One Welterweight prospect will ascend the ranks and the other may be left in the dust.

This match up is certainly flying under the radar heading into UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski this weekend. Gunnar Nelson and Albert Tumenov may still be considered prospects in the UFC Welterweight division, but when the two face off against each other on Sunday it could determine which fighter will have a bright future in the UFC and who may be destined to be a gate keeper. With both men being so young that estimation may be a bit harsh, but with the state of the UFC Welterweight division it may be a fair assessment. Since the emergence of Stephen Thompson as a contender, the division is looking more and more like a murders row of individuals hungry to prove that they’re the absolute best in the world. Nelson and Tumenov are facing off to see which man wishes to join the fray and venture towards the top ten of the division. Nelson is a bit of an enigma at this point of his career. Most of his losses were due to making poor strategic decisions. Where he should choose to grapple with his opponents he ends up striking. When he’d be better off striking with his opposition he ends up getting drawn into a grappling match instead. This was perhaps his biggest mishap in his battle against Demian Maia. Nelson has the style to confound most strikers on the feet, but he would allow Maia to close the distance, obtain the clinch, and drag the fight down to the ground. Nelson is great on the ground, but against Maia he looked like a novice and never made any meaningful attempts to get back to his feet when the fight hit the ground. It should be stated that he put on a considerable amount of muscle for that fight and experienced one of the first real weight cuts of his career, but those kind of excuses can only last so long. Now Nelson will have to prove what he is made of against a tough competitor in Albert “Einstein” Tumenov. Tumenov is primarily a striker with great boxing fundamentals as well as an underrated kicking game. Perhaps the only knock on his style is that if the fight goes long he may fall into a bit of the same patterns which can end up making his style a bit more predictable as was seen in his battle against Lorenze Larkin back in January. That being said, he sets up all of his power strikes nicely with a well timed jab that he uses both with authority as well as a range finder. What Tumenov will have to look out for in this match up is not to get lulled to sleep with Nelson’s tricky karate style. If he isn’t on full alert from the beginning to the end of the match then he could easily be caught by a karate blitz. Nelson is a deceptively powerful striker and could easily secure a knockdown and transition into his slick submission game and finish the fight in a flash. In fact, that’s exactly how the fight may play out. Tumenov has never faced such a strange style of striking and he could be caught slipping when he tries to set up his usual bread and butter combinations. Look for Nelson to surprise Tumenov with a blinding blitz where the former ADCC grappling champion will secure a submission in the first round. Who do you think will be victorious? Follow Generation Iron MMA on Facebook and Twitter. Also, be sure to share, like, and comment to show your support.

Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.