Preview: UFC Fight Night 223 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s second straight card from the Apex, UFC Fight Night 223, comes with a decent five-fight prelim slate. Heavyweights take the featured slot in an odd bit of matchmaking, as the surging Martin Buday takes on Jake Collier, who finds himself badly in need of a win. A flyweight bout between Cody Durden and Charles Johnson is the most interesting fight on paper here, though there's some potential for a breakthrough performance from a few newcomers at women's bantamweight, including Bellator MMA alum Irina Alekseeva and recent Dana White's Contender Series standout Hailey Cowan.

Heavyweights

Martin Buday (11-1) vs. Jake Collier (13-8)

ODDS: Collier (-115), Buday (-105)

Collier's 2020 return came with a few surprises, to say the least. A former middleweight and light heavyweight, Collier had been off the radar for the better part of three years before making his return at heavyweight, and had puffed up to the point of looking like a completely different human. But shockingly, Collier mostly remained the same fighter he had as a much smaller man; he's surprisingly nimble for a man his size and fights with an impressive level of pace and creativity, even though his wildness can cause things to suddenly go south, particularly without "The Prototype" possessing the requisite level of heavyweight durability. After trading wins and losses for a bit in his new weight class, it looked like Collier might score a breakthrough win about a year ago after a strong performance against Andrei Arlovski; but the split decision went Arlovski's way, and an upset loss to Chris Barnett in September has left Collier without much in the way of momentum. Surprisingly, the UFC has decided to match the skidding Collier up with Buday, who's undefeated in his two trips to the Octagon thus far. A 2021 alum of the Contender Series, Slovakia's Buday is a much more traditional heavyweight prospect; "Badys" is a massive man and a straight-ahead pressure fighter, relying on his durability and size to allow him to march his opponent down and either pour on offense or smother them against the fence. Buday's been stunned here and there, so Collier certainly has a shot at a knockout win, but this pairing looks tailor-made for Buday to implement his typical game and overwhelm Collier at some point; the pick is Buday via second-round stoppage.

Jump To »
Buday vs. Collier
Durden vs. Johnson
Egger vs. Alekseeva
Kelleher vs. Newson
Cowan vs. Horth