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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is bringing a bevy of “Prelims” fights to ESPN+ this weekend (Sat., March 14, 2020) when UFC Fight Night 170: “Lee vs. Oliveira” storms Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia, Brazil. MMAmania.com’s Patrick Stumberg continues the UFC Fight Night 170 “Prelims” party with the second (and final) installment of a two-part undercard preview series below.
Two men as lethal on the feet as they are on the mat meet in Brasilia this Saturday when Kevin Lee looks to end Charles Oliveira’s six-fight winning streak in hostile territory. Also on tap for UFC Fight Night 170’s ESPN+ main card are a grapplers’ delight between Demian Maia and Gilbert Burns and what could be a “Fight of the Year” candidate between Johnny Walker and Nikita Krylov.
Three UFC Fight Night 170 “Prelims” undercard bouts remain to preview and predict (check out the first batch here), ripe and ready to be dissected. Let’s get cutting:
155 lbs.: John Makdessi vs. Francisco Trinaldo
John Makdessi (17-6) — whose greatest UFC highlight came via spinning back fist knockout — found himself out-spun by Lando Vannata in 2016 as part of a 2-4 skid. “The Bull” has since gotten back on track with three straight wins, the most recent over Peru’s Jesus Pinedo in Nashville.
This will be his first fight in almost exactly a year thanks to injury.
Francisco Trinaldo (24-7) has alternated wins and losses in UFC since Kevin Lee came back from early danger to snap “Massaranduba’s” seven-fight win streak. His last two appearances have seen him lose a highly controversial decision to Alexander Hernandez and edge out Bobby Green in another contentious affair.
The 41-year-old will have one inch of height and two inches of reach on Makdessi.
I’ve been a fan of “Massaranduba” since he tossed Middleweights around on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF): “Brazil,” so I’ll admit a spot of favoritism here, but this looks like a super winnable fight for him. Relentless pressure is the ideal solution to a kick-heavy onslaught and the Brazilian has that in spades. Indeed, “The Bull” will struggle mightily to keep Trinaldo at his preferred range, and slugging it out like he did against Ross Pearson is ill-advised against the Brazilian’s thunderous left hand.
Trinaldo’s age and the careful pace he needs to keep are definitely worrisome, as they are against any opponent these days, but his considerable edge in physicality means he’ll spend much of this fight in his comfort zone. In the end, he keeps Makdessi on the back foot and punishes the body to take a comfortable decision.
Prediction: Trinaldo via unanimous decision
170 lbs.: Elizeu Zaleski vs. Aleksei Kunchenko
From 2015 to 2019, Elizeu Zaleski (21-6) put together one of the most entertaining runs in recent memory, racking up three “Fights of the Night” awards in seven consecutive wins. His streak came to an end last Aug. 2019 at the hands of fellow bruiser Li Jingliang, who put away “Capoeira” in three to earn his own post-fight bonus.
Fourteen of his 17 stoppage wins have come by form of knockout.
Aleksei Kunchenko (20-1) successfully defended the M-1 Welterweight belt four times before joining UFC, where he dispatched faded veterans Thiago Alves and Yushin Okami in successive appearances. “Wolverine” was then set to face fellow mauler Laureano Staropoli, only to drop a decision to late replacement Gilbert Burns instead.
He gives up four inches of height and three inches of reach to the Brazilian.
The main event looks like heaps of fun and Johnny Walker-Nikita Krylov probably has at least one post-fight bonus on lock, but do not sleep on this fight. Zaleski is pure violence and Kunchenko — while not the force of nature he was on the Russian circuit now that he’s in his mid-thirties — can scrap with the best of them. This is shaping up to be 15 minutes of absolute war.
Though it may be some sunk-cost fallacy on my part after hyping Kunchenko up in my “New Blood” piece, I like his chances for the upset. Zaleski’s boxing is the weakest part of his striking, and Kunchenko’s compact combination punching is well-equipped to punish that. And even if “Capoeira” does find the mark with a bomb, we’ve seen Kunchenko battle back from adversity, so it’s unlikely that Zaleski can compensate for his technical shortcomings by overpowering him. In short, “Wolverine” gets back in the win column, edging out Zaleski in a high-octane slugfest.
Prediction: Kunchenko via split decision
135 lbs.: Rani Yahya vs. Enrique Barzola
Rani Yahya (26-10) — now almost 13 years removed from his World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) debut — quietly assembled a 7-1 run that featured five submission finishes, including a 91-second heel hook of Luke Sanders in 2018. He couldn’t quite match the pace of prospect Ricky Simon, however, hurting him in the second round but ultimately losing a decision.
He ends a 13-month layoff on Saturday.
Enrique Barzola (16-5-1) opened his UFC career 5-1, the only blemish a bogus split decision against Kyle Bochniak in 2016. He now finds himself just 1-2 in his last three, a split decision over Bobby Moffett sandwiched between losses to Kevin Aguilar and Movsar Evloev.
This will be his Bantamweight debut.
Yahya’s longevity is pretty damn remarkable. Indeed, like Demian Maia, he’s found a way to parlay his grappling credentials into consistent success despite underdeveloped stand up, even if he does fade late with worrying regularity. That’s the big concern here. That’s because Barzola may not be a finisher, but he has a hell of a motor, averaging more than 4.5 takedowns per fight and a healthy number of strikes besides. If Yahya can’t get the early finish, Barzola has the skills to punish him as the fight goes on.
We’ve seen Yahya punish willing grapplers in the past, notably Michinori Tanaka and Matthew Lopez, but those two were far more committed to ground exchanges than Barzola, who’s more inclined to wear people down with repeated takedowns than look to establish top control. Plus, we just saw Barzola do a great job staying out of trouble against a high-end wrestler and scrambler in Movsar Evloev. So long as the cut to Bantamweight doesn’t prove too burdensome, expect Barzola to escape some shaky spots early and take over down the stretch.
Prediction: Barzola via unanimous decision
UFC Fight Night 170’s main event, as well as Walker vs. Krylov and Zaleski vs. Kunchenko, all have insane violence potential. You don’t want to miss a thing — see you Saturday, Maniacs!
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Fight Night 170 fight card this weekend, starting with the ESPN+“Prelims” that are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET, then the main card portion that will also stream on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Fight Night 170: “Lee vs. Oliviera” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.