Preview: UFC Fight Night 189 Prelims

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Women’s Flyweights

NR | Manon Fiorot (6-1, 1-0 UFC) vs. NR | Tabatha Ricci (5-0, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: Fiorot (-480), Ricci (+335)

Fiorot had the look of a future contender in her UFC debut, and it will be interesting to see if the Frenchwoman can follow up on that momentum. Her January fight against Victoria Leonardo was expected to answer a lot of questions, as prior to the UFC, Fiorot had mostly faced physically overmatched opponents who had little chance of standing up to her. Leonardo figured to provide some more resistance, but in practice, she mostly just wound up trying to survive, as Fiorot laid down a beating on her way to a second-round knockout. Fiorot was initially slated to face Maryna Moroz, but with Moroz out, a UFC newcomer in Ricci steps in on a few days’ notice.

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Brazil’s Ricci returned from a six-year layoff in September and immediately went about making her name as a top prospect, scoring three wins in a shade under eight months. However, this figures to be too much of a step up despite Ricci’s talent. Beyond Ricci facing a weak level of competition since her return, she is also a career strawweight who is not particularly large for that weight class. Ricci could score an upset—she is a savvy submission artist and her counterpart’s cardio is relatively unproven—but Fiorot figures to have too much horsepower for that to be likely. The pick is Fiorot via second-round stoppage.

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