Preview: UFC Fight Night 196 Prelims

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Women’s Strawweights

NR | Livinha Souza (14-3, 3-2 UFC) vs. NR | Randa Markos (10-11-1, 6-10-1 UFC)

ODDS: Souza (-125), Markos (+105)

Souza’s UFC career has not gone quite as expected, to say the least. Souza headed to the UFC in 2018 after a successful run in Invicta Fighting Championships and figured to hit the ground running. She is a skilled submission artist, and while her striking is generally messy, she possessed enough ropey power in her wild punches to keep opponents honest, if not score a knockout outright. Add in that Souza possesses plenty of charisma backed by an infinite amount of swagger, and there was even the chance that she could quickly make herself a breakout star. Beyond a quick debut win over Alex Chambers, the finishes have dried up for Souza inside the UFC, as her run has been a mix of uninspiring victories and disheartening losses. Souza seems completely overmatched against stronger athletes: The compact Brianna Van Buren scored the upset over her with a wrestling-heavy approach, and she quickly got taken apart by one of the division’s strongest fighters in Amanda Lemos. Even Souza’s two decision wins inside the UFC—over Sarah Frota and Ashley Yoder—were nip-tuck affairs in which Souza struggled to build any sort of momentum, with her striking now looking like a complete liability. Souza looks to start her turnaround against Markos, who has long been one of the most frustrating fighters on the UFC roster. Markos had a breakout on the all-strawweight season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2014, both in terms of racking up wins and being a highlighted personality, but “Quiet Storm” struggled to build any sort of subsequent momentum. It is fitting that for most of her time on the roster Markos has alternated between wins and losses. While she has the tools to hang with anyone in the division—she even beat Carla Esparza in 2017—her inconsistency and lapses in judgment make it just as likely that she will find a way to lose a fight. Markos’ streak of middling results has been broken in recent years with a current four-fight losing streak. Some of the losses have been worse than others, but Markos added a new one to her oeuvre in May, losing via disqualification due to an illegal upkick against Luana Pinheiro. Markos has the wrestling skill and physical strength to grind out a decision win or even just outbox Souza, but at this point, it is virtually impossible to have faith in her putting together 15 winning minutes against a dangerous opponent. The pick is Souza via second-round submission.

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