UFC 197 is bringing a barrage of great fights this weekend.
UFC light heavyweight great Jon Jones will return to action at UFC 197 for the first time since January of 2015. Since then, Jones has been stripped of his title which was picked up by Jones nemesis Daniel Cormier. While we all wanted to see Jones return to rematch Cormier in an all out showdown between good and evil, an injury has delayed this match up. Now, we have Jon Jones meeting #6 light heavyweight Ovince St. Preux. Also on the card is a flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo. All this great action is on the main card, but let’s take a look at the prelim:
Fight Pass Prelims
Starting the action off at UFC 197 is a triage of bouts on Fight Pass. Efrain Escudero and Kevin “The Motown Phenom” Lee will meet at lightweight in a hell of a match up. Lee was a top prospect as he racked up a 4-fight win streak before he was finished in his last bout against Leonardo Santos. Escudero on the other hand was last seen dropping a decision to Leandro Silva in Mexico. Both Lee and Escudero are excellent grapplers, but Lee is drastically more athletic and more explosive. I favor Lee here, but Escudero is forged in fire and is as tough as they come.
The action makes a jump to light heavyweight for the next bout when Clint Hester and Marcos Rogerio de Lima square off. Hester used to fight at middleweight, so now he doesn’t have to worry about the big weight cut – I heavily favor him here. Although Hester was finished in his last two bouts, his stand up is very scary. He has heat in his hands as well as very slick movement. Against de Lima though, another very heavy handed guy, he might be in trouble when trading shots. De Lima should be the much bigger fighter, so Hester will have to rely on his hand speed and movement to win. This one isn’t going 3 rounds.
Topping off the Fight Pass card is a heavyweight match up between Walt Harris and Cody East. There isn’t much information out on Cody East other than he has won a lot of wins by knockout. Walt Harris is a very athletic and explosive fighter, but has yet to pick up a UFC victory. He was smashed by Sao Palelei in his last bout, and the same thing could very well happen against the big, powerful Cody East. Once again, I doubt this is going 3 rounds. If it is, it could be a sloppy 15-minute affair.
Fox Sports 1 Prelims
In a lightweight bout, UFC prospect James Vick and one-time UFC veteran Glaico Franca square off. Vick was last seen shutting down fellow prospect James Matthews with a guillotine joke. Vick was caught by some hard strikes early in the fight, but Vick battled through and scored the submission victory. It’ll be difficult to do the same against Franca as “Nego” is a reknowned submission grappler. Franca has 6 submissions to his credit as well as 6 knockouts. I think Vick is a very talented prospect and an up-and-comer, but Franca is a dangerous foe for anybody. Nevertheless, I favor Vick here by decision as he has more UFC experience with his 4-0 record in the promotion.
Former women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza returns to action after her 2015 beatdown by Joanna Jedrzejczyk. She meets Juliana Lima who is on a 2-0 streak since losing to Joanna as well. It’s difficult to tell what type of form Esparza is in. If she has tightened up her stand up then I fully expect her to maul Lima. Even if Esparza hasn’t made any drastic improvements, I still favor her in this match up as she has proven herself against more worthy competition. Ring rust is the only thing that makes me hesitant picking Esparza.
Next up is Dominique Steele and Danny Roberts at welterweight. Steele is an exciting fighter who won via slam in his last bout against Dong Hyun Kim (not the Stun Gun). Roberts is 1-0 in the UFC who has a lot of submission victories, and also a KO win over Jim “Judo” Wallhead. Steele has potential to be a personality in the future, but I think he loses this one against Roberts as Roberts appears to be a bit more technically refined. That being said, Steele is a powerful man who can end the fight with any calculated explosion. However, Roberts is more refined, and has more weapons on the feet and on the mat.
Topping off the Fox Sports 1 prelims at UFC 197 is Sergio Pettis and Chris Kelades. Pettis was last seen defeating former title challenger Chris Cariaso by decision, but before that was upset by Ryan Benoit. Kelades on the other hand is an up-and-comer who is 2-1 in the UFC known for his very exciting grappling skills. Pettis is a very agile striker but lacks stopping power to finish fights. This one will most certainly go to a decision, but I see this being a very back-and-forth bout. I give Pettis the edge, but would not be surprised if Kelades pulls off the upset in. If he does, it will come by pressure and making it an ugly fight. Pettis’s striking defense has shown holes as well, but I don’t see Kelades winning many exchanges. This will definitely be a competitive contest, and it should be fun.
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