Weekend Fights Preview

UFC Fight Night: Holm vs Vieira

We have another lack luster fight night this weekend, but at least this one is a 7 o'clock start time so you aren't staying awake until midnight to watch mediocre fights. This weekend's main event is the rare women's headliner featuring Holly Holm vs Ketlen Vieira. You kind of have to be deep in the weeds of being a UFC fight fan to know some of these fighters on the card. Many may not even know either of the main event fighters if it wasn't for Holly Holm's viral head kick KO of Ronda Rousey back in 2015. 

Some background on fighters to keep an eye on Saturday night:

• Michel Pereira is a crazy athletic fighter who has wild fights often involving strikes off the cage and even the occasional front flip

• Eryk Anders was a former linebacker on a national championship Alabama football team now fighting in the middleweight division

• Chase Hooper, one of the youngest fighters in the UFC at 22 years old (and looks 16) is a lanky grappler who is always a threat to finish the fight on the ground, but also has looked completely lost in the stand up portion of his fights

Fight Schedule - 5/21/2022

UFC Fight Night: Holm vs Vieira

Prelims - 4:00 EST - ESPN +

Main Card - 7:00 EST - ESPN +

Lock of the Week

Parlay(-109): Chidi Njokuani (-240) WITH Joseph Holmes vs Alen Amedovski fight does not go the distance (-280)

Riding with another 2 leg parlay this week coming off the success we had with it from last week. We're a little in the weeds with some unfamiliar names on this one so proceed with caution -  But also, it's a lock. 

Some stats behind the reasoning for these picks:

• Njokuani has a 6 inch reach advantage on his opponent Todorovic

• Njokuani hits like a truck - coming off 3 KO wins, while Todorovic has a tendency to get hit - absorbs 4.96 strikes per minute (that's a lot - for comparison Njokuani absorbes 1.53)

• Holmes has 7 wins, 6 of which have come by finish

• Ameddovski has 8 wins, 8 of which have come by finsih

• Read the above two bullets again - thats a 93% finish rate in wins!

Storyline to Watch

The Ultimate Failure

How many of you watched episode 3 of The Ultimate Fighter this week? Yeah, I didn't even know the season started either.

What used to be a reality show the UFC used to attract many fans, TUF has now gone mostly overlooked and forgotten. Now airing exclusively on ESPN+ the viewership has declined almost every season with rumors of them cancelling the show seemingly after every season. Even the talent has seemed to decline. More fighters are coming out of UFC's other show, Dana White's Contender Series, than they are successfully coming out of TUF. Gone are the days of the Nate Diaz's, Forrest Griffen's, and TJ Dillashaw's competing on TUF.

One caveat to this, a potential life line to save The Ultimate fighter - this week Khabib Nurmagomedov answered Tony Ferguson's  challenge to coach against him on the Ultimate Fighter, telling him to "call your bosses." I do not think this will happen, Khabib has been retired and has never been one for the spot light. But interesting that Khabib even recognized this call out. 

Clip of the Week

Watch a doctor explain Rakic's injury from last weeks main event, which we now know is his third ACL tear.