Bantamweights
Cristian Quinonez (18-3, 1-0 UFC) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (18-9, 7-2 UFC)Quinonez is certainly a fun addition to the UFC’s deep bantamweight pool, and it will be interesting to see if the Mexican can be a successful contributor. He is a bouncy striker who theoretically prefers to snipe at his opponents, even if he typically winds up trading blows with them in practice. His UFC debut in September ended in an electric knockout of Khalid Taha, but Kang should be able to provide a much broader test of what Quinonez brings to the table, for better or for worse. Kang is an underrated fighter despite his success, mostly thanks to some long stretches of inactivity during his decade with the UFC but also because “Mr. Perfect” does fail to maximize his talent. Kang can hold his own anywhere and fights with pace and aggression but does not have much consistency to his gameplan across fights, mixing in some flashes of brilliance with some particularly poor ideas. The combination of Quinonez’s one-dimensional game to date and Kang’s durability is enough to give the Korean the benefit of the doubt, as some of the many things he will try figure to work. However, that comes with the caveat that Kang is also one of the hardest fighters on the UFC roster to trust in terms of walking away with a clean win. The pick is Kang via decision.
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Barcelos vs. Johns
Costa vs. Flick
Quinonez vs. Kang
Bondar vs. Hernandez
Zhumagulov vs. Bunes
Bleda vs. Fernandes
Lawrence vs. Argueta
Bukauskas vs. Pauga