UFC 98 Preview: The Prelims

Stephen Martinez/Sherdog.com

Yoshida will look to bounce
back from his loss to Koscheck.

The Breakdown: To put it lightly, this fight favors Yoshida in a big way. Thus far in his UFC run, Wolff has proven to be less than up to the task against legitimate competition, and Yoshida’s combination of slick judo and underrated submission savvy makes this a bad matchup for Wolff’s striking-centric style. Unless Wolff can find a way to keep Yoshida on the end of his strikes and outside the clinch, he’ll be stuck underneath him with a three-tap symphony being his only escape.

The X Factor: One comforting thought for Wolff is that Yoshida has proven less than able on the feet when forced to exchange. If Wolff can stay light on his feet and off his back, he may be able to turn this fight on its head and hand Yoshida another knockout loss.

The Bottom Line: There are too many variables that Wolff needs to go just so if he’s going to beat Yoshida. Meanwhile the path is straightforward for his Japanese counterpart. Bank on Yoshida turning in a precise performance as he quickly turns the fight into a grappling meet and Wolff into a grappling dummy.