Preview: UFC 293 Prelims

Featherweights

Shane Young (13-7, 2-4 UFC) vs. Gabriel Miranda (16-6, 0-1 UFC)

ODDS: Young (-166), Miranda (+140)

Young gets what is assumedly one last chance to turn around his luck, as it has been a rough few years for the New Zealander. After getting the late-notice call from the UFC in 2017 to get crushed by Alexander Volkanovski, Young strung together exciting wins over Rolando Dy and Austin Arnett that suggested he could carve out a niche as a featherweight striker. However, Young has not found much momentum since that 2019 victory over Arnett. He has run into a clear athletic ceiling in his last three bouts and looks quite the worse for it, with his recent performances suggesting he is struggling to find some consistent answers. Young looks to stop his skid against Miranda, a Brazilian with a clearly focused approach that may or may not succeed at the UFC level. There was not much recent film on Miranda ahead of his late-notice debut against Benoit St. Denis in 2022, but what little there was foretold that he would approach the fight like an absolute madman. Typically a wrestler and grappler, Miranda went toe-to-toe with St. Denis in a war for about a round; the Frenchman knocked out Miranda in the second. It is clear what Miranda is likely to try here—immediately rushing in for the takedown and the submission—but it remains unclear if he can turn the corner and find a win against Young, who, for all his struggles, is still much better than the regional competition the CM System product beat on the way to the UFC. Young has been struggling enough that the lean is that Miranda can find a way to end this fight before the New Zealander finds his groove, but this could go either way. The pick is Miranda via first-round submission.

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