Preview: UFC Fight Night 129 ‘Maia vs. Usman’

Flyweights
Veronica Macedo vs. Andrea Lee
Odds: Lee (-330), Macedo (+270)

The newly formed women’s flyweight division gets a shot in the arm from reigning Legacy Fighting Alliance champion and Invicta veteran “KGB” Lee. The Louisianan is a solid kickboxer at all ranges, equally comfortable firing kicks, throwing leather in the pocket, or dishing out punishment in a phone booth. She is most comfortable stalking forward behind her jab and round kicks to the body. When her opponent starts to run out of real estate, Lee starts letting combinations of hooks, crosses and uppercuts go, while maintaining a solid defensive guard and head movement. The 29-year-old is most dominant in the clinch, where she can bring all her physical gifts and her Muay Thai background to bear. Lee savagely pulls her foe into knees to the head and body, controlling them against the cage or threatening to trip or throw them to the mat.

Despite her quality striking, half of Lee’s eight wins have come by submission. Her wrestling isn’t dominant but it is functional. Her takedowns typically come from the clinch, where her offensive assault compromises her opponent’s takedown defense. Takedown and grappling defense were a bugaboo against more experienced opponents earlier in her career, as she fell to Roxanne Modafferi and Sarah D’Alelio. Perhaps Macedo can make her pay in that arena as well.

Macedo drops back to her natural weight class of 125 pounds after making her debut at bantamweight and immediately becomes a player at flyweight. She got ground and pounded by the much stronger Ashlee Evans-Smith, who shut down her kneebar attempts after smothering her in the clinch and powering her to the mat. The MMA Factory rep is a brown belt in karate and a black belt in taekwondo, and that background is readily apparent in her varied, kick-centric striking. The southpaw wants space to work, firing round kicks to the calf and head around frequent spinning back kicks. She’ll throw down with her hands if the pocket closes, but she is not as comfortable, technical, or dangerous there. Macedo hasn’t demonstrated much in the way of wrestling, but she immediately throws up her legs for armbars or rolls under for a leg the instant the fight hits the floor. Her last win came via heel hook against “TUF 26: A New World Champion” alumnus Karine Gevorgyan.

Unlike the 22 year-old Macedo, Lee is in her physical prime and has been fighting professionally for nearly five years following an extensive amateur kickboxing career. Macedo is highly skilled both striking and grappling and might have a higher competitive ceiling. But the Karate Mafia stalwart’s MMA game is more put together at this point. Lee can dictate where the fight takes places, can muster effective offense in every range and position, and is more physical than Macedo. The Venezuelan’s guard will put Lee in a few sticky spots, but otherwise “KGB” outworks and outmuscles her in close quarters and from top position to take a decision win.

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