Preview: UFC Fight Night 212 ‘Grasso vs. Araujo’

Middleweights

Jordan Wright (12-3, 1 N/C) vs. Dusko Todorovic (11-3)

ODDS: Todorovic (-205), Wright (+175)

It'll be interesting to see if Dusko Todorovic can turn a corner. It's been a bit of a disappointing UFC career thus far for Serbia's "Thunder," who looked solid after winning his UFC debut over Dequan Townsend; Todorovic appeared to be a well-rounded fighter who could bully opponents and win a grind if needed, and a regional victory over Michel Pereira was cause for some hope that Todorovic could hold his own against better athletes. But quickly after that fight, it became apparent that Todorovic wasn't quite prepared for the jump up to facing some of the better athletes that the UFC provides; Punahele Soriano obliterated him multiple times en route to a quick finish, and Todorovic was clearly outgunned over three rounds against Gregory Rodrigues. A first-round stoppage of Maki Pitolo did provide a reminder of what Todorovic is capable of when given an advantage, but another quick knockout loss to Chidi Njokuani in May wiped out most of that momentum. Todorovic looks for the rebound here against Jordan Wright, who's at least proven to be all killer and no filler in the UFC in terms of action. "The Beverly Hills Ninja" fights behind a karate stance, though things quickly tend to go off the rails as soon as Wright springs into action - if he can't earn a clean knockout quickly, he just winds up crashing into his opponents until someone lands a fight-ending blow. The end result is that the longest fight of Wright's career, win or lose, has lasted 48 seconds into the second round. It appears Wright may be trying to reverse that trend, given that he pursued a wrestling-heavy approach against Marc-Andre Barriault that was ill-advised; it didn't play to Wright's strengths and he quickly fell victim to a Barriault guillotine choke. It'd also be a poor idea here, as it's easy to see Todorovic quickly overwhelming Wright in a clinch or wrestling exchange and pounding out a finish on the mat. Besides that, Todorovic is also likely to be the hardier fighter in a quick brawl, so this figures to be his fight to lose; the pick is Todorovic via first-round stoppage.

Jump To »
Grasso vs. Araujo
Swanson vs. Martinez
Askarov vs. Royval
Wright vs. Todorovic
Cirkunov vs. Menifield
The Prelims