Before Jose Aldo and Chan Sung Jung duke it out for the featherweight championship at the end of the UFC 163 pay-per-view card or Ian McCall looks to get back on track against Iliarde Santos, the Rio de Janeiro card will kick off with the customary Facebook prelims.
This portion of the card, which can be streamed via the UFC Facebook page, offers three fights, including a bout between featherweight contender Rani Yahya and promotional newcomer Josh Clopton.
While these aren’t the most well-known fighters in the world, these fights offer fans the opportunity to see some up-and-comers attempting to climb the ladder while getting fight night started a little earlier.
Here’s a look at the card that kicks off at 6 p.m. ET.
Viscardi Andrade vs. Bristol Marunde
Kicking off the evening’s action will be a welterweight tilt between Viscardi Andrade and Bristol Marunde.
At 31 years of age, Marunde might not have much time left to make a run, and this could be his last chance to stick with a ZUFFA company. Marunde was on the losing end of a bout with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in his final fight under the Strikeforce banner.
That’s excusable, Souza was coming off of his only loss in the company and is a former champion. His loss to Clint Hester, however, is a bit more troubling. That makes him a likely candidate to be released if he drops a third consecutive fight.
Andrade is a much lesser-known commodity. He’ll be making his promotional debut with a six-fight win streak but hasn’t faced the competition that Marunde has seen.
One of them will need to win in impressive fashion to make sure he stays off the Facebook prelims next time around.
Ednaldo Oliveira vs. Francimar Barroso
UFC fans already got a glimpse of Oliveira in the Octagon once. He’ll be hoping fans don’t even recognize him this time, though.
Fighting at heavyweight, he was promptly submitted by Gabriel Gonzaga in the first round. Making the drop to 205 pounds, he’ll be looking to take advantage of a second chance to shine. The loss to the UFC veteran marked the first loss of his career, so the potential is there for Oliveira to shine at his new weight.
Challenging him will be another relatively unknown Brazilian on the card in Francimar Barroso. Fighting primarily on the regional circuit in Brazil, the 33-year-old has only been to a decision once in his 18 fights. Therefore, this should be a fun one.
Rani Yahya vs. Josh Clopton
There’s no bigger mismatch on the card than Yahya vs. Clopton.
In one corner you have a Brazilian fighting in front of a home crowd fresh off of impressive wins against Josh Grispi and Mizuto Hirota. In the other corner you have a fighter in Clopton who lost his only UFC bout against Steven Siler by decision.
Yahya‘s advanced submission game is the best reason to tune in to this one. Clopton appears to be overmatched in this one, and Yahya could make him opponent No. 16 to submit in his career.
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