Women’s Strawweights
NR | Cory McKenna (6-1, 1-0 UFC) vs. NR | Elise Reed (4-1, 0-1 UFC)McKenna has been a pleasant surprise during her time on the stateside radar. McKenna got the call to fight on Dana White’s Contender Series a month after her 21st birthday, which figured to be a tough ask against Vanessa Demopoulos. Beyond McKenna’s youth, the Welshwoman is about as unassuming of a fighter in terms of frame and athleticism that you will see at a high level. However, that appearance belies the fact that she is an absolute scrapper. She was able to outwork Demopoulos on route to a clear decision win and a contract, and she gutted her way to a controversial win over Kay Hansen in her UFC debut. McKenna will surely hit a physical ceiling at some point, but given what she has been able to do against better athletes thus far, it is hard to bet exactly where she will plateau. For now, she will take on Reed, who has impressed in a similar fashion thus far in her mixed martial arts career. A former atomweight, nothing about Reed particularly stands out on paper, but she had a ton of regional success on the back of well-rounded consistency at a level beyond what her lack of experience would suggest. Despite Reed’s ability to survive and take things over on the regional scene, she was overwhelmed in her UFC debut, stepping in on late-notice at flyweight and getting run over by former bantamweight Sijara Eubanks. McKenna thankfully provides a lot more physical parity in what should be a back-and-forth fight. Reed should be able to hang with her counterpart every step of the way, but McKenna’s both the more aggressive fighter and more proven entity at this point, which is enough to give her the nod. It should be relatively even, but the pick is McKenna via decision.
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