Preview: UFC 272 Prelims

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Women’s Flyweights

NR | Mariya Agapova (10-2, 2-1 UFC) vs. NR | Maryna Moroz (10-3, 5-3 UFC)

ODDS: Agapova (-210), Moroz (+175)

The main event is not the only grudge match on this card, as this is a fight with some serious bad blood that should also be interesting inside the cage. Comparisons to Joanna Jedrzejczyk are based on little more than cosmetics, but Agapova was still an obvious prospect to watch upon hitting the stateside scene. She was clearly outwrestled by Tracy Cortez on the Contender Series in 2019, but the Kazakh rebounded quite well under the Invicta Fighting Championships banner, showing off her combination of wild but powerful striking and an aggressive grappling game. That earned her a UFC contract come 2020, and after an impressive win in her UFC debut, Agapova surprisingly called out Shana Dobson for a fight that was not on anyone’s radar, particularly given that Dobson seemed to be on her way out of the promotion with a recent loss. Even more surprisingly, the UFC went ahead and booked the fight, which saw Dobson pull off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, outlasting an exhausted and overaggressive Agapova to pound out a second-round finish. Things did not get much better afterwards for Agapova, who sat out with knee surgery and changed camps amid what was reportedly a litany of issues, per a former teammate in Moroz. According to Moroz, Agapova’s issues included drug use, threatening to stab teammates and stalking the wife of a fighter. Those reports did not exactly make for great vibes heading into Agapova’s October bout against Sabina Mazo, which made it a shock when Agapova put in by far the best performance of her career, staying composed while carrying her power and eventually blasting Mazo in the third round on route to a submission shortly afterwards. Now it is time for her to settle her issues with Moroz, as “The Iron Lady” steps into the cage for the first time in roughly two years. Moroz’s organizational debut was one of the more stunning upsets of its time. Joanne Wood essentially wanted a fight to keep busy in 2015, and the unknown Ukrainian got the call for the spot, only to shock Wood with an armbar in just 90 seconds. Since then, Moroz has been a solid middle-of-the-road fighter who has slowly developed over the years. Much has been made of her tendency to throw out volume that does not actually connect with her opponent, particularly in a 2016 bout against Danielle Taylor, but she has made her striking offense more consistently effective to back up her solid grappling skills. Still, it does feel like Moroz’s wins have more to do with the flaws of her opponents, whether it is her overmatching raw prospects or taking advantage of the raw aggression of Mayra Bueno Silva in her last win, which took place right before the UFC’s brief pandemic shutdown. If Agapova keeps anything like the form she did against Mazo, she should be able to win a kickboxing match without issue as the much more accurate and harder-hitting fighter. However, given the bad blood involved, there is a chance she returns to her old ways and decides to resolve the issue by putting a nail in Moroz’s coffin. She is potent enough that she may just quickly catch Moroz unawares and score an easy win, but that also raises the possibility she leaves herself exhausted past the first frame. Either way, the Kazakh fighter does figure to have the better chance of winning. The pick is Agapova via third-round submission.

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