Heavyweights
Jared Vanderaa (12-8, 1-4 UFC) vs. Chase Sherman (15-10, 3-9 UFC)Sherman had some legitimate prospect shine upon his UFC debut in 2016. “The Vanilla Gorilla” is a legitimate athlete with durability and speed, but it quickly became apparent that he would need to make some gains on defense to hang in the promotion for any length of time. After a middling run, Sherman was released in 2018 and pivoted to bareknuckle boxing along with some regional fights, then got re-signed early on in the pandemic. The extra experience had made Sherman a more diverse striker, but he was still plagued by giving away most of his gains on defense. Even worse, there seemed to consistently be a point where Sherman would lose faith in his abilities and allow his opponent to take over the fight, which reached a clear nadir after a first-round loss to Jake Collier in January. The UFC released Sherman again in April, but within days needed a late-replacement opponent for Alexander Romanov. To his credit, Sherman parlayed the UFC’s needs into a quick return on a new contract worth double the pay of his old deal. Then came the fighting part, and after expectedly getting run over by Romanov, Sherman attempts to find a win here. Vanderaa is not a particularly inspiring fighter, but “The Mountain” is big and durable, which is enough to scrape by in the heavyweight division. A lot of his early career, as well as his contract-earning win over Harry Hunsucker on Dana White’s Contender Series, suggested Vanderaa’s best approach would be to grind and smother his opponents, but he's found his most success as a surprisingly deft and willing striker able to outlast his opponents in some messy brawls. Sherman should be able to land some punches on him, but with Vanderaa being historically durable and his counterpart not typically being a one-shot knockout artist, it seems inevitable that Vanderaa will eventually wade through Sherman’s offense and drag him into some deeper waters, at which point a win should come shortly thereafter. The pick is Vanderaa via second-round stoppage.
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Dos Anjos vs. Fiziev
Borralho vs. Petrosyan
Nurmagomedov vs. Silva de Andrade
Vanderaa vs. Sherman
Mullarkey vs. Johnson
The Prelims