Preview: UFC Fight Night 216 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s final show of 2022 on Saturday offers an intriguing slate of eight prelims at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Cheyanne Vlismas and Cory McKenna take the featured slot in a well-made women’s strawweight affair, but there are some more relevant gems further down the UFC Fight Night 216 lineup. Ranked flyweights David Dvorak and Manel Kape square off in an excellent pairing, and Said Nurmagomedov takes on Saidyokub Kakhramonov in an under-the-radar battle inside a packed bantamweight division. Meanwhile, Julian Marquez has been a reliably exciting fighter, for better or for worse, and beyond his confrontation with Deron Winn at 185 pounds, there is a cadre of the usual prospects and Dana White’s Contender Series alumni that should provide something entertaining as it shakes out.

Now to the preview for the UFC Fight Night “Cannonier vs. Strickland” prelims:

Women’s Strawweights

Cheyanne Vlismas (7-2, 2-1 UFC) vs. Cory McKenna (7-2, 2-1 UFC)

ODDS: Vlismas (-190), McKenna (+160)

Most of the headlines surrounding Vlismas during her UFC career have centered around her personal life, so it is nice to see her finally get back to making a name for herself inside the cage. “The Warrior Princess” impressed on DWCS in 2020 as a well-rounded talent who still needed experience to work some things out, so it is not entirely a shock that she was unprepared for the curveball of Montserrat Ruiz’s grappling-heavy game in her UFC debut. Vlismas rebounded well, first with a 60-second knockout of Gloria de Paula, then with a complete performance over Mallory Martin in which everything clicked for three rounds. After a yearlong layoff, Vlismas returns for a compelling clash with McKenna, whose performances have been a bit hard to parse. The baby-faced Welshwoman was also signed off Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020—in McKenna’s case with a scrappy win over Vanessa Demopoulos and at just 21 years old. She may not read as the strongest athlete, but McKenna is constantly willing to try to make things work and eventually took things over against a more physically talented opponent. That was also her path to victory in a controversial decision win over Kay Hansen in her UFC debut, which made it all the more surprising that she dropped her next fight to Elise Reed. It was the rare fight where McKenna appeared to have some physical parity, but she was unable to track Reed down and find much momentum. However, McKenna showed out in a second-round submission of Miranda Granger in August, so it looks like she should remain viable on the UFC roster for years to come. This pairing against Vlismas does look like the worst of both worlds for McKenna, though. Vlismas is the much more dynamic athlete, and she has shown a willingness to play an effective range game when a matchup like this calls for it. McKenna could find a path to make this ugly at moments, but the pick is Vlismas via clear decision.

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Vlismas vs. McKenna
Matthews vs. Semelsberger
Marquez vs. Winn
Nurmagomedov vs. Kakhramonov
Garcia vs. Hayisaer
Fakhretdinov vs. Battle
Kape vs. Dvorak
Morozov vs. Newson