Light Heavyweights
NR | Marcin Prachnio (15-5, 2-3 UFC) vs. NR | Philipe Lins (14-5, 0-2 UFC)Lins’ UFC run has not quite worked out as hoped. He came to the UFC with some momentum thanks to a breakout 2018 campaign. After his release from Bellator, Brazil’s “Monstro” landed with the Professional Fighters League and won a heavyweight tournament. Against that opposition, Lins had the hand speed to make his slow-paced striking style work, but his two bouts in the UFC have been a rude awakening. A May 2020 debut saw him get outworked and outpointed by Andrei Arlovski, then Lins quickly got knocked out by Tanner Boser on a short turnaround. It has been nearly two years since Lins was last in the Octagon, and he has decided to make a surprising move back down to light heavyweight, which is where he spent his career prior to his run in the PFL. He will take on Poland’s Prachnio—an unlikely success story of 2021. Prachnio was well-regarded heading into his 2018 UFC debut, but his first three fights in the Octagon were various levels of absolute disasters. He got torn apart by Sam Alvey of all people, then seemingly struggled to balance aggression and patience in losses to Magomed Ankalaev and Mike Rodriguez, each of which resulted in first-round losses. That made it a surprise when he got a fourth UFC shot for a January 2021 bout against Khalil Rountree, but Prachnio put in the most collected performance of his UFC career in a clear decision victory, then scored a subsequent knockout win against Isaac Villanueva in June. Prachnio’s early UFC troubles still loom large against anyone with knockout power, but Lins’ cut down to light heavyweight seems like a poor idea. Whatever relative speed advantage he had seemed to be a big part of his success at heavyweight, and here, it just figures to get him outmaneuvered by an opponent who seems to have finally figured out how to be elusive. The pick is Prachnio via second-round knockout.
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