Preview: UFC Fight Night 217 ‘Strickland vs. Imavov’

Bantamweights

Umar Nurmagomedov (15-0) vs. Raoni Barcelos (17-3)
Odds: Nurmagomedov (-610), Barcelos (+460)

The UFC's bantamweight division hardly needed another promising potential contender, but here comes Umar Nurmagomedov rising up the 135-pound ranks. A cousin of Khabib, Nurmagomedov came to the UFC well-regarded and well-tested - a 2018 win over Saidyokub Kakhramonov has aged particularly well - and has faced little resistance in his three trips to the Octagon. Unlike his champion kin, Nurmagomedov adopts more of a bouncy kick-heavy style to pick apart his opponents, but he backs it up with the expected high level of wrestling and grappling, using that as a route to one-sided wins over Sergey Morozov, Brian Kelleher and Nate Maness. The time is right for the Russian to get his next step up the ladder, so he thankfully draws Raoni Barcelos here in an interesting test. Barcelos's UFC career will likely be remembered more for what could've been, since the Brazilian's championship window looks to be permanently closed due to some bad luck. Barcelos came to the UFC in 2018 as a fully formed talent and marched up the ladder as both an impressive and exciting fighter; Barcelos's style is built around aggression at all levels, relying on his pace and durability to find holes in his opponent's reactions and take over the fight. By 2020, the UFC's matchmaking was obviously looking for a path to move Barcelos into the rankings, but the fates conspired against the Brazilian getting a breakout win; seemingly every chance to move Barcelos up the ladder fell apart due to some issue on either side. That left Barcelos taking on late replacements in high-risk no-reward positions, which eventually came back to bite him with losses against Timur Valiev and Victor Henry. Barcelos dominated Trevin Jones in October to remind everyone why he's been someone to watch, but at 35 years old with an athleticism-dependent style, it looks like Barcelos's run to contention isn't going to happen. The most fascinating dynamic here is that Barcelos has typically had some ironclad takedown defense, which should theoretically take away the best parts of Nurmagomedov's game - if the Russian turns this into a steamrolling, it'll be the kind of performance that should put the entire division on notice. But Barcelos's straightforward aggression should give Nurmagomedov a lot of opportunities to build offense early and pick the Brazilian apart with that kicking game, and even if he can't keep it up for 15 straight minutes, that should be enough to slow Barcelos's momentum early and hang on for the win in the end. The pick is Nurmagomedov via decision.

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Strickland vs. Imavov
Ige vs. Jackson
Soriano vs. Kopylov
Vieira vs. Pennington
Nurmagomedov vs. Barcelos
The Prelims