Preview: UFC Vegas 100 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s final 2024 visit to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas this Saturday features a decent undercard. The top UFC Vegas 100 prelim sees Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos return to action, as he draws late-notice replacement Zach Scroggin. The true standout clash between Cody Stamann and Da’Mon Blackshear has flown completely under the radar, which speaks to the considerable depth of the bantamweight division. Beyond that, some unproven fighters try to make an impact, particularly with the most recent wave of Dana White’s Contender Series graduates starting to make their first UFC appearances; to that end, middleweight Mansur Abdul-Malik looks like a newcomer to watch.

Now to the preview for the UFC Vegas 100 prelims:

Welterweights

Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (24-8-1, 10-4-1 UFC) vs. Zach Scroggin (7-0, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: N/A

It has been over a year since his last win, but it’s nice to see Zaleski dos Santos back in action. After losing his UFC debut to Nicolas Dalby—his original opponent here—in 2015, Zaleski dos Santos soon became the welterweight division’s best-kept secret, reeling off seven straight wins and proving his proclivity for violence, all while somehow remaining under the radar. It took until 2019 for the UFC to seemingly pull the trigger on “Capoeira” and put him in some prominent spots, which unfortunately seemed to coincide with Zaleski dos Santos taking a step back in effectiveness, as a knockout loss to Jingliang Li was one of the worst performances of his career and halted his momentum. That remains the only time that Zaleski dos Santos has been stopped inside the UFC, and he has remained relevant even while running into a clear ceiling that wasn’t there during his run up the ladder. There are not as many extreme flashes of dynamism that there once were, but Zaleski dos Santos is a reliably tough out who will force his opponents to fight tooth and nail until the final horn. That was on display against Rinat Fakhretdinov in 2023—a fight where the Brazilian charged back in the third round to turn what seemed a sure loss into a draw. The hope is that things won’t even need to get that far against a UFC newcomer in Scroggin.

Scroggin steps in on late notice during fight week, and he has looked solid enough on the regional scene. Primarily a wrestler and grappler, he has also shown the beginnings of a decent enough striking game, even if he’s not yet built to throw out offense at any sort of high pace. Scroggin has also done this against a fairly low level of competition, so he’s likely out of his depth here. There’s the potential for him to develop into an effective fighter, but in the short term, most UFC welterweights would be a tough ask for Scroggin to defeat, let alone someone as proven and difficult to finish as Zaleski dos Santos. Scroggin might get a chance to show off some durability, but the lean is that the UFC veteran gets this done in short order. The pick is Zaleski dos Santos via first-round knockout.

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Zaleski dos Santos vs. Scroggin
Abdul-Malik vs. Todorovic
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Blackshear vs. Stamann
Mullins vs. Sygula
Romious vs. Bolanos
Gore vs. Trocoli