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Middleweights
Armen Petrosyan (7-2, 1-1 UFC) vs. A.J. Dobson (6-1, 0-1 UFC)Advertisement
It is difficult to tell exactly where Dobson stands. He is an obvious talent and a familiar archetype as an athlete who made it to the UFC on a string of quick finishes. However, Dobson showed flashes of a deeper game prior to his UFC debut—for one, he can actually wrestle and grapple—and impressed in losing to Jacob Malkoun in February. If nothing else, Dobson forced Malkoun to try a bunch of different wrestling approaches before finding success and fought for 15 hard minutes. Of course, it is hard to know what all that means in almost a completely opposite stylistic matchup against Petrosyan. His approach is entirely built around striking, but he has shown enough grappling chops to get by at times, particularly in an impressive UFC debut win over Gregory Rodrigues. Petrosyan getting the nod on the scorecards was a bit controversial, but it was still surprising to see him survive and keep pace against an opponent known for his offensive potency in all aspects of the game. Whatever shine Petrosyan gained from that win was mostly dulled in his sophomore effort against Caio Borralho, who easily stifled him with a control-heavy wrestling approach for the better part of three rounds. While Dobson has some skill on the mat, the quick nature of his victories and the fact that he was mostly forced to defend takedowns against Malkoun makes it difficult to tell where he falls on the spectrum of being able to control Petrosyan on the ground. Past that, this is a striking match that should be both fun and relatively even as both men combine volume and power. This is a toss-up, but Dobson having the more obvious ability to change things up gives him the narrow nod. The pick is Dobson via decision.
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