburyan, and Douglas Silva de Andrade. Gibson is 5-1 since leaving the UFC only losing by submission to Adrian Diaz in 2017. He took some time off from MMA in 2018 after his win over Gustavo Erak. Only to return three years later with a knockout win over Louie Sanoudakis at XMMA 2. Gibson has seven wins by knockout and seven wins by decision. He has never been knocked out in his career but has been submitted in four of his seven losses. Gibson has great wrestling and knockout power in his hands. It is going to be refreshing to see how he deals with someone as well-rounded as Dodson.
Co-Main Event
Daniel Straus will be making his return to MMA against Keith Richardson this weekend. His last fight was a decision loss to Derek Campos at Bellator 225 in September of 2019. Straus fought the majority of his career in Bellator going 12-6 in the company. He has Bellator wins over Pat Curran, Henry Corrales, Patricio Pitbull, and Shane Kruchten. Straus is 26-9 and has 15 wins by decision and seven of his wins by submission. Straus has great grappling although five of his nine losses come by submission.
Keith Richardson is in a very similar situation as Straus. They are similar ages and Richardson has also been out of the fight game for the past two years. Richardson’s last fight was a submission win over Me’shack Adams. At the time of the fight, Adams had a professional record of 1-1. Even though Adams wasn’t the most experienced guy, Richardson has fought guys like Patchy Mix, Da’Mon Blackshear, Tony Gravely, Charles Rosa, and Nate Landwehr throughout his career. 11 of Richardson’s 19 wins coming by submission and he has been finished in 10 of his 11 losses. Richardson’s chin has always been in question but he has great grappling which could be a good advantage for him over Straus.
Rest Of The Card
This card will also feature two former UFC fighters in Nate Marquardt and John Howard. Howard will be taking on Tyler Ray while Marquardt will be taking on grappling extraordinaire Valdir Araujo. Two up-and-coming Brazillian prospects Caio Uruguai and Cauata Samuel will also be fighting on this card. XMMA 3 will also feature four fighters with two professional fights or less. Jonathan Calderone will be fighting Kevin Fernandez and Mansur Abdul-Malik will be making his professional debut against Cole Jordan.
Full Fight Card
- John Dodson vs. Cody Gibson
- Daniel Straus vs. Keith Richardson
- Nate Marquardt vs. Valdir Araujo
- Tyler Ray vs. John Howard
- Caio Uruguai vs. Cauata Samuel
- Jonathan Calderone vs. Kevin Fernandez
- Gabriel Checco vs. Simon Marini
- Cole Jordan vs. Mansur Abdul-Malik
- Josh Smith vs. Kyle Estrada
- Edir Terry vs. Tyler Wilson
- Jose Caceres vs. Angelo Trevino
Featured Image courtesy of XMMA Twitter
