Preview: UFC Fight Night 182 Prelims

Women’s Strawweights

Miranda Granger (7-1) vs. Ashley Yoder (7-6)

ODDS: Granger (-140), Yoder (+120)

The UFC surprisingly stuck by Yoder after she lost her first three fights inside the Octagon, and she has made the best of the opportunity, showing some clear improvement in her appearances since. Yoder came into the UFC primarily as a grappling specialist, but she has done well to develop a much-improved striking game. Still, while Yoder has done a much better job of putting things together on the feet, she is still not particularly elusive, so her fights often wind up as back-and-forth battles on the ground. Her last two fights have seen Yoder just miss on scoring a breakthrough victory, as her losses to Randa Markos and Livinha Souza were both nip-tuck affairs that easily could have gone in her favor. She looks to snap that losing streak against Granger here. Granger was primarily a clinch and submission artist on the regional scene, but her UFC debut against Hannah Goldy saw her impressively pick apart a much shorter and stouter opponent. However, whatever momentum “Danger” had coming off of that win was quickly dashed, as Amanda Lemos mostly ran her over in her last fight in December. Granger is probably the sharper boxer, but she will not have a reach advantage in this bout, so this figures to be another Yoder fight that quickly turns into a grappling match. While Granger is certainly capable of catching “The Spider Monkey” in something, Yoder figures to be the much stronger wrestler. The pick is for Yoder to control the fight and take the decision.

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