Light Heavyweights
Zac Pauga (5-1, 0-1 UFC) vs. Jordan Wright (12-4, 2-4 UFC)Things have not gone well for Wright thus far, but at least it has been entertaining. Wright’s UFC career has kept up the pattern from his regional fights, which were all relatively quick and brutal. A karate stylist, “The Beverly Hills Ninja” crashes into his opponents in short order for some kill-or-be-killed action. That earned Wright two wins in his first three trips to the Octagon, but the situation has gone south since his knockout loss to Bruno Silva at the tail end of 2021. To his credit, Wright has been making some adjustments in the form of adding some wrestling to his attack, but that has not done much to change the dynamics of his fights. Wright ran headlong into a submission against Marc-Andre Barriault, and his last fight against Dusko Todorovic saw him gas out and get finished in the longest fight of his career, which lasted just a shade over eight minutes. Wright moves up to light heavyweight to perhaps find some success against Pauga, the heavyweight runner-up on Season 30 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Pauga is a late comer to mixed martial arts, starting his pro career at age 32 after a few years in football, but he has looked good as a prospect against a solid level of competition, showing an ability to fight behind either striking or wrestling as the situation dictates. On the overall season as a whole, Pauga probably looked the best of any fighter in the house despite being a natural light heavyweight, but that size difference became an issue in the final, where he suffered a sudden knockout loss to Mohammed Usman. There is a chance Pauga could get caught again here. He is not a particularly fast-paced fighter by default, and he has not really been tested against anything like the all-out aggression Wright brings to the table. With that said, it is also hard to have much faith in Wright given how poorly things tend to go after about four minutes. The pick is Pauga via second-round stoppage.
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Andrade vs. Blanchfield
Pauga vs. Wright
Pogues vs. Parisian
Knight vs. Prachnio
Hernandez vs. Miller
The Prelims