Preview: UFC Fight Night 244 Prelims

Featherweights

Jonathan Pearce (14-6, 5-3 UFC) vs. Pat Sabatini (18-5, 5-2 UFC)

ODDS: Pearce (-130), Sabatini (+110)

Two featherweights look to get back on track in this pairing. Well-tested regionally ahead of his UFC debut in 2021, Sabatini looked like a prospect ready to make a quick impact. His standout wrestling and grappling rightfully got most of the headlines, but the Pennsylvanian was also building out an effective range striking game to help round things out. Sabatini showed a bit of everything in his first four UFC fights, all wins, while looking at his best on the mat. However, he has now lost two of his last three fights. Sabatini still shows some sharp striking if given time and space to work, but he’s definitely a fighter that needs to settle in and find his comfort level. Damon Jackson and Diego Lopes were both able to blitz Sabatini early and send him careening off the rails for a quick finish. The Lopes loss, which marks Sabatini’s last fight in November, now looks much better with the Brazilian’s recent success. Sabatini now looks to rebuild against a fellow wrestler. Pearce had just about the worst UFC debut possible back in 2019, quickly getting run over by Joe Lauzon in what’s likely to go down as the longtime veteran’s retirement fight, but he found a new life after cutting down to featherweight, stringing together five straight wins as a pure grinder. Pearce entered 2023 as a bit of a divisional dark horse and had a chance to enter the rankings with a fight against Bryce Mitchell, but everything has gone south since for “JSP.” injuries took him out of the Mitchell fight, and his last two bouts have seen him get submitted by Joanderson Brito and stalled out against David Onama. Sabatini has his issues, but he appears to be the better wrestler and the more effective striker, so this should be his fight to lose. It might not be all that exciting, but the pick is Sabatini via decision.

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