Preview: UFC Fight Night 200 Prelims

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Light Heavyweights

NR | Jailton Almeida (14-2, 0-0 UFC) vs. NR | Danilo Marques (11-3, 2-1 UFC)

ODDS: Almeida (-380), Marques (+290)

Marques has certainly overachieved thus far in his UFC career. When the UFC picked up Marques in 2020, it was a signing that came out of left field, even by pandemic standards. Marques had not fought particularly often in recent years and did not have a particularly impressive resume, either on paper or on film. However, the Brazilian managed to win his first two UFC fights with surprisingly little issue. They were not always pretty in their execution, but Marques leveraged his size and grappling acumen into clear victories over Khadis Ibragimov and Mike Rodriguez, ending the latter bout via submission. Marques nearly made it three straight wins against Kennedy Nzechukwu in June, but the Fortis MMA rep staged a third-round comeback and scored a knockout after getting outgrappled. Marques looks to right the ship against Almeida, who makes his UFC debut after successfully earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in September. “Malhadinho” put together a strong run of wins leading into that appearance and showed off what he does best against Nasrudin Narsudinov, winning a grappling-heavy affair via rear-naked choke in the second round. Thus far, Almeida looks like an absolute terror on the ground, though getting there could be a bit of an adventure going forward. Almeida is not the most mindful striker at times, and his relatively straightforward approach does seem to leave some defensive openings once he moves his way up the ladder. Nevertheless, this seems like a soft entry onto the UFC roster for Almeida. Marques is more than willing to meet him on his own terms, and the UFC newcomer is the much more capable fighter on the feet. The pick is Almeida via first-round submission.

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