Six Under-The-Radar Fights For UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori
Costa vs. Vettori is a wild one!!
After a somewhat lackluster event last week, the UFC is back at the Apex, and they are bringing 14 fights for UFC Vegas 41. In the main event, we have a matchup between two former middleweight title challengers. No. 2 ranked Paulo Costa will fight No. 5 Marvin Vettori in a light heavyweight fight because it was revealed Costa could not make 185. It has been a hectic week. However, if you look past the main event, there are some under-the-radar storylines.
Grant Dawson
No one seems to talk about Grant Dawson. It is kind of strange. He makes his sixth UFC appearance this weekend, and it will be his second fight at lightweight. He is riding an eight-fight win streak and is on the cusp of the top 15. Dawson was initially scheduled against No. 11 ranked Diego Ferreira; however, an injury scrapped that matchup. Ricky Glenn stepped up on short notice after knocking out Joaquim Silva in 37 seconds. Dawson has only been to the judge’s scorecards twice in his 17 wins. Dawson should be on more people’s radars, and hopefully, after this weekend, he will be. He fights in the co-main event.
Welcome back, Jessy Jess
Jessica-Rose Clark returns to the octagon after a little over a year on the sidelines. She tore her ACL in her last outing when she absolutely demolished Sarah Alpar via third-round TKO. The Australian now living in California looked tremendous but unfortunately had all of her hype taken away because of the injury. It was Clark’s second fight at bantamweight since moving back to the weight class. She is 3-2 in the UFC and is looking to make waves in her return. She fights a very tough and game Joselyne Edwards in what should be a very fun fight.
Banger of the week
Flyweight fight Jeff Molina vs. Daniel da Silva is the banger of the week. This fight will be incredible. Molina is coming off a Fight of the Night with Qileng Aori at UFC 261, which will be on many lists in December for Fight of the Year. His fight that won him a UFC contract last season on Dana White’s Contender Series was insane as well. Before that, he finished every single opponent. Molina is very fun to watch and always brings it. He faces newcomer da Silva who has finished all of his opponents, and sits at 11-1. This fight was featured on Dana White’s ‘If You Don’t Know Now You Know’ weekly video that he puts out.
Welcome To The UFC, Zviad Lazishvili
Another Georgian fighter has made their way to the UFC. Zviad Lazishvili is 12-0 and the former LFA bantamweight champion. He is coming off a first-round submission win over former Ultimate Fighter contestant Ricky Steele. Lazishvili is an incredible grappler and a karate champion. He was supposed to make his debut against Jack Shore last month, but Visa issues scrapped that. He will again step in on very short notice and fight Jonathan Martinez to kick off UFC Vegas 41. The Georgian MMA takeover has been happening and continues to happen. Lazishvili is the real deal.
Mason Jones
One of the hottest and brightest prospects returns for his third UFC fight. Mason Jones is only the third fighter in Cage Warrior history to hold two belts in two different weight classes. Conor McGregor and Dan Hardy were the other two. In his UFC debut, Jones won Fight of the Night and is on the shortlist for Fight of the Year with his epic fight with Mike Davis. While he lost his debut, he went out and demolished Alan Patrick in his second outing, only for the fight to be ruled a no-contest because of an accidental eye poke. Jones was supposed to rematch Patrick this weekend, but Patrick pulled out of the fight and was replaced with David Onama.
Must win
Six fighters are in a must-win situation.
- Randa Markos is on a four-fight skid. She faces Lívia Renata Souza.
- After starting his UFC career on fire, Khama Worthy has dropped two straight, being knocked out in both.
- Jai Herbert is looking for his first UFC win, and losing his first two fights, he faces Worthy.
- Jamie Pickett is looking for his first UFC after dropping his first two UFC fights.
- Laureano Staropoli is on a three-fight skid and is coming off a boring unanimous decision loss. He faces Pickett.
- Ike Villanueva has lost three of his four UFC fights and is coming off a TKO loss. He faces Nicolae Negumereanu.
