Lightweights
NR | Vinc Pichel (14-2, 7-2 UFC) vs. NR | Mark O. Madsen (11-0, 3-0 UFC)Madsen’s ceiling remains unclear, but he has at least shown himself to be an interesting prospect thus far. A three-time Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling for his native Denmark, Madsen fully transitioned to mixed martial arts after claiming the silver medal in 2016. As you would expect, most of Madsen’s early success focused around those wrestling skills. Between his strength and his ability to control his opponents, the Dane mostly ran over his opposition on route to his UFC debut in 2019—a steamrolling of Danilo Belluardo that was a highlight of the promotion’s debut in Copenhagen. Since then, Madsen has shown promising progress in decision wins over Austin Hubbard and Clay Guida. There is still an awkwardness to Madsen’s game outside of his clear comfort zones, but he has shown an ability to work through fatigue and adversity, and he even relied on his striking to take that win over Guida in August. If Madsen was a younger man, there would be a clear championship upside, but with his being 37 years old, he may not have the time to develop the type of form that can fully push him up the lightweight ladder. He will actually be the younger man here against the 39-year-old Pichel, who has long been one of the UFC’s most underrated lightweights. That has mostly been thanks to inactivity.
Due to repeated injuries suffered inside and outside the cage, Pichel has been limited to just nine fights in his decade on the UFC roster. When “From Hell” has made it to the cage, he has been quite successful, only dropping fights to Rustam Khabilov and Gregor Gillespie. Pichel is a slow-paced but powerful kickboxer, but he has historically been able to find success as a surprisingly strong clinch fighter and wrestler who can win an ugly grind. Pichel is a clear step up in competition for Madsen in an overall sense, but the stylistic matchup should favor the Dane. Pichel does not press the kind of pace on the feet that should make Madsen particularly uncomfortable and seems likely to engage him in the type of fight that will allow “The Olympian” to show off his wrestling chops. It will be a hard fight, and it would not be a shock if Madsen flagged by the end of it. Still, the pick is Madsen via decision.
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