Preview: UFC 272 Prelims

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 272 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Light Heavyweights

NR | Dustin Jacoby (16-5-1, 4-2-1 UFC) vs. NR | Michal Oleksiejczuk (16-4, 4-2 UFC)

ODDS: Jacoby (-180), Oleksiejczuk (+155)

It is gone a bit under the radar due to the crush of the UFC schedule, but Jacoby’s return to the promotion has been shockingly successful. Jacoby’s first UFC stint was as forgettable as they come. Signed by the promotion in 2011 less than a year after his professional debut, “The Hanyak” suffered two losses in three months—neither of them televised—before being shown the door. From there, Jacoby had some solid success before falling into a kickboxing career, focusing on that sport before transitioning back to mixed martial arts in 2020. His return fight was a one-sided win over Ty Flores on the Contender Series, and since earning a contract, it has been off to the races. Unsurprisingly, Jacoby has been at his most comfortable on the feet, particularly when he can dictate the terms of engagement with his opponent. Against fighters who have been able to pressure him, Jacoby does seem to struggle a bit in terms of quickly processing all of his offensive and defensive options. Between Jacoby’s level of skill and the limited nature of most of his opponents, he has reliably been able to find wins and the occasional knockout. Since his comeback, he has won all of his fights, except a May draw against Ion Cutelaba that saw him charge back from some early difficulty. This time around, Jacoby gets an interesting test in Oleksiejczuk. Poland’s Oleksiejczuk appeared to come to the UFC with the exact wrong approach to find success. A lot of his regional fights depended on his absorbing a ton of damage in order to stage a comeback, something that figured to just get him knocked out against harder hitters. Somehow, that worked against Khalil Rountree in his UFC debut, as he basically ate offense until Rountree faded and allowed Oleksiejczuk to coast to a decision win. Oleksiejczuk is undersized for the division and appears to have enough excess weight to cut down to 185 pounds, but that does give him a speed advantage that he has been able to leverage in his best wins, as he followed the Rountree fight with quick knockouts of Gian Villante and Gadzhimurad Antigulov. Then a funny thing happened. Oleksiejczuk seemingly fell in love with the knockout, and now he was suddenly the fighter who would pour on offense and tire himself out, as the Pole lost his next two fights. That has not changed much in Oleksiejczuk’s recent fights, but he has at least found enough success to squeak out a narrow decision win over Modestas Bukauskas and quickly knock out Shamil Gamzatov. That figures to be the dynamic here. Oleksiejczuk’s speed and awkward aggression should be able to throw Jacoby off early and find some success, but if he is unable to score the quick finish, Jacoby figures to settle into a groove and start taking over the fight in one-sided fashion. Jacoby has proven durable thus far, so the bet is that he can survive and turn things around. The pick is Jacoby via third-round stoppage.