Preview: UFC Fight Night ‘Lewis vs. Hunt’

Light Heavyweights

Ion Cutelaba (12-3) vs. Luis Henrique da Silva (13-1)

THE MATCHUP: If I had the capability to include emojis in this preview, you would be looking at a series of tiny fires right now. Cutelaba is one of the most promising fighters in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, a 23-year-old swarmer with an iron chin and a great instinct for scrambles. Opposing him in this fight is da Silva, aka “Frankenstein,” a heavy-handed muay Thai stylist who starts every fight by pouring every ounce of energy into a relentless barrage of punches, kicks and brutal clinch knees. Neither man likes to back up, and I am not certain that either will. This is also a battle between two southpaws, and while that sort of matchmaking has been known to produce slogs in the boxing ring, it tends to produce fireworks in the cage. I am reminded of Johny Hendricks-Robbie Lawler, Conor McGregor-Nate Diaz and Kelvin Gastelum-Rick Story. They are happy memories.

Cutelaba’s striking tends to be wild, and he is not shy about abandoning his stance to throw looping punches and unorthodox spinning strikes. As noted above, he is something of a swarmer, but he is not particularly good at cutting off the cage, which means he tends to chase his opponents rather than trapping them. All of this may be moot, however, as da Silva is rarely keen to get on his bicycle. The Brazilian prefers to stand directly in front of his opponents, absorbing punches on his guard -- and often his forehead -- while responding with short but powerful combinations of his own. Frequently, he will follow a left hand into the clinch, where he does considerable damage with knees to the body.

The ground game should be every bit as compelling as the standup. Da Silva’s jiu-jitsu is imperfect, but he is crafty and aggressive. He stays active off of his back, threatening submissions and sweeps at every opportunity. He does not typically go to the ground of his own accord, and Cutelaba would be well advised to force that phase. He is a capable scrambler with a knack for ground-and-pound, usually allowing his opponent to move in order to clip him with hard shots in transition. This aggressive approach does leave him vulnerable at times, so “Frankenstein” will have opportunities to off-balance him and attack.

THE ODDS: Cutelaba (-315), da Silva (+245)

THE PICK: This fight will most likely come down to durability and endurance. Da Silva is certainly tough, but he has been rocked in every one of his three UFC fights, whereas Cutelaba has shaken off the best punches of men like Jared Cannonier and Misha Cirkunov with little difficulty. Like the classic monster movies from which he derives his name, “Frankenstein” will keep coming back for more long after it makes sense to do so, but his gas tank tends to fail before his chin does; and while Cutelaba does show the effects of his crazy pace after the second round, it is not unusual to see da Silva gasping for breath after the first three minutes of combat. Expect this fight to start out extremely competitive before Cutelaba’s fitness allows him to take over. The pick is Cutelaba by second-round TKO.

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