Preview: UFC on ESPN 57 ‘Cannonier vs. Imavov’

Middleweights

Brunno Ferreira (11-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Dustin Stoltzfus (15-5, 2-4 UFC)

ODDS: Ferreira (-265), Stoltzfus (+215)

This should be an engaging contrast of styles for however long it lasts. Stoltzfus earned a UFC contract via Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020, but it was still hard to know exactly what to make of him ahead of his UFC debut. American-born but based out of Germany, Stoltzfus got by as a strong wrestler and grappler for that regional scene, then won his Contender Series fight via injury before things truly got going. Stoltzfus put in some game efforts while losing his first three UFC bouts, but it didn’t look like things were going to work for him going forward, mostly thanks to an athletic deficit. However, he has done well to rebound and win two of his last three fights. Admittedly, that includes a 19-second loss to Abusupiyan Magomedov, but Stoltzfus has been able to hang tough against more limited power punchers like Dwight Grant and Punahele Soriano to gut out some wins. That’ll be his game plan against Brunno Ferreira, whose game revolves almost entirely around power punching. That has resulted in a stunning upset of Gregory Rodrigues and a quick win over Phil Hawes, but a loss to Nursulton Ruziboev in July showed that Ferreira can be just as vulnerable as his opponents to a knockout. Ferreira has yet to go deeper than seven minutes into a fight at any point during his career, so there’s a chance that Stoltzfus can outlast his way to another win. However, Ferreira should start hot enough to land a lot of offense and close the show in short order. The pick is Ferreira via first-round knockout.

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Cannonier vs. Imavov
Jacoby vs. Reyes
Rosas Jr. vs. Turcios
Ferreira vs. Stoltzfus
Marquez vs. Reese
Baeza vs. Soriano
The Prelims