Andre Fili vs Lando Vannata added to UFC Fight Night 212
We’ve been informed of a very exciting featherweight match up going down at UFC Fight Night 212, and that’s a clash between Andre Fili and Lando Vannata.
UFC Fight Night 212 is to go down on October 1, 2022, live from a to-be-determined venue.
Something to be said about both of these men; each had a lot of hype early on in their careers, and neither has quite lived up to it.
Starting with Andre Fili, he came to the UFC back in 2013 with a record of 12-1, his only defeat coming via injury in round five of a title fight. Nonetheless, once his incredibly impressive UFC debut was said and done, he was on a nine-fight win streak.
Future, now former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway would put a halt to that streak, submitting (guillotine choke) Fili in round three of his next outing, and sadly, his career has been back and forth between wins and losses ever since.
After falling to 13-2 with his defeat to Holloway, Fili has since gone 8-7 (1 NC), though many believe he could be 10-5 (1 NC) through his latest 16 appearances. There was a streak there where he went 5-2, losing to Michael Johnson (SD) and Sodiq Yusuff (UD) in that time.
He could’ve handily gotten the nod in both performances and been on a seven-fight win streak at that time.
Nonetheless, he goes into this fight with a record of 21-9 (1 NC), coming off a 41-second TKO defeat to an unknown prospect (Joanderson Brito), something we’d never really seen happen to him before.
Lando Vannata on the other hand came to the UFC in 2016 with a record of 8-0 as a late replacement for Khabib Nurmagomedov to face, you guessed it, Tony Ferguson. Well, this time around, once that fight was pulled, Vannata was given a shot at the streaking Ferguson in his promotional debut.
And, it’s because of this debut performance that we all had such high hopes for him.
After showing off his incredible footwork, and after dropping Ferguson a couple times, ‘El Cucuy’ was able to lock in the D’Arce choke for a second round rally. Seven of Vannata’s eight wins coming into this fight came via finish, and he nearly climb to 9-0 on that night, which would’ve surely become one of the biggest upsets we’d seen in the sport.
Vannata followed this up with a first-round KO of former 22-0 professional kickboxer (also Shotokan karate & Taekwondo black belt) John Makdessi, a surprise to us all, as he landed one of the most flawless, and effortless spinning wheel kicks in UFC history.
But, Vannata would go winless over his next four outings following this stunning victory, going 0-2-2 in that time, before coming back to go 3-3 over his last six.
Both of these talents are very crafty, dangerous strikers, and Vannata has an underrated ground game, despite being submitted (guillotine choke) in his last outing by a fellow striker.
Fili has incredibly crisp and slick hands, while Vannata is one of the better talents in the sport at switching stances while throwing a wide array of strikes.
Who do you see coming out of this one on top?
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