After falling quick in opposition to Marina Rodriguez and Yan Xiaonan (watch highlights), Mackenzie Dern will look to lastly declare her first UFC primary occasion victory this Saturday (Could 20, 2023) when she battles ageless veteran, Angela Hill, inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. Additionally on faucet is a make-or-break alternative for Middleweight prospect Edmen Shahbazyan, who battles the always-dangerous Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez within the co-feature.
UFC Vegas 73 is down to simply six “Prelims” undercard bouts, three of which we’ve damaged down beneath. Let’s take a look …
155 lbs.: Chase Hooper vs. Nick Fiore
Seventeen months after beating Canaan Kawaihae on Contender Collection to earn a developmental contract, Chase Hooper (11-3-1) kicked off his UFC marketing campaign with a technical knockout end of Daniel Teymur. He’s since misplaced three of 5, together with a 92-second knockout by the hands of Steve Garcia in Oct. 2022 (watch it).
He boasts two inches of top and attain on Fiore.
Nick Fiore (6-1) went 5-1 as an novice earlier than racking up six fast wins on the New England circuit. He then stepped up on quick discover to face Contender Collection standout, Mateusz Rebecki, who out-warred Fiore en path to a choice win.
None of Fiore’s six skilled victories have lasted longer than 4 minutes.
I can minimize Hooper some slack for being 23 years outdated, but it surely’s been practically six years since his skilled debut and he’s not enhancing the best way he ought to. He nonetheless appears to be like downright unnatural on the toes, like he’s attempting to drive his physique to maneuver in methods it wasn’t designed to. That’s not one thing {that a} bit extra muscle can repair.
It’s unclear whether or not Fiore can deal with Hooper’s cardio onslaught — there’s solely a lot you possibly can glean from a last-minute struggle with Rebecki, who out-classed him in each conceivable class and would crumple Hooper into an ideal sphere in the event that they ever fought. Fiore does have a stable grappling pedigree, although, and that’s sufficient to get him my nod.
Prediction: Fiore through unanimous choice
125 lbs.: Natalia Silva vs. Victoria Leonardo
After 2.5 years on the sidelines, Natalia Silva (14-5-1) introduced her UFC arrival with a one-sided choice over Contender Collection graduate, Jasmine Jasudavicius. She was much more spectacular her subsequent outing, stopping unbeaten Tereza Bleda with a bonus-winning spinning again kick in Nov. 2022.
Her 11 skilled finishes embrace seven through submission.
Victoria Leonardo (9-5) had the unenviable process of going through Manon Fiorot and Melissa Gatto in her first two UFC bouts, leading to back-to-back technical knockout defeats. “Fury” lastly claimed her first Octagon win in July 2022, out-wrestling Mandy Bohm to assert a unanimous choice.
She offers up one inch of attain to Silva regardless of standing one inch taller.
Leonardo’s first two UFC bouts noticed her dominated by cellular, kick-heavy strikers whom she couldn’t reliably take down. She faces that very same scenario right here and I don’t see it going any higher for her. Silva dismantled rugged grapplers in Jasudavicius and Bleda with relative ease, and on paper, Leonardo doesn’t carry something to the desk that these two didn’t.
Silva’s simply too quick, too elusive, and too highly effective for Leonardo’s fundamental method to cope with. The massive query right here isn’t whether or not Silva will win, however whether or not she will put away Leonardo. I’ll be an optimist and say she seals the deal someday across the halfway level.
Prediction: Silva through second spherical technical knockout
170 lbs.: Takashi Sato vs. Themba Gorimbo (10-4)
Takashi Sato (16-6) began his UFC profession 2-1, a submission loss to Belal Muhammad sandwiched between knockout wins over Jason Witt and Ben Saunders. The success wasn’t to final, and he enters the cage this weekend on the heels of three consecutive defeats.
He’s ended 13 skilled fights inside the gap, 11 of them through knockout.
Themba Gorimbo (10-4) — the previous EFC Welterweight champion — bounced again from a choice defeat to Handesson Ferreira by beating Julio Rodrigues in his Fury FC debut. This arrange a Feb. 2023 UFC debut in opposition to late alternative, A.J. Fletcher, who choked out “The Reply” 97 seconds into the second spherical.
He stands three inches taller than Sato and enjoys a four-inch attain benefit.
As a lot as I’d wish to see Sato drop the hammer on Gorimbo (each as a result of “Ten” is the extra entertaining fighter and since I nonetheless haven’t purged the Japanese MMA favoritism that outlined my early years following the game), it’s exhausting to place confidence in him. He simply doesn’t throw these heavy palms practically sufficient; he was so terrified by the prospect of grappling with Gunnar Nelson that he threw 23 vital strikes over three full rounds. Miguel Baeza didn’t even try a takedown within the first spherical of their struggle and Sato nonetheless landed a measly eight strikes.
I don’t price Gorimbo terribly extremely — his grappling is shaky and his placing approach falls aside if he throws greater than two photographs at a time, however being prepared to throw and eager to wrestle offers him the sting in my ebook. Except Sato can plunk him with a one-hitter quitter, Gorimbo out-works and out-wrestles him to a choice win.
Prediction: Gorimbo through unanimous choice
Three extra UFC Vegas 73 “Prelims” bouts stay to preview and predict. See you tomorrow, Maniacs.
Do not forget that MMAmania.com will ship LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow protection of all the UFC Vegas 73 struggle card proper right here, beginning with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, that are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining primary card steadiness (additionally on ESPN+) at 7 p.m. ET.
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