Preview: UFC on ESPN 54 Prelims

A decent slate of prelims bolsters the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Atlantic City on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall. The featured fight figures to have some guaranteed action: Nate Landwehr always brings the entertainment, and he draws underrated veteran Jamall Emmers as a dance partner at featherweight. Right below them sits the most important bout on the UFC on ESPN 54 undercard, as Virna Jandiroba looks to defend her women’s strawweight ranking against Lupita Godinez, who seems to finally be piecing everything together. From there, we see the usual mix of Dana White Contender Series alumni and prospects in matches made for action, though a clash between Andre Petroski and Jacob Malkoun does stick out as a particularly intriguing battle between middleweights with similar styles.

Now to the preview for the UFC on ESPN 54 prelims:

Featherweights

Jamall Emmers (20-7, 3-3 UFC) vs. Nate Landwehr (17-5, 4-3 UFC)

ODDS: Emmers (-218), Landwehr (+180)

Any Landwehr appearance means there is a high probability of some entertaining violence. The Tennessee native took the long road to fan favorite status, as “The Train” made most of his reputation on the Russian scene, winning a lot of fights where he would get outwrestled early and outlast his opponents for some late victories. That led to some anticipation ahead of his UFC debut, but his time with the promotion got off to a surprisingly rough start. Herbert Burns and Julian Erosa each knocked him out within a round, and a decision victory over Darren Elkins came in a particularly nip-tuck affair. However, Landwehr bounced back in effective fashion, making some minor improvements before having one of the best fights of 2022—a back-and-forth war with David Onama that seems to have made Landwehr a made man. After some late opponent changes wound up in his beating Austin Lingo, Landwehr got a big spot at UFC 289 against perennial ranked featherweight Dan Ige; and while Landwehr came up short, he hung tough in a fight that was once again one of the highlights of the card. After nearly 10 months on the shelf, Landwehr finally makes his return against Emmers, who has quietly been one of the most underrated fighters on the roster since his debut in 2020. Emmers spent years as a top regional fighter on the verge of getting the UFC call, during which he developed a solid if unspectacular game. A former wrestler, “Pretty Boy” eventually learned to get comfortable as a counterstriker through sheer experience. That has made Emmers a perennial tough out, though unfortunately the judges have not typically rewarded Emmers’ patience and skill, as he has suffered controversial decision losses to Giga Chikadze and Jack Jenkins. On top of the bad luck on the scorecards, Emmers has suffered some long injury layoffs, resulting in his being an afterthought rather than a deservedly recognized fighter. A 49-second knockout of Dennis Buzukja in November does raise some hope that Emmers might have found some finishing ability that could make everything fully click, and that makes this a crucial spot against Landwehr—a much bigger name who is prone to getting sparked out of the gate. With that said, the safer bet seems to be that Landwehr can survive early and turn this into the ugly war where he is at his most comfortable. Emmers might be the better skill-for-skill fighter, but he is not the one who wins rounds on the scorecards. The pick is Landwehr via decision.

Jump To »
Emmers vs. Landwehr
Godinez vs. Jandiroba
Arce vs. Burns
Buzukja vs. Matthews
Aslan vs. Turkalj
Gatto vs. Dudakova
Malkoun vs. Petroski
Loughran vs. Pacheco