Preview: UFC Fight Night 193 ‘Santos vs. Walker’

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Middleweights

NR | Krzysztof Jotko (22-5, 9-5 UFC) vs. #13 LHW | Misha Cirkunov (15-6, 6-4 UFC)

ODDS: Jotko (-150), Cirkunov (+130)

This marks Cirkunov’s move down to middleweight, which is an interesting gambit. Through his first four UFC fights, Cirkunov looked like the next star for his adopted home country of Canada, running through his opponents with the crushing grappling game that served as his base while also showing some burgeoning striking. After a bit of a standoff with the UFC when it came to his next contract, Cirkunov eventually re-signed and was put into what figured to be a showcase bout that launched him to title contention. He was matched against Volkan Oezdemir, whose resume at the time consisted of little past a questionable decision win over Ovince St. Preux. Instead, Oezdemir scored a 28-second knockout, and while that seemed like a huge upset at the time, it was instead an omen of things to come. When Cirkunov wins, it is an extremely impressive thing to watch, as he is able to physically overwhelm opponents and hunt for some impressively slick submissions. However, it is just as disheartening when Cirkunov loses. While his striking is still technically sound, he just keeps getting hit with shots that he does not see coming, resulting in quick knockouts against less developed but wilder and more athletic opponents. Cirkunov heads down to 185 pounds against Jotko, who is a solid litmus test to see if this move will work out.

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Jotko quietly put together a five-fight winning streak from 2014 to 2016 but hit a clear ceiling in his next three fights, dropping a decision to David Branch before getting knocked out by Uriah Hall and Brad Tavares. Jotko is a well-rounded fighter with a bit of unorthodox form to his game, making him someone who can build some impressive momentum when everything is clicking. Still, he can run the risk of everything falling apart against an opponent who can press an advantage. After rebounding from the aforementioned losing streak with three wins, Jotko got a reminder of those flaws against Sean Strickland in May, dropping a one-sided fight. This is a two true outcome fight: Cirkunov should be an absolute hulk if he can get his hands on the American Top Team rep and should quickly be able to work for a submission, but Jotko may just knock him out before it gets to that point. Jotko is not a particularly reliable knockout threat, but Cirkunov moving down to a division where he will face fighters with even faster hands seems like a bad idea; and Jotko strikes with unorthodox enough form that he should be able to catch Cirkunov off-guard, which typically does not end well for the Xtreme Couture product. The pick is Jotko via first-round knockout.

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