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Preview: UFC on ESPN 38 Prelims

Buys vs. Durden



Flyweights

J.P. Buys (9-4) vs. Cody Durden (12-4-1)
Odds: Buys (-120), Durden (+100)

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This should be a fun scrap to help sort things out at the bottom of the flyweight division. Buys' UFC career hasn't gone particularly well since he won a contract on the Contender Series in 2020, the culmination of years of work, including Buys relocating from his native South Africa to the United States in order to develop his game. At his best, "Young Savage" has been able to lean on his wrestling and grappling, but those skills have hit a clear wall against UFC-level competition; Buys didn't get much done in his debut loss to Bruno Silva, and moving up to face gigantic bantamweight Montel Jackson was a seemingly unwinnable affair. To his credit, Buys did at least have some wrestling success against Jackson and survived for 15 minutes, so hopefully some of those gains hold in his return to flyweight against Durden. Durden's a fun fighter who's mostly known for his xenophobic comments after a November win over Qileng Aori - which were, in turn, shoved back in Durden's face by Mohammed Mokaev after Mokaev submitted Durden in just 58 seconds this past March. As a fighter, Durden's a straightforward but talented boxer and wrestler that was able to run over most of his regional competition without much trouble; as a result, Durden still tends to flag against opponents able to hang around and provide some resistance, even though he does well to double down and fight through adversity. That should be enough to get the win here unless Buys has further unlocked something in the last nine months; Durden should be able to make the wrestling a wash if not win those exchanges outright, and he figures to be the more powerful and effective striker. The pick is Durden via decision.



Jump To »
Ulberg vs. Nchukwi
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