UFC Vegas 51 | Main Card Preview
Saturday, April 16th (8:30 PM EST Main Card, 5:30 PM EST Prelims)
Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad
WATCH - Every fight that #4 Luque is in is a guaranteed banger. Every fight that #5 Muhammad is in is a guaranteed snoozer. When an unstoppable entertainer meets an immovable sleep doctor, whoever wins the fight is likely to win the battle of fun vs boring.
Caio Borralho vs. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev
WATCH - Two of the best fighters from last year’s contender series square off against each other in their UFC debuts. It’s not often that the UFC puts a debutante in a co-main slot so the winner of this fight is going to receive a push from the UFC that is rare for new prospects that don’t already bring a large fanbase with them.
Miguel Baeza vs. Andre Fialho
WATCH - It’s been a hard fall for Baeza who not that long ago was undefeated with a 3-0 UFC record and was at the very top of every top unranked prospect list you could find. Two losses later he looks closer to cementing himself as a journeyman than he does to cracking into the rankings. Fialho is a really fun fighter but came up just short in his debut earlier this year. This fight is an important crossroads for both fighters who desperately need a win here and a big opportunity to remind the world of how exciting and hype they can be.
Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Wu Yanan
BATHROOM BREAK - And thus the cracks of this awful card begin to really show themselves now that we find unranked women’s flyweights who are coming off of losses on the main card. Even the more entertaining fights higher on the card aren’t important or all that relevant to the larger rankings picture. The main event is the only fight on this card that would make it higher than the early-prelims on a ppv.
Pat Sabatini vs. TJ Laramie
BATHROOM BREAK - Laramie got destroyed in his debut but is still very young. Unfortunately for him it almost certainly hasn’t been enough time to develop the skills to be on the same level as a fighter like Sabatini. Sabatini has had an impressive first 3 fights in the UFC, all dominant wins. That being said, it’s way too early to force yourself to watch Sabatini fights. He is just not entertaining enough to bother watching till his streak is long enough that he gets a ranked opponent.
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Mounir Lazzez
WATCH - Lazzez had an incredible fight of the night debut, only to be upset in his next fight by a tough veteran. Speaking of tough veterans, it doesn’t get much tougher for unranked welterweights than a fighter like Zaleski dos Santos. Who had recently been serving as a rankings gatekeeper ever since #13 Li Jingliang ended his 7 fight win streak.
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