UFC 273: Prelims...​

• Arce Decision ...If they battle on the outside, Santos has shown the ability over his 9-year career to piece together excellent kickboxing combinations. When you consider the two-year gap since his last fight and a lack of experience similar to Arce, it is harder to believe that Arce doesn’t find a way to win. Walking down Andre Ewell is no easy feat, yet Arce bowled him over with relentless pressure.

• Hansen ... Disregarding her awkward affair with a far larger Jasmine Jasudavicius, Hansen’s wrestling should prove far better vs Rodriguez. That isn’t to say Piera can't win, she is a vicious striker on the inside who carries surprising pop. Even with Hansen’s poor decision-making, however, the wrestling differential is too much to pass on.

• Oleinik early sub ... Vanderaa is hard to watch, lacking the power to at least be a half-entertaining, a brawling HW mess. By virtue of owning a chin capable of weathering a 44yr old grappler’s boxing, Vanderaa has a very real chance of out-lasting Oleinik’s one-round gas tank. I hate it, and although I fully believe that Vanderaa will win late, I'll Oleinik to force the early tap.

• Gall ITD ... Malott may have collected a string of first-round finishes, but Malott often faces a lot of adversity before finishing bouts. Gall is more consistent and more experienced, but stamina issues will always plague him. While Gall’s BJJ has often been held aloft as the ‘money’ part of his game, it is worth noting that his shoddy gas tank saw Gall lose to a second-round TKO vs Diego Sanchez’s corpse...lol

• Ladd Decision ... Ladd has a history of bad weight cuts, injuries, and largely wins based on her physical strength negating the opponent’s technical superiorities. While Ladd will indeed find herself the superior athlete in this affair, her defensive holes on the feet (and dreadful decision making) may see Pennington piece her apart today, however, I'll back the stronger, younger, more athletic fighter by a razor-thin margin.

• Hernandez Decision ... Josh Fremd debuts on short notice which already puts him at a disadvantage in the long-haul banger that Hernandez will bring. There is the potential that Fremd finds a hard counter early that switches off Hernandez’s lights as he flies into his combinations. More likely though is Hernandez digging deep and out-cardioing Fremd.

• Garry TKO ... Even though the UFC likely runs a promo featuring Garry’s crushing KO finish over Jordan Williams, it's important to remember that he was pieced up for the previous four minutes of the fight. Surprised by Williams’ speed and range, Garry will tower over Weeks and thankfully rely on his limited ‘lean back’ defensive movement. Weeks’ solid chin and strong wrestling base are set to test Garry’s scrambles. Should be a good fight between two somewhat unproven quantities.