Preview: UFC Fight Night 210 Prelims

Women’s Flyweights

Gillian Robertson (10-7, 7-5 UFC) vs. Mariya Agapova (10-3, 2-2 UFC)

ODDS: Robertson (-145), Agapova (+125)

Frustrating flyweight prospects look to get some momentum going in this pairing. A relative unknown coming out of her 2017 stint on “The Ultimate Fighter,” Robertson quickly became a talent to watch thanks to her impressive skill on the ground, clamping down on a gnarly armbar against Emily Whitmire before spoiling the UFC debut of Molly McCann. A few years later, that is still mostly the book on “The Savage.” She has continued to improve as a wrestler and remains a terror on the mat, but while she has put in plenty of work to make her striking functional, she is still quite uncomfortable in that phase of her fights, especially when she cannot find a consistent path to a takedown. Robertson is still obviously improving, but it has been a disappointment to see things plateau a bit after a hot start to her UFC career, though she will likely round out into something impressive in the years to come. Meanwhile, her opponent has wound up in a similar place, albeit via a completely different route. Unlike Robertson, Kazakhstan’s Agapova is a standout athlete who has struggled to channel that into anything consistent; while Robertson has one focused strength to her game and has struggled to round out everything, Agapova is wild with finishing ability everywhere but has not found one phase to consistently control her fights. After a dominant UFC debut over Hannah Cifers, Agapova’s hype train got completely derailed in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history against Shana Dobson. Agapova completely burned herself out hunting for a finish, leaving her open to whatever Dobson wanted to do by the second round. Agapova has only had two fights in the ensuing two years, and it is a bit hard to know what to take from those bouts going forward. Her range and power seemed to take Sabina Mazo completely out of her game, but she had little to offer in a blood feud matchup against Maryna Moroz, quickly getting dominated on the mat and finished in the second round. She is on the opposite end of Robertson on many spectrums, but Agapova has wound up in a similar spot; the potential is there, but it has taken longer than expected for everything to click. Agapova should get off to a hot start and rock Robertson on the feet, which could be enough to get a quick finish. While Robertson may be taken out of her game early, she is tough to actually knock out. If Agapova punches herself to exhaustion, Robertson has exactly the type of focused wrestling and grappling to end the fight shortly thereafter. The pick is Robertson via second-round submission.

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