A former champion and a top prospect look to prove that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Women’s Bantamweight division isn’t dead this Saturday (July 13, 2019) when Sacramento hosts the promotion’s latest ESPN+ Fight Night.
Thanks to a late injury, the card features 12 fights of mixed martial arts (MMA) action, capped off by a clash between onetime Women’s Featherweight titlist Germaine de Randamie and surging young gun Aspen Ladd. Also on tap is the return of Sacramento’s own Urijah Faber, who faces a man 14 years his junior in former LFA champion Ricky Simon, plus a pivotal Featherweight bout pitting knockout artist Josh Emmett against ground-and-pound monster Mirsad Bektic.
Our usual main card guy is presently hacking his way through the damned city of Yharnam, so the duty falls to me once again. We got some “Prelims” analysis for y’all here and here, plus our customary betting guide right here.
135 lbs.: Germaine “The Iron Lady” de Randamie (8-3) vs. Aspen Ladd (8-0)
A standout Muay Thai artist with lingering wrestling issues and a lethal ground-and-pounder with shaky striking defense make for an intriguing clash of styles. Their respective histories, however, point to Ladd having the edge.
De Randamie is 5-1 in the Octagon. Of those six opponents, I’d tab three as capable wrestlers: Julie Kedzie, who took her down twice in a losing effort back in 2013, Amanda Nunes, who pounded her into submission after a single takedown one fight later, and Raquel Pennington, who went 0-8 on her takedowns last November but looked like a shell of her former self.
Ladd, meanwhile, proved against Sijara Eubanks that she can walk through blistering return fire, and like Nunes, she only needs to ground de Randamie once to set up a fight-ending burst of violence. That durability and relentlessness will be key; in de Randamie’s last main event, she only managed 2.5 solid rounds against Holly Holm before slipping into cruise control. I don’t see “The Iron Lady’s” takedown defense holding up for that long against someone who will force her to constantly work.
De Randamie does have three inches of height and five inches of reach on Ladd, plus a dangerous clinch, but Ladd’s tenacity and wrestling should put enough of a damper on the Dutchwoman’s offense to keep her out of danger. Ladd survives a rough start to muscle de Randamie to the ground and pound her out from mount or the back.
Prediction: Ladd by second-round TKO
135 lbs.: Urijah “The California Kid” Faber (34-10) vs. Ricky Simon (15-1)
Honestly, this fight would have been close to a pick-’em as recently as 2017. Simon is a stud, but Faber’s struggles came almost exclusively against superior strikers whom he couldn’t take down. He ate high-speed scramblers like Simon alive even during his decline.
Unfortunately, Faber is now 40 years old and 2.5 years removed from the cage. His one-note striking offense relies heavily on his speed, a trait Simon can easily match, and he’ll struggle to outwrestle a guy who manhandled one of the division’s best prospects in Montel Jackson.
Faber’s stayed busy on the mats during his time away and his appearances on QUINTET and Polaris show that his grappling is as fearsome as ever. It’s just hard to see him consistently making it work against a man 14 years his junior, one who is similarly technically potent and can likely outclass Faber’s renowned athleticism. Simon scrambles out of a few hairy spots to control the fight standing and bank a decision.
Prediction: Simon by unanimous decision
145 lbs.: Josh Emmett (14-2) vs. Mirsad Bektic (13-1)
This is low-key the best fight on the card. Emmett’s shown absolutely ludicrous power at 145 pounds and Bektic boasts some of the division’s most destructive top control. Even better, each fighter is well-equipped to exploit the other’s weakness; Emmett has had wrestling issues in the past, while Bektic’s chin remains a question mark after his loss to Darren Elkins.
Scary as Emmett is, it’s hard to pick against the superior takedown artist. Bektic is absolutely relentless with his wrestling onslaught, averaging more than 3.5 takedowns per 15 minutes, and the constant threat this represents makes it unlikely that Emmett will be able to plant his feet and hurl bombs with confidence.
Bektic does tend to overcommit to his punches, though, and any prolonged exchange is a golden opportunity for Emmett to turn his lights out. Thing is, Emmett will hesitate to do so after a round or so of getting ground against the fence and battered from the top. Bektic puts the pace on him for either a late stoppage or wide decision.
Prediction: Bektic by unanimous decision
185 lbs.: Karl “Baby K” Roberson (7-2) vs. Wellington “Fofão” Turman (15-2)
This was originally supposed to be Roberson against John Phillips, which would have been entertaining for exactly as long as it took Roberson to realize he could just take Phillips down and choke him out whenever he wanted. Turman’s a greater threat by virtue of having, well, any ground game at all, but “Baby K” should still come out victorious.
Despite a kickboxing background that saw him arguably defeat the legendary Jerome Le Banner, Roberson’s shown some solid wrestling chops in the Octagon, not to mention the crushing Travis Browne-style elbows he used to put away Ryan Spann on the Contender Series and nearly finish the larger Glover Teixeira in January. Turman, who sports some quality trips from the clinch but has issues with his entries, will struggle to impose his strong submission game without taking serious damage.
On the feet, Turman is too plodding to keep up with Roberson and seems to lack the one-shot power he’d need to compensate.
At 22, Turman still has plenty of time to improve, but he’ll have to live with a poor start to his Octagon career. Roberson sprawls-and-brawls his way to a dominant striking victory.
Prediction: Roberson by unanimous decision
185 lbs.: Marvin “The Italian Dream” Vettori (12-3-1) vs. Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira (13-7)
A Sherdog preview for this event pointed out that Ferreira’s UFC career arc mirrors Alistair Overeem’s and I’m still awestruck by the accuracy of that comparison. After a dominant run on the inaugural Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, “Mutante” entered the Octagon as a physical freak with dangerous power in his limbs and a killer guillotine, only to evolve into a patient counter-puncher and willing grappler once his fragility became apparent.
It’s worked so far, giving him wins in five of his last seven over the likes of Jack Marshman, Anthony Smith, and Karl Roberson. The two losses were a bogus decision against Elias Theodorou and a recent defeat against Ian Heinisch, who’s been outstanding in the UFC.
So how does Vettori measure up?
“The Italian Dream” is a capable wrestler and submission artist, a skillset that let him fight Israel Adesanya to a split decision, but hasn’t been terribly eye-catching in the Octagon. His two victories came over extremely poor grapplers in Alberto Uda and Vitor Miranda, and it was only Omari Akhmedov’s legendarily bad cardio that let Vettori escape with a draw in their bout. His aggression opens him up to Ferreira’s accurate counters and leaves him vulnerable to reactive takedowns or the Brazilian’s fearsome guillotine.
Ferreira is a stylistic nightmare for Vettori; expect him to constantly plug him with counters and rack up several minutes of top control en route to victory.
Prediction: Ferreira by unanimous decision
To see more UFC Fight Night 155: “De Randamie vs Ladd” news and notes, be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.