Preview: UFC Fight Night 231 Prelims

The UFC's return to Sao Paulo comes with a set of prelims that might have as many highlights as the main card. It might not be the most exciting affair in practice, but the featured prelim is an important one for the welterweight division, as rising Russian grinder Rinat Fakhretdinov looks to keep his momentum going against perennial tough out Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. Light heavyweight prospect Vitor Petrino, who's in action against Modestas Bukauskas, has one of the highest upsides on the card, and Angela Hill's bout against Denise Gomes is a crucial veteran-versus-prospect test. Add in Eduarda Moura, a debuting strawweight prospect that looks worth watching, and this is an impressively deep Fight Night event.

Welterweights

Rinat Fakhretdinov (21-1) vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (24-7)

ODDS: Fakhretdinov (-360), Zaleski dos Santos (+285)

It might not be the prettiest fight in practice, but this is one of the more interesting pairings on the card. Fakhretdinov spoiled the UFC return for Kevin Lee in impressive fashion this past July with a win in just 55 seconds, an impressive bit of business both in terms of level of competition and Fakhretdinov's performance itself. Up until that point, Fakhretdinov's two previous UFC fights had shown him to be an effective but uninspiring grinder, getting by almost entirely due to his wrestling game. But against Lee, the Russian did anything but, nearly knocking Lee out before clamping on the fight-ending submission. Fakhretdinov looks to keep his momentum going with a win over Zaleski dos Santos, who appears diminished from his peak a few years ago but can still be an effective fighter. An electric fighter at his best, Zaleski dos Santos had to take a surprisingly long road to relevance after narrowly dropping his UFC debut to Nicolas Dalby back in 2015; "Capoeira" racked up exciting win after exciting win - including a first-round knockout of Sean Strickland that has aged well - but took years to finally get some prominent matchups. Of course, it looks like Zaleski dos Santos got those opportunities a bit too late, as a high-profile fight against Jingliang Li might have been the worst performance of the Brazilian's career to that point; and while he's mostly been successful in the years since, Zaleski dos Santos has clearly lost a bit of the explosiveness that made him such an effective fighter earlier in his thirties. Even with all that said, he's Fakhretdinov's toughest opponent to date and could find his way out of the Russian's usual grind, but is still seems likelier than not that Fakhretdinov can have his type of fight while racking up a decent amount of damage. The pick is Fakhretdinov via decision.

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Fakhretdinov vs. dos Santos
Hugo Silva vs. Marcos
Petrino vs. Bukauskas
Hill vs. Gomes
Moura vs. Ruiz
Fernandes vs. Diakiese
Brener vs. Kruschewsky