UFC Vegas 49 | Prelim Preview
Saturday, February 26th (7:00 PM EST Main Card, 4:00 PM EST Prelims)
Rongzhu vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
WATCH - There is no margin of error in this lightweight fight. No opportunity to take an extra second to duck or move your head. A second too late is a death sentence as Ignacio Bahamondes connects a flying wheel kick to your head. If that doesn't hype you up already, there is a deeper analytical reason to be excited for these guys. These are two incredibly young and talented fighters that took tough veteran matchups for their UFC debuts and battled it out to a close decision loss. Then immediately followed up those losses with incredible highlight knockouts, that came late in the 3rd round. That shows more toughness, athleticism, work ethic, and ability to improve than two quick knockout wins ever could. Make no mistake, these are much better prospects than the usual easy 1st round KO hype train!
Josiane Nunes vs. Ramona Pascual
WATCH - Nunes is the most exciting unranked women's bantamweight we've had in forever. Has finished every single one of her victories and showcased some really solid striking in her debut. Would prefer a step up in opponents but don't mind the slow build having her fight a debuting Pascual for her second UFC appearance.
Terrance McKinney vs. Fares Ziam
WATCH - This might only be Terrance McKinney's second fight in the UFC, but his debut deserves a certain level of attention. The absolute chaos of him getting a single punch knockout only to immediately destroy his knee after jumping off the cage celebrating his victory made it the most memorable debut of 2021. Just look at how comical his stats look because of how that fight went! Fares Ziam has left a lot to be desired, even in his UFC wins, but his age indicates that hopefully he'll be able to make large strides in improvements between fights. The lightweight division must've heard everyone talking about how great bantamweight is the past couple weeks cause it is absolutely loading up this card with some great young fighters!
Jinh Yu Frey vs. Hannah Goldy
BATHROOM BREAK - Let's play women's strawweight duck duck goose! I'll go first. Decision. Decision. Decision. Decision. ARM BAR!
Alejandro Perez vs. Jonathan Martinez
WATCH - Every prelim has one of these. A guaranteed fun fight which will showcase some tense striking exchanges and some incredible wrestling scrambles and prove once again why bantamweight is so great. But it is still a journeyman fight with no relevance towards the rankings and two fighters whose trajectories certainly don't point towards ever being in play for a ranking. Therefore, whether or not you should watch this fight is really more about why you watch the UFC.
Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Micheal Gillmore
BATHROOM BREAK - Unable to string together wins, awful murder differentials, and weigh on the wrong side of 160 pounds. Easy pass.
Victor Altamirano vs. Carlos Hernandez
WATCH - Not sure how to feel when the UFC pairs up debuting fighters like this. One of the reasons why we all love the UFC is the ability to easily see how the best of the best stack up against each other. Feels a bit pointless to have a fight with 2 fighters who both have no UFC experience because they might as well just fight on Dana White's Contender Series again. But all that being said, it is flyweight, which needs all the help it can get in keeping the division full of enough active fighters to maintain the top 15 rankings.
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